the tenant is feeding you a line of b.s.If the fan wasn’t on ,it was’nt using any thing to cause heat or fire.

i think you are making this too complicated; if the whole group of guys signed the lease, they are all on the hook together for any damage any or all of them cause. if the ones that stayed gave the one who caused the damage his share of the deposit back before you released them from liability, the ones who remained assumed the liability. they should pay for the damage and it’s up to them to collect their loss from their former roommate. case closed.

His roommates shouldn’t have given him back his part of the deposit, if he caused the damage. (and they’re not nice guys, they’re trying to stick you with the bill).

If it was your appliance, then I could see the tenant saying that it was your fault. Since it wasn’t, it shouldn’t be your problem. If your tenants carry renter’s insurance it might cover it.

I’m not an electrician but I have owned fans for many years. I’ve taken them apart before too, and part of what makes a fan go is a little box filled with grease and ball bearings…I’m sure there’s a more technical name for it, of course, but when a fan starts to get old that box will start to wear out. Usually a fan will start to show signs of not working well…a hot smell or slower speed or trouble starting to turn when you switch it on…before it actually either quits working or catches fire. It’s possible that the grease in that box had ignited and then the tenant turned off the fan because it smelled hot, but by then the fire was already started. That’s a much more likely scenario than a power surge.

You’re lucky that the whole place didn’t burn down.

Sure. Just because its off, there’s still electricity flowing into the appliance. The “on/off” switch just prevents the electricity from making it to the motor. A faulty switch could probably cause problems like you described