It was a Sunday evening, and the tenant from #3 called to report that her toilet was backed up. Worse than that, the toilet had overflowed. We confirmed that her apartment is a one-bedroom unit, so it was clear that without another bathroom, we had to get a drain-cleaning vendor out there as quickly as possible.

Our vendor went out, and it was a relatively simple clean-out … but what was pulled out was a surprise, and alerted us to a much larger problem. It was a build-up of “flushable wipes”. As it turns out, so-called “flushable wipes” are anything but flushable. If you have any doubts about this, try doing a Google search on ‘‘Images for Flushable Wipes Clog”. You will be amazed at the clogging capacity of these wipes, and disgusted by the pictures you will see.

The simple concept here is that nothing but “human waste” and toilet paper should be put in the toilet. Nothing else. We have talked to several drain-cleaning vendors, and all agree that flushable wipes have moved to first place as causes for drain blockages.

We decided that this is so important that we have now included a warning about this in our “Addendums” to new lease agreements, along with the advisories about Megan’s Law, Mold, Lead, etc. Our advisory goes as follows:

“So-called FLUSHABLE – WIPES ARE NOT FLUSHABLE. NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY ON THE LABLE, THEY DO NOT DISOLVE LIKE TOILET PAPER. THEY CAUSE TOILET CLOGS, AND IF YOU USE FLUSHABLE WIPES AND YOUR TOILET CLOGS BECAUSE OF THIS USAGE, YOU ARE HERE AGREEING THAT ALL CHARGES RELATED TO THE CLEAN-UP WILL BE PAID BY YOU.”

This warning is not likely to be 100% effective, as many people will just ignore what we write, but if it is even 50% effective we are way ahead. It just seems worth the effort to communicate with our tenants, and let them know if they are careless, there may be financial consequences. For our existing tenants, we send out annual up-dates to the house rules each December. This advisory will be added to that notice. It has worked well for us.

Dear Readers: This article is the 250th in a series based on the lessons we have learned the hard way. The contents of these articles are merely opinions of the writer. They are not intended as specific legal advice and should not be relied upon for that purpose. Our practice is in constant refinement as we adjust the way we operate in an ever- changing market. I appreciate your questions, comments, suggestions, and solutions.

Contact C. Finley Beven, CPM, CCAM, JD. 99 S. Lake Avenue, Pasadena, 91101. Fin.Beven@BevenandBrock.com www.BevenandBrock.com.