What is landlord of shared rental required to repair?

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I have a house and rent several rooms. I had some questions about what is required to be repaired -- I am not automatically fixing these items because I am not sure how much longer I will have the house (it is going into repossession at some time) and I do not consider these items critical (but now I am questioning this premise). The house is in Austin area, Texas.

1. I had a working 9 year old hot tub that had its first repair, a new control panel, put in but a year ago. A few months back the control panel stopped working, it seemed the renters might have messed with it until it broke. Since this is an amenity and not a basic item, I considered I will not bother to repair it. Am I obligated if the item is not listed in the lease, but was listed on the ad as a feature of the house?

2. The stove top has four burners, of which two stopped working at the same time (probably some controller), but two still work. Am I obligated to have ALL FOUR burners in working order? When nobody ever cooks around the house?

3. I had central heat that broke only a few years into the house being finished in 2003 (the insurance company called it a maintenance issue and refused to pay up, and I never sued them, but probably should have). The winters are so mild in central Texas (mid November to end of January, if that, maybe a week of freezing nights all winter) that for years I have instead used a bunch of portable electric heaters, giving renters one for each of their rooms as well. This was never an issue with prior renters, but now I have a trouble maker, looking to stir up trouble, so I am reexamining my obligations. Seems, portable heat performs the same or equivalent function as central heat, particularly in such a mild climate. Replacing the whole heating unit would of course be extremely expensive.

On the other hand, this person is the worst of my tenants, and the worst I have had in a LONG time, constantly messing up the kitchen, leaving dirty glasses, utensils etc. that are never cleaned, never ppicking up after anything she does, like opening a food package, cigarette butts everywhere in common areas, decks, even on the path outside, her room reeks of cigarette smoke, sleeps during the day (light sleeper) then stays up til all hours of the night, drinks to excess, never cleans her shared bathroom, etc.. I was considering fixing what I could reasonably be considered obligated to fix, then kicking her out and taking my chances she'll try to drag out some sort of revenge in the court.

I know laws vary by state and even by county, but maybe someone has some insight into all this?
- I DO have a replacement unit for the two burners, the one that came with the original stove, it is one of those Jenn Air grill units instead of the burners -- this would be a good replacement, and would cost me ZERO, and one can argue actually ENHANCES the value of the stove! Will do this...

Answer
1 - no, you do not have to repair this at all.

2 - you can leave this too, only 1 burner has to work. However, they may really complain about this.

3 - sorry, but you are required to provide a heat source, and a portable does NOT meet that requirement. it is only acceptable for a couple of weeks. You have to get the heater working. A new one is not more then 3,000.

How to I get my puppy to behave in the bath tub?

fergimonke

So i recently asked a question about what is best to use if i dont have dog shampoo and to my luck there was some baby shampoo in the bathroom. I now recently just bathed my puppy in the bath tub and she hated she tried to get out and it was really hard trying to bathe her alone. After the bath I tried to blow dry her and that was even worse. Can any body help me? Maybe with tips or ways to train her not to fidget so much!

Answer
For the blow-dryer: Run it without going near your puppy until he's not afraid of the noise. Then, when you do blow-dry him, use it on low on the cool setting, ten inches or more away from your dog, and rapidly flip your wrist from side to side as you dry him to prevent irritating his skin with any heat. Also it helps if you keep running your other hand through his coat at the spot you're drying to break up the airflow and monitor the heat. If you can walk or crate the dog to dry instead, that is better. If you will want to blow-dry him often, consider getting a dryer designed for dogs which do not get hot.

For baths: Put a non-slip mat in the floor of your tub. As someone else suggested, a hand-held sprayer (shower attachment) helps alot. Try these steps; take them in order and don't move to the next step until your dog is good at the step you have been working on. You may need to repeat each step several times before moving on to the next one.

1) Put dog in tub, on the mat and place a swipe of peanut butter at his eye level on the side of the tub for him to eat. Do not turn the water on and do not give him a bath. Remove him from the tub BEFORE he finishes the treat! If he does not eat the peanut butter, keep doing this until he does.

2) Put dog in tub, put peanut butter as before, turn the water on for four seconds or less, turn the water off. No bath. Repeat until he ignores the water and eats the peanut butter; stop before he runs out of peanut butter. Go to next step only when he ignores the water. Take this step slowly.

3) Dog and peanut butter in tub, turn on water, place stopper in tub, fill tub to ankle level on dog, then drain the tub and stop. No bath.

4) Dog and peanut butter, fill tub to ankle level on dog, wet your hands and pet the dog. No bath.

5) Try a quick bath with peanut butter and lots of praise.

6) Use peanut butter every other bath.

7) Use peanut butter every few baths.

8) Once a month or so, put dog in tub with peanut butter and do not give him a bath.

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