Kind of a two part question involving the same people. I recently had to move out of my home because of unemployment and in order to not lose the house, I rented it out to a cousin and her family. They were doing me a huge favor so I gave them a huge break on the rent, having it cover only the lot rent and a bit more to give me some income during the month. But now we’re running into problems.
Firstly, they’re complaining that the water heater isn’t doing a good job. It’s a 50 gallon tank and they’re claiming that after one load of laundry and one shower, all the hot water is gone. I never experienced that while living there and they’re pushing a bit for us to replace the heater. My feeling is, if there’s nothing wrong with it, why should I have to pay for a new heater? But my father says that since it’s an item of comfort that it’s my responsibility to replace it if it’s not suitable for their needs. What’s the law on this? We’re located in Oregon.
Secondly, they’re receiving food stamps and the husband recently acquired a job thus reducing their food stamps to $15 a month. When they moved in, we pulled up a lease that included my cousin, her husband and their adult child. What they’re asking me to do is draft up a new lease showing only the husband and the child on it. Apparently doing so will show that they’re living separately and he’ll gain more food stamps a month. I’m really not sure. Would this be an illegal action on my part? Would I be involved in defrauding the government?
How long are their showers? How long until the water is hot again? It seems to me (and this is not based on any expertise other then what I have been told be my landlords in California), unless the hot water heater isn’t working properly, you are not obligated to replace it. Who is to say the next one will be any better? It may just be that their water use habits are at fault. Now, if it is actually broken, then that would be a different story. Maybe you can have someone come out and look at it and tell you if there is something wrong with it.
*Please take all my advise with a grain of salt as I have no idea what I am talking about.
Exactly - I rented a place and lived alone for the first 7 months and had no trouble. I moved a BF in, and he started complaining that the water heater didn’t work, it always ran out on him “halfway through his shower” and I pointed out he was taking half hour and 45 minute long showers as opposed to my 10 and 15 minute showers. :rolleyes:
Now a tankless/on demand/eutetic water heater might be an idea when you get the money to replace the current hot water system. That may be what they are accustomed to, so they are in the habit of taking very LONG showers.
As a renter, I think the renter just needs to adjust to how much hot water the heater holds, and adjust habits accordingly. One thing you could do (if utilities are theirs) is raise the temperature of the hot water so they use less and mix it with more cold to make a comfortable shower temperature. You could also make sure the shower head and all the sink spigots are good water-savers.
Of all the apartments I’ve lived in, I only lived in one that was “self-contained” and all-electric. So while I had my own water heater, it was only 20 or 30 gallons or something. When I was newly moved-in, I ran out of hot water until I figured out to shorten showers and raise the temperature of the tank. I don’t think it was the landlord’s responsibility to change the heater just to accommodate my habits.
All the other buildings I’ve lived in have been large, older buildings with huge central heaters and you can run hot water for an hour without running out. If your cousin’s family is used to that, then they just need it explained to them. This is how a house works.
Re-doing the lease would be fraudulent, plus you would have someone living in your house who is off-lease and therefore not responsible for damage.
Electric or gas? If it is electric, sounds like you have a bad lower element. It is usually pretty easy to change. Here is one resource, and here is another.
aruvqan, you’re probably right about the long showers. The first thing they had my dad do when they moved in was to raise the temperature on the water heater. I thought the water was hot enough when I lived there so either they must be taking some long, hot showers for it to be running out so quickly.
I am going to have my dad go look at the heater tomorrow or so. It’s an electric one so maybe it’s something simple like Terry Kennedy mentioned.
I really don’t feel comfortable with the lease thing either and knowing now it IS fraud makes me even more uneasy. But it seems one of the downsides of renting to family is that you find it hard to tell them no…
Food stamps are issued by the US Dept of Agriculture. The Federal government does not like to be defrauded. It’s bad enough that the Feds are paying through the nose for all the entitlement programs. Don’t add to the mess.
The whole situation has got a bad taste to it. Beware when they start trying to pay the rent in segments.
~VOW
Do they not understand that one parent can’t just live away and the remaining parent and child get free food stamps? The state will pursue the mother for child support if they claim to live apart. Also, I have heard of homes being inspected unannounced to see if the occupants were as claimed on assistance applications, so that’s one way they could get caught.
50 gallons is generous. If the water heats to a reasonable temperature in a reasonable time (both easy to check), no further action is called for. If not, heating elements are not expensive and fairly easy to install, as Terry K. notes.
Nothing here indicates that this water heater should be replaced.
If they are using 50 gal of water for one shower and one load of laundry, I hope for your sake that they are paying all utility bills.
Speaking of which: OP, how likely are you to be able to get market rate rent if you rent to strangers? I’d say boot 'em and get more money. Sounds like these folks are either taking advantage because you’re family or they are just problem tenants.
I once had a problem with my heater due to the dip tube having disintergrated. This meant that the cold water that entered the heater was being sucked right out through the hot water exit pipe.
Probably not the case here, but you never know. It’s not an uncommon problem. One thing that happened in our case - we kept seeing tiny pieces of plastic in the water - these were pieces of the disintegrated dip tube.
Please be careful when adjusting the water heater. If you set it too high, and someone gets scalded, you’re ripe for a HUGE lawsuit. If your cousins are already trying to defraud on foodstamps, I wouldn’t put it past them to try and sue you. Check out your local codes on water temperatures.
I also had a bad water heater dip tube. It was not disintegrated, but had a large hole about 1/2 down. It was a 50 gal. heater and we barely had enough water for one shower until it was fixed. This is worth checking.
Also, make sure the shower head(s) are low flow (2.5 gal/min). Many older shower heads will go through 50 gal of hot water in no time.
I assume if you look at the current water bill, you could judge if they are using more water than normal?
I can see if the larger household results in a water complaint, though. My water (apt) gets a wee bit cold at the end of a bath. So if there were 3 of us (or even 2 adults), I’d be irritated.
