I am a landlord in Austin, TX... and recently got called because both sides of one of my properties had standing water in them. It was instantly obvious that my tenant replaced the toilet with a low-water use model that did not create enough back-pressure to clear the drains.

The property had backed-up septic lines; and the plumber feels it was the result of the toilet, which is known to cause problems such as this.

What I want to know is... if the city is soliciting these tenants by offering to give them money back if they change these toilets and these toilets because plumbing problems for the property owner, are they liable for my repairs?

I would love to use this as an example to point out how 'feel good' liberalism is truly a brain disease!

Are your tenants allowed, buy their lease, to replace the toliets?

We already knew it
but document the hell out of it, get an affidavit from the plumber, get another plumber to do the same thing, and sue the shit out of the libs, and your city.

Quoted: Are your tenants allowed, buy their lease, to replace the toilets?

No kidding.  I never even considered doing anything like that when I was renting.  That's the main reason I was itching to buy my own place. I couldn't DO anything to the place I was living in.

Below, is a reply to the email I sent telling him I wanted the conservation toilet replaced with one like was on it, and working. I dont know how to respond at this point, he pays good money, and early every month. I may just let it slide, however, the roto-rooter cost me $125 this morning, in addition to time away from an important meeting, and the other tennants had water in thier side as well.

The damned plubmer is telling us exactly what the problem is!!!

From:  tennant To: Landlord I have one clarification to make. As I stated in our telephone conversation, the old toilet had flushing problems, as well. Only rarely would the bowl completely empty of water during the flush, and the toilet would usually have to be flushed multiple times to get everything down. That lack of proper flushing was part of the reason we decided to replace the toilet. Not only was the toilet not flushing properly, the extra water we were using was a waste environmentally and financially. We never mentioned the flushing problems specifically because we figured it was due to the toilet, not to other issues. I think it is important to note that our friends who live in this same subdivision in a house that is equally as old had their sewer line break a few years back. The line leading to the street from their house was apparently made of clay and had broken due to ground shifting. Their toilet had similar problems until the line was replaced. Chad asked for specific information on the Niagra Flapperless toilet we received from the City of Austin. Here is a linkto the information on the Toilet Rebate Program on their website. On that page, the City links to two different reports on toilet performance, which they use in determining which toilets to offer in their water conservation programs. The two reports are the Maximum Performance (MaP) Testing of Popular Toilet Models, and the NAHB Water Closet Performance Testing report. Note that in MaP report the Niagra Flapperless toilet (Model N2216, Round Bowl) was given a score of 750 out of 1000 and in the NAHB report it was given a flush index of 0.3 (with 0.0 being the best and 100.0 being the worst) and is rated number 4 out of the 52 models tested. The high testing rates of this new toilet and the presence of the same problems with the old toilet lead me to believe that the new toilet is not causing our current problems. I believe that the line is either broken or in another way affecting the waterflow, or possibly that the new toilet was not put in properly (since it leans forward more than I would expect it to). Thank you for meeting the plumbers today and helping Lindsey out. I especially appreciate it since I am not able to be there myself. I will continue to pursue remedies for this issue when I return to the U.S. next week. Signed, Renter

I find it odd that he knows this much about tiolets, and is not a licesnse plubmer.