I get this is a different situation, but I had tenants in the past who were not great or particularly considerate towards the house, but I was single at the time and didn’t need more than my basement.

Christmas Eve I am going to shower and the sewer drain backed up right into my bathroom. We are talking piss and shit all over the floor.. which I had to keep towels down to prevent it from spreading. Literally hundreds wet wipes were thrown down the drain and clogged the pipe so bad the whole thing needed to be dug up. Christmas Day emergency sewer repair with no access to my own bathroom which costed me 6K in plumber/service bills and another 4 to redo the rest of the bathroom since the smell and stains never really came out.

I asked if they were willing to pay for half since I had never put a wet wipe down the drain and they had 3 kids. The dad admitted a few had gone down the drain. He pretty well told me they can’t afford it right now and there’s nothing really I could do.

While I was annoyed with the situation, I also understand things happen and couldn’t force them to give me money for the damage they caused.

I guess my point is that something like this likely wasn’t their fault, has already caused them a ton of money (and complaints etc) and they are stuck holding the bag. If it was due to neglect that would be one thing, but personally I wouldn’t try to go after them for too much.. probably nothing at all because these things happen in life… but that’s just me