Owning a rental property comes with many benefits and a lot of challenges. If your property is located in an area with a temperate climate, one of the issues you may encounter is frozen pipes during winter. These can be pipes within the grounds of your property or inside the home.
Ideally, this is not something that should happen in a modern building. Modern houses are designed to have their own internal climate. The structure has systems that regulate its temperature to keep the home comfortable, regardless of what is happening outside.
But sometimes, this feature may not work, due to human error or system malfunction. When this happens, one of the consequences could be pipes freezing in very cold weather. A pipe freeze or burst can disrupt the water supply and should be solved immediately.
In a rental property, whose responsibility is it to deal with this problem?
Is the landlord supposed to solve frozen pipe issues or is this something the tenants are meant to take care of? This is a big source of conflict between landlords and tenants, says Keyrenter Property Management. Resolving it ahead of time is crucial for the landlord-tenant relationship.
Why Do Pipes in a Rental Property Freeze?
To answer the first question of who is responsible for solving frozen pipe issues in a rental property, it is important to understand what causes pipes to freeze. There are three primary reasons why the pipes in your rental property may freeze:
- Quick drops in temperature
Ambient temperature can fall very low during snowstorms and after heavy snowfalls. But this alone will not cause the pipes in the home to freeze. Extremely low outside temperature must be accompanied by other factors before it will lead to frozen pipes.
- Damaged or inadequate insulation
If pipes that are exposed to cold air are not properly insulated, they may freeze. Also if there are cracks and openings that let cold air into the home, pipes close to these areas will be prone to freeze.
- Low indoor temperatures
This is mainly due to the thermostat being set too low. To keep pipes from freezing, thermostats should be set at the same temperature day and night.
Landlord Responsibilities for Frozen Pipes
Landlord responsibilities for preventing or resolving frozen pipe problem is twofold. Firstly, landlords are required to provide every amenity needed to make the home livable. These include functioning plumbing and a home that is adequately weather-proofed.
If pipes in a rental home freeze due to problems with the plumbing, heating, or insulation, the problem is the landlord’s to pay for. This is true even if the fault is due to the way a particular feature was installed and the landlord did not know of the problem.
The second aspect of landlord’s responsibility for frozen pipes is that landlords must educate their tenants on how to prevent frozen pipes in the home. The details of how to do this should be included in the lease agreement and the orientation new tenants get.
Some of the steps landlords should instruct tenants to follow during very cold weather are:
- Keeping garage doors closed.
- Leaving the closet and cabinet doors open to let pipes be warmed by the room temperature.
- Letting a trickle of water drip from faucets to keep water flowing through pipes and keep them from freezing.
However, after a tenant has followed these instructions and the pipes in the home still freeze, the financial responsibility for the problem lies with the landlord.
Tenant Responsibilities for Frozen Pipes
Just as landlords have an obligation to provide a rental home with adequate plumbing, heating, and insulation, tenants have the duty to use these amenities reasonably and to do what they should to protect the landlord’s property.
If a tenant fails to protect the owner’s property by doing any of the following, they will be held liable for any frozen pipes in the home:
- If the tenant goes on vacation without shutting off the water supply or draining the water system and the pipes freeze as a result.
- The tenant fails to follow the landlord’s instructions on how to prevent frozen pipes in the home.
- The tenant takes actions that damage the insulation, plumbing, or heating in the home.
- The tenant detects a problem with the insulation, plumbing, or heating and fails to inform the landlord, leaving the issue to cause the pipes in the home to freeze and ultimately burst.
What to do When a Pipe Freezes
- It is the tenant’s duty, as the person who lives in the home and is in close proximity to the system, to inform the landlord of the problem.
- Landlords on their part are to take immediate action to resolve the problem, regardless of who caused it. Afterward, they can try to determine if the tenant is responsible for the damage.
- Finally, to solve a problem with frozen or burst pipes, call a qualified emergency plumber, do not attempt to fix it yourself. Frozen pipes are often accompanied by costly leaks and extensive damage to the building or tenant’s belongings.