YOU accepted their offer to replace the heater and to deduct from rent. If there are no more details to the agreement, then it is your responsibility to impeach their claim of $850.

Apparently, your agreement did not put any limits on the transaction, nor was payment even dependent on any documentation.

Maybe you can request details of where they purchased the heater, and hours of labor (so that you can calculate charge per hour labor). If the tenant was able to purchase the heater at wholesale (because he is in AC business) he is entitled to sell it to you at retail, plus a reasonable charge for his labor.

Next time, either arrange for your own service, or make a more professional agreement.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. Some tenants, yes, will create work and if you have agreed, send you the bill in order to avoid paying rent.

1. They need to produce the receipts, along with photos of what was wrong and what's new for your records. You need warranty and user manuals and receipts in case something goes wrong. $850 is high. For that he should provide a good warranty on his labor, as well.

2. Have a nice talk that although you are happy with the work, you will not be able to have them do anymore repairs as it is a conflict of interest. Send it in writing- a text, email, notice, but make a record that you gave it to them.

3. No more repairs done by tenants under any circumstances. Don't be afraid of your tenants. They can sense it and will take the upper hand. Even if it is a pain in your, get somebody else out there to look at any repairs that come up.

The biggest section of my lease is talking about "repairs and remedies"-- spelling out the different tenant protections that already exist under Texas State Law, regarding what to do in situations that affect the health & safety of an ordinary tenant under various circumstances, the timelines involved, the methods by which people can repair & remedy a situation, versus pursue judicial remedies, versus etc, etc, etc.

You can Google for "Texas State Bar lease" and see the bones of what I use--- obviously I've modified it very much, both tightening things up (late fee of 5% of an rent not received by the tenth day after it's due?! in TX, your earliest allowable late fee kicks in the day after it's due) and in adding clarifications as Experience kicks in. So you might consider this as your Experience Kicking In, and modifying future leases to address this problem very specifically.

So, one important thing is a cap. In TX, we often use "repairs may not exceed $500 or one month's rent, whichever is greater". So you've got a ceiling for repairs. You've already got the repair bill and the receipt for the payment covered. It's also important to limit who's allowed to work on it, and who's not. (Yes: someone currently advertising in the local classifieds or phone book; no: Tenant, Tenant's immediate family, Tenant's employer or employees, or a company in which Tenant has an ownership interest.) And so on and so forth.

So, if you're doing distance landlording, whether it's two states away or two hours, one of the difficulties is the loss of boots-on-the-ground. Your tenants may be the handiest people in the world, but it's not healthy to let them do their own repairs. You need to have "your" guy do the work, and "your" guy needs to be trustworthy. Go through as many plumbers as you need to before you find "your" guy. If you live in an area with a limited number of plumbers available, it's okay to stick with one until he annoys you, move on to the next, and cycle through until you've forgiven the original plumbers for their transgression. ;) Regardless of how you feel about your tenants personally, you also need to get in and get it done so that they don't step in and try and take care of it themselves. Because that's a good way to lose control fast, especially if they're deducting from rent. Don't give people you don't like ammunition to not like you back.

The repair was clearly authorized by you. So I agree with the others you should pay.

My guess is he checked on what plumbers are charging for the job and charged the same. So it would be considered reasonable.

I think if you check around you will also find the price is reasonable if you had a plumber install one.

He is entitled to the same unless a different price was part of your agreement.

Also you may even find it is more than reasonable if he bought a 12 year heater instead of a 6 year.

But you should insist on the receipt and warranty info.

Find a Sears contractor and see what they get paid to do the same piece work.

If it is in line with your bill, then let it ride. If you are being charged a couple hundred too much, then split the difference.

I am a California Licensed Plumbing Contractor, with other construction licenses as well. In the last 35 years of being a landlord, I've had a few tenants offer to replace a "so called" defective water heater for me and deduct the "LABOR" from their rent, but not the cost of the water heater. They were going to purchase it from HOME DEPOT (with their credit card) and I would pay for the water heater. A few of my tenants are "handymen" working for other large landlords.

1. Many City, States and the Feds have passed new emission standards so water heater manufactures met those new standards by producing bad, terrible, unreliable water heaters that break down prematurely.

So 50% or more plumbers don't know how to fix these troubled units (water heaters) and just replace them to maximize on profits -- profit on the water heater, labor and parts. How is your tenant going to know if the water heater can be fixed or should be replaced? They won't.

So even if your tenant has the best of intentions, it may be a $7 part, a $35 part or a $100 part that needs replacing. SO long as the core isn't leaking water, chances are its a component issue only.

