Those who rent houses...

[battlemaiden]

Who is responsible for gutters and chimney cleaning in your situation?

 

Tenant or Landlord?

 

Thanks.

 

Jo

[milovany]

Who is responsible for gutters and chimney cleaning in your situation?

 

Tenant or Landlord?

 

Thanks.

 

Jo

 

We're new to this, but I'd say those are landlord responsibilities.

Edited July 28, 2010 by milovaný

[iammommy]

When we rented, the landlord took care of those things.

 

Nan

[Lara in Colo]

Depends on the contract. Read yours it usually states in the "maintain" section. For instance carpet cleaning is usually the resp of the renter, I would suppose, unless specified, the gutters are as well, however, not cleaning them can cause severe damage, so maybe the owner will want to handle it. Same with chimney. Depends on the landlord.

 

I know: clear as mud

 

Lara

[Tutor]

It has depended on the situation for us, but generally we as the tenants have been responsible for those things.

 

One landlord had an arrangement that if we did not have to call him for a repair/ maintenance item in a given month, we got $50 off our rent that month. So, anything that cost more than $50 spurred a call to the landlord; we fixed/ maintained cheaper things ourselves.

[battlemaiden]

It has depended on the situation for us, but generally we as the tenants have been responsible for those things.

 

One landlord had an arrangement that if we did not have to call him for a repair/ maintenance item in a given month, we got $50 off our rent that month. So, anything that cost more than $50 spurred a call to the landlord; we fixed/ maintained cheaper things ourselves.

 

What a great plan!

[Tap]

From a landlords point of view:

 

Chimney-landlord it is a fire hazard if not done and is part of the home structure.

 

Gutters-tennent, but only if they are responsible for mowing the grass too. If the landlord provides lawn mowing/tree trimming then the gutters would be included in that. If the tenet didn't do it, I wouldn't be surprised, and would do it myself once a year or as needed. Again it is part of the structure and if not done could result is structural damage due to water getting under shingles/roofing.

[RobinF]

landlord

[MarinesWife]

Tenant.

 

To me that is just routine maintenance of the home. As tenants we always did it ourselves, and as landlords we ask the tenants to do it themselves.

[Mrs Mungo]

I think of regular maintenance as things you can do yourself. Anything you need to pay someone else to do would be the landlord's responsibility. Therefore, I would think of gutters as a tenant's responsibility and the chimney as a landlord's responsibility.

[battlemaiden]

I think of regular maintenance as things you can do yourself. Anything you need to pay someone else to do would be the landlord's responsibility. Therefore, I would think of gutters as a tenant's responsibility and the chimney as a landlord's responsibility.

 

I think this is a good rule of thumb. Unfortunately, we were spoiled by a tenant that was a general contractor and rarely called us for anything. We are in the process of getting new tenants and the gutters are definitely a hired process. The house is three stories in the back. Our lease says the tenant is responsible, but I think it is wiser to just have these two items scheduled and paid for by us so I know they are getting done.

[creekland]

Tenant

[BikeBookBread]

The lease for the home that we just started renting specifically stated tenant. However, for the home that we rent out, it is DEFINITELY NOT tenant responsibility because going onto our tile roof will void our warranty unless it is done by a professional.

[May]

When we rented, the landlord took care of those things.

[Pretty in Pink]

We rent. We are responsible for both the gutters and chimney in this house.

[ktog29]

Landlord. When we rented our house in FL, we were responsible for E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G., including the batteries on the smoke detector (yes, installing them too!). But I liked it that way...I KNEW the stuff was getting done properly. After all, at the end of the day, it was my house.

[Dobela]

As others have said, it depends on your contract. We have had landlords that do it, and there have been times we did it as tenents. I preferred to do it myself so I could hire who I wanted when I wanted. No weird strangers coming to my house! However, my dad has several rental properties and after a series of lousey renteers, he has hired someone to take care of all that. In return, he now charges higher rent than he did before.

[Mynyel]

Our landlord pays for chimney sweep. He also takes off our rent (with receipts) for the air filter for the AC/Heater and the whole house water filter. We have no gutters so can't help you there!

[Crimson Wife]

At our last rental, cleaning the gutters was covered by the condo association dues so it was built into the rent. Cleaning the chimney would've been our responsibility but we never used the fireplace.

[AHASRADA]

We, as tenants, are responsible for routine exterior maintenance, like mowing and snow removal. Larger, periodic maintenance, like trimming or cutting down trees and cleaning gutters, are the landlord's responsibility. Same for interior maintenance. Obviously, we will replace light bulbs, smoke alarm batteries, etc. but having the heating ducts cleaned, plumbing and heating repairs, etc. are handled by the landlord.

 

We don't have any of the benefits of home ownership (building equity, mortgage deduction, prerogative to remodel as desired), and our rent is higher than our mortgage payment would be on the same property. Not having to worry about major maintenance is one of the few benefits of renting, which I would never give up in a contract.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Who is responsible for gutters and chimney cleaning in your situation?

 

Tenant or Landlord?

 

Thanks.

 

Jo

 

We are landlords. I would expect that chimney servicing would be something we made sure was done, probably scheduled and definitely paid for. Our fireplace has a gas log, so the gas is checked, but the chimney isn't serviced.

 

We don't have gutter cleaning scheduled, but I think we do pay to have it done when the tenant asks or when our manager notices that it is needed. However, our rent price is also high enough to cover such costs.

 

Someone mentioned lawn maintenance. We rent out a good sized house with a large yard. When we were first renting it out, we had one potential tenant who gave us a long story about how we weren't providing a lawn mower and he wanted to have the cost of one taken off his rent. Um, no. We also won't be providing the broom and mop you need to keep the inside tidy. I imagine that he was coming from an apartment complex where the common grounds were taken care of by a landscape service.