Don’t flush that!

In large buildings tenants simply have to pay for all their own clogged drains. There are just too many people who can't understand that you shouldn't flush a dress shirt down a toilet. So landlords make them responsible for the plumber.

I try to humanize the relationship with my tenants so that they know I'm a real person with real monthly operating costs. I never say no to improvements or repairs and I don't raise tenants rents. Some tenants have been harder on my properties then others but the vast majority have been excellent. I'm very thankful for that. Children do the most damage and small dogs do nothing. I simply pay the bill and let them know how much it cost and brg them politely to not do such a thing again. If I have to pay a $1000 for someone's stupidity/carelessness so be it. It's better then having an angry tenant that wants to "stick it to the man".

I'd never let a plumbing issue go unaddressed as water damage can be worse then fire. This is the one thing that I beg my tenants to pay attention to.

Some landlord nickel and dime their tenants. I don't think either way is wrong. It's just a different business model. Part of my selling is my business model and the quality of my rental stock which is improved with every repair that isn't put off until later.

Seriously you need to tell ladies not to flush their monthly hygiene products? That is written on the box not to do that. Ugggg. Yet another reason I want to sell my place rather than rent it. I do not want to have to ever think about putting a clause in a lease that says you can only flush human waste and toilet paper.

I would think that a landlord would be smart to take care of these sorts of things and just call them the cost of doing business. The last thing you want is some renter trying to do it themselves and then cracking a pipe or making things otherwise worse.

And for what it is worth, there are plenty of "flush-able" toiletry items that really shouldn't be flushed, so where would you draw the line?

We have a rental property. The lease specifies what may and may not be flushed and what may and may not be poured into drains. We ask our tenants to carefully review all of the terms before signing.

I'm amazed at the variety and number of items (some toxic) that people dispose of in toilets and sink drains. Many people do not read warnings on the products they use. And, renters may not be as diligent as owners.

Toilets are for human waste and toilet tissue. Anything else, especially with a septic system, is harmful.

Having said this, we rarely bill our tenants for plumbing mishaps - unless we are feeling particularly exploited by a tenant's overall care and attitude toward our property.

Bv is right about the many items openly marketed as flush-able, but should never be flushed. That's what makes this issue such a problem.

It's easier to criticize women for flushing their monthly, or maternity, products that are aggressively advertised as completely safe to flush (and sometimes accidentally drop in-- and even "down"-- while flushing), than it is to go after companies that deliberately exaggerate or lie about their safety and convenience claims.

There are a lot of things out there that are falsely and convincingly hawked as safe to flush in both sewer and septic systems. A lot of people learn the hard way that the newer cat litters sold as being 100% flush-able are not flush-able, in reality. And for all the men and women out there who use "soothing wipes" for other toilet related issues, don't believe the lies about flush-ability. So much for truth in advertising...

Also, when you have toddlers, or little kids around... well... forget it; sooner or later your toilet's number comes up. With the toddlers in toilet training, you can watch like a hawk, but somehow they manage to out-gun you, at some point, with an item hidden in a pocket (or your pocket), or grabbed from nearby, just as the toilet is being flushed. And eventually, you do have to let little kids start using the bathroom by themselves... sigh...

Men and women who wear their hair long, or who bathe their pets, but forget to put the drain basket in, may be the least of the problem, nowadays. Some of the folks learning to cook, or trying "do it yourself" home/auto projects, pour all kinds of things down the drains.

I don't even know if the term "normal wear and tear" actually excludes some of life's surprising pitfalls.

Wes -- what it says on the box is not to flush the plastic/cardboard wrapper and applicator, and not to flush pads/liners which tend to have a plastic/adhesive backing.
In general, I am not particularly interested in living in an apartment where I can't flush a bloody tampon, so I'd rather you said that up front. Not flush tampons?? In Greece, you can't flush toilet paper after wiping your butt. To me, both those restrictions are equally disgusting. As for tissues, high quality toilet paper is definitely thicker than low quality facial tissues, so unless you are going to specify a thickness of your tenants' toilet paper I don't see how you can restrict tissues.

I own two 2families and have included clauses in the lease addenda with respect to plumbing clogs. Specifically, one tenant was quite annoyed when they had to hire a plumber to clear their toothbrush that had fallen in the toilet, clogging it. It was avoidable. As for drain clogs, I will typically pay for one drain cleaning (tubs & basement sinks used to drain washing machines are the biggest culprits) per tenancy (not per lease). Beyond that it's reasonable to assume any clogs are the result of the tenant's lint, hair, etc. getting into the drain, and if the tenant owned their own place they would need to pay for it.

Generally, these things are avoidable. Normal wear & tear (as in wood floor wear from normal walking) is not.