To allow a tenant to replace an expensive dangerous water heater that's hooked up to the water and gas -- is putting you in a serious liability position. If ever this water heater leaks or if there's a fire, you have no recourse -- the installer wasn't licensed to professionally trained.

Next, without a original receipt, you have NO Warranty from the Manufacture. With a receipt, it guarantee is from 6 to 15 years, depending on the model.

In every case, I believe you didn't make a good decision.

Laura,

You let this slip out of your control but all is not lost.

First, what does your lease say?

Next put EYES ON the "new" water heater. Take a photo of the serial number on the side and check the date of manufacture. Yes it could be used.

Price them at Lowes. My local Lowes' installation dept charges $275 to install. The installer gets approx half of that.

I then fall back to my policy of "We pay $100 for a WH installation."

Ive been scammed too many times with a drunk brother in law charging big company rates seeing an opportunity to gouge me.

Under no circumstances may tenants do work on either their place or other rentals we have. NEVER.

Sorry but you need to take the ride it's your responsibility as owner.

All work must be requested in writing unless emergency situation.

Everyone has hit most of the important stuff -- btw, I agree you're going to pay the bill on this one...it wasn't managed properly. If you can get the receipts and warranty, count yourself lucky since this is all being done after the fact.

Caveat: My intention not to beat up on you, but it must be clear that if you choose to continue being a long distance land lord, you choose to take all the work and hassles that come with it.

The one thing I haven't seen directly addressed yet is the level of personal responsibility that comes with being a land lord or business owner of any type. Here are just a few the things I'm referring to:

"I am a single mom with 2 small kids and live 2 hours away and couldnt get down there"

"I should have done it myself, but this month didn't really have many options."

These are excuses and are not your tenant's concern. Their concern is they rented a dwelling that is supposed to have hot water. You agreed to provide a dwelling that includes hot water. Period. End of story.

I can't image you'd be happy if your tenant called you up and said, "Laura, I don't have any rent this month...I'm a single mom with two kids..." I have told single moms with 3 kids that they need to pay their rent or move out. Period. End of story. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. The door swings both ways. I'm sure we could come up with several more applicable cliche's.

The point is it is your responsibility to provide the service that has been contracted and paid for regardless of the circumstances in your personal life. A judge will tell you if it ever comes to that, so let's do whatever is necessary to stay away from that kind of situation.

Long distance land lording is HARD. I don't recommend it for many of the reasons you just cited. The other option if this life isn't making you happy is to sell the house. Keeping it means choosing to keep the hassles. Is it worth the stress on your life? Only you know.

If you choose to keep it, having a list of 3 qualified service providers for every key area of a house is a must so that you can ensure speedy, professional resolution to valid complaints. 3 plumbers, 3 HVAC repair/installers, 3 electricians, 3 handymen, etc. Grab a phone book for the area and start making some calls today to establish contacts.

In summary, while this lesson may be expensive, it is also a valuable lesson. Learn what it has taught you. Either tune up the business practices, or sell and enjoy the cash from the windfall.

Best wishes, sincerely.

P.S. Be CAREFUL of making this tenant upset. He thinks you owe him, and to some degree he is correct. If he really knows what he's doing--and I'm guessing he does if he installs HVACs--he can easily loosen a supply line nut on the top of the water heater just enough to cause a minor, hard-to-detect leak or play some other little "trick" on you to cause major damage to the house when he moves out...stuff you might not discover for a couple of months and which will cost way more than $850 to repair.

I'd pay him and not worry too much about the other stuff. You can get the warranty info from a picture of the Model and Serial number. The manufacturer should honor the warranty regardless.

BRAVO, Sid.

A good piece of work.

By the way, I point out that the tenant isn't required to give a better receipt, under the agreement as described. He only owes a receipt for what he is charging.

After reviewing the SC Law, I may be reaching at straws, but... it states that the tenant should provide, in writing, the issue at hand and I have 14 days to respond.

Note: I never received a written note, just a text when rent was due/late. After that I went to the unit with a smaller HWH (unit there waa 50 gal, I had a 40 Gal) which the female tenant proceeded to scream and cuss at me that it wouldn't work and that this was b s and they refused the unit I brought.

The female left, the male said he was able to "mend it until I was able to get a unit the same size". Looking back, It is my home and i can put whatever size in there I want, but I was so shaken by the actions and hostility I wanted to avoid the crazy wife.

have them give you the serial number on the new HWT.

I would proceed with eviction at least for now. If I had one that would scream and cuss at me, then this would be enough for me to want to get rid of them. Have to be able to communicate.

And you stated "he said he would mend it". As far as you know that is all that he did.