It's not negligence to not sit and watch your washing machine run every time you do a load. Nor is it to start a load in the morning and head out to work or run errands, people do this all the time.

Did you require your tenant to purchase renter's insurance in your lease? If you can prove he broke the strap (good luck) instead of it simply failing, go ahead and try to sue him. If he has insurance, his insurance company will most likely fight against the claim.

A tenant policy only covers the tenants belongings. Your homeowners insurance should cover the damage. You would have to put in a claim with your insurance company first. If the insurance company feels that your tenant was neglegent than they would file a suit against the tenant.

As a landlord I agree that the tenant should pay....but unfortuantely tenants have more rights than landlords!

Good luck!

Unless there is a specific clause in the contract about the washer and dryer, or you can prove that the tie down straps had been cut or removed, which would prove that the machine had been moved, I would say that your insurance will have to cover the cost of the repairs.

There is no way to prove that your tenant left their wash unattended, and what does that mean anyway? No one stands over their washing machine while it's running. The fact that tie downs were used to keep the drain hose in the water outlet, suggests to me that the hose wasn't long enough to start with. If I were you, I would have longer drain hoses installed, to make sure the hose goes down into the drain valve at least a foot. This is how our washer is hooked to the outlet drain in our house.

I agree that lots of people leave their wash unattended, personally I do not. However, I don't believe one should have a get ouf of jail free card in the unlikely event that something happens while one is away. The tenant was definitely away as the HOA and owner in the unit below had been knocking on the door and he contacted me when he arrived 3 hours later. I have a few properties and over the years there has not been one incident of the drain hose coming loose even when the hose is not tied down. This has never happened in my own home and I do not tie it down. It is very rare that a drain hose comes loose without some help and the hose is definetly long enough and was definitely secured down as I witnessed. The intstaller said it is their policy to tie the hose down to ensure that it does not come loose. My property manager thinks also the tenant is liable. This is still ongoing but I hope that if the tenant will at least pay for half the damages and I would be satisfied. Yes, I agree bumblebee, it's unfortunate that tenant's have more rights and the upper hand. Next time I will have an additional clause added to the contract that the tenant should not operate any appliances while not in the unit.. Thanks for everyone's responses, much appreciated.

I find the design of the washing machine fishy. If the installer need to use a tie wrap to secure the drain hose, it means that the initial design was flawed. The installer obviously knew that the drain is proned to dislodging too. A tie wrap is not a permanent solution. Most washing machines have a drain hose secured by a c-clip. It is better able to withstand vibration durng the washing. If a tie wrap is secured too rigidly, it can break during heavy vibration. Plastic tie wrap will also deteriorate with time. It hardens with age. I would give the benefit of the doubt to your tenant.

Not withstanding the above, I would say it is difficult to hold your tenant responsible for damage resulting from normal operation of machines.

You may also want to consider locating the washing machine in a more suitable location.

The washing machine was installed by Lowes whose written policy is to tie down all washing machine hoses. The strap would not deteriate in just 4 months especially in an enclosed environment not subject to the weather. I have the same nylon tie downs outside on my balcony for years and they have not deteriated. We are currently in the process of receiving the installer's report with the policy. The manager believes the installer would have checked the box that he tied down the hose with a strap which again I witnessed. I think that the tenant may have dropped something behind the washing machine and had to cut the strap to pull the washing machine out from the wall and failed to re-install the hose correctly. This makes the most sense to me. If in the end, we can't prove the drain hose was secured by the tie strap then we will be paying for all the damages and the tenant wins again as usual.

Send the tenant a bill. Verbally tell him you will agree to him paying half of it. If he does not pay it take it out in his security deposit.
States vary on what you have to do to be able to report debts to the credit bureaus In some states you can simply turn over your lease file to a collection agency and they can report him to the credit bureaus.
The damages may have been a accident but the neighbors below your tenant should not have to pay for the damages. The unit belongs to you but you are not responsible for the accident either. Your tenant is responsible. He was operating the machine at the time it malfunctioned. He is responsible for making sure the equipment is working properly before using them.

Each state has various laws regarding tenant responsibility.
You will need to consult an attorney to see if your state will allow you to hold the tenant responsible.
You may begin by contacting the company that installed the washing machine & ask if their installer will provide you with documentation stating when the washer was installed & that he indeed secured the hose. Once you obtain some proof, you can consult an attorney to see if the tenant can be held responsible. In the future, you can require a tenant to hold renter's insurance as a condition to rent from you.

The tenant should be held responsible for the water damage caused by the washing machine leak from the drain because no one was available in the unit at the time of the incident to prevent the water damages from spreading to the downstairs unit. Attempts were made to contact the tenant about the leak and since no one was available during the time of the leakage then the tenant should be held accountable for the damages caused by the machine. The tenant should pay the bill for not being at home when the leak started. It proves negligence The landlord is not at fault and the tenant should accept full responsibility for repairing the damages caused by their washing machine.

With something like this, you should look to the person who installed the strap and the machine, or even the manufacturer of the machine itself.

Unless you have a written rule that a tenant should remain in the apartment and keep an eye on the washer while it's going, the tenant should not be held responsible (unless perhaps you can get some solid evidence of his tampering with the strap or hose).

The fault is with the machine itself or the installation (as we don't know everything about manufacture or installation, and something might have been amiss).

If you can't get anyone to pay for this, at least you could deduct it as an expense. If the tenant otherwise is a good tenant and pays on time, it would be worth keeping him.