Assessing Tenant Damages
I did a complete gut on a multi-family brownstone so the tenants moved into an apartment that was brand-new, with all the current amenities. The first tenants are moving out and I’d like to get a sense of whether three issues exceed “normal wear and tear” and should be covered by their security deposit: 1)…
I did a complete gut on a multi-family brownstone so the tenants moved into an apartment that was brand-new, with all the current amenities.
The first tenants are moving out and I’d like to get a sense of whether three issues exceed “normal wear and tear” and should be covered by their security deposit:
1) Floors…there were 2 girls in the apt. who ALWAYS wore high heels. The result is hundreds of tiny dings in the floor, which is primarily beech with cherry in the bedrooms…really hard woods! Whether I resand them now or not, I feel like this is excessive damage but would love the forum’s input.
2) Painting…while the apartment is going to be repainted for new tenants, these people violated the lease by smoking in the apartment…not ALL the time, but bouts of days at a time throughout the past 18 months. Should they contribute at all to the cost of repainting?
3) Stainless steel fridge: They must have used some cheap magnets that left really, really bad scratches on the fridge door. I’m not even sure how to remedy that, but I think that’s beyond normal wear and tear, right?
I want to be fair to both them and me, so thanks for your input.
I think something is wrong if your floors are that damaged from someone wearing high heels. It can’t be hardwood. I can see the varnish damaged and scratching, but pit marks? I’ve worn heels all my life on hardwood floors and never saw that. Only a soft wood would pit. Maybe they lied and gave you engineered or even pine? Women wear heels- especially businesswomen so there isn’t much you can do about that.
Everything sounds pretty much like normal wear and tear (I used to be the super for my apartment building when I lived in BH.)
No bobjohn only men in sneakers. Evedently you have never had to live with a nosey landlord that looks at every person that goes in and out of your appartment. You have more privacy in a prison.
You must be joking. It completely defeats the purpose of the solid wood floor. You mean I cannot see women on high heels just because floor can be scratched?!?
We recently installed solid brazilian walnut floors, one of the hardest woods available, and the documentation specifically warned against wearing high heels. High heels can and will cause this type of damage.
Occasional smoking for a year will not stain the walls.
Make sure you rent to all men that don’t smoke cook or wear high heals. Sounds like someone complaining about their ass wrinkling their just pressed shirt to me.
Normal wear and tear.
However, if you had a “carpet clause” in the lease that they did not follow then you might have a case regarding the floor. Of course this should have been addressed during the time that they were living there.
I’m a landlord: I once charged a departing tenant because her daughter tap-danced with steel-tap tap-shoes on a newly installed oak hardwood floor. I have walked around my own identical floors with high heels and the floors suffered no damage whatsoever. Perhaps the heel marks you are seeing are from something other than high heels, in which case you should charge for sanding and refinishing. Or as others have posted, the floors are perhaps not actually hardwood. Don’t charge for smoke-stained walls if you were honestly going to repaint regardless. If there is an inexpensive way to buff the scratches out of the refrigerator, don’t charge. If you require a pro, pass the charge to the tenant. If scratches are inevitable and impossible to get out, then learn your lesson and don’t buy trendy stainless steel again, but don’t bother charging the tenant. Stainless is its way out of style anyway, since the affordable type is cheap, as in crappy and not durable.
That stuff happens. It’s all minor and cosmetic and will not affect the price of renting the apartment to any new tenants… so…. I think you’re being a bit ocd.