Tenants trashed the home (Austin: renter, appliances, lawyer)

[tibbar]

I would try a product called Folex on the rugs. It is amazing what will come up and doesn't leave a soapy residue. I spray is on, agitate it with my fingers and blot it up with an old towel. I buy it at Home Depot but I think it is available in many stores. Check out the videos on you tube to see it in action.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by infoseeker2010

Hi,

The tenants I had were quite hard on our home and literary abused it.

1) There are red/brown/soil spots on carpet all over the house. I am out of town but my realtor inspected the house and says she doubts if those can be cleaned even by professional carpet cleaners/company. The stair carpet is almost black now. My Realtor said overall carpet is like a mechanic lived there walking in and out with his work shoes on.
2) The tiles are a mess. The grouts used to be just like brand new, light brown color and now they are literary black.
3) The tenants didn't disclose they have a pet. But from scratches on wall around the home, it surely looks they had pet.
4) They messed up a total green yard into a weed hub with tons of brown patches. Now total area of brown patches is more than grass.

We just have $2000 in deposit. According to the Realtor, the total cleaning expense itself will be $1500-$2000. And she thinks the carpet can't be cleaned but will have to replaced. The total carpet area in the home is about 1700-1800 sq ft. According to her, even with average carpet quality, it will be at least $8000-$9000 to put new carpet. Is this reasonable?

I need following help from you members. DM if your responses violate CD rules.

1) Recommended new carpet installation company
2) Recommended cleaners : carpet, tiles, bathroom, overall home

Do you think I have a legal course in this situation if the tenants don't agree to pay for damages?
a) This definitely look more than normal wear and tear. I have photos of the house when it was listed for rent and current photos.
b) Also the tenants missed to give 60-day notice to vacate in spite of it being required per lease agreement.
c) I recieved total 7-8 HOA violations notices after they moved-in. Luckily I got in touch with them to have it addressed and didn't end up paying a fine.

Please DM me your recommended lawyer information.

Well, this is the risk you put yourself into when you decided to rent out a place. Sorry, but this is the exact reason why I haven't gotten into the landlord business.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Absolutely!

Make sure you abide by state law regarding the required documentation and "timely" notice of damages. If damages exceed the security deposit you are entitled bill them, and to sue them for the additional costs plus court costs if they do not pay up.

Read up on your rights and obligations Austin Tenants’ Council/Tenant-Landlord Fact Sheets

Especially the part on Security Deposits. Austin Tenants’ Council/Security Deposits

In the end, the time spent on this and the attorneys fees would probably negate any savings. They need to suck up the cost and learn a few lessons next time.

[teasipmom]

You didn't mention how long the tenants lived there. The carpet and tile issues could be normal wear and tear, depending on how long they lived there. I mean they didn't spill bleach on the carpet or something like that. They just walked on it (granted, with dirty shoes).

[tstwahine]

I honestly don't have much faith in the realtor, especially considering the number they gave you for the carpet. That is obscenely high.

First off I'd consider the age of the carpet as others have suggested, what other damage was done to the house?

Carpet is a bad investment anyways with rentals because it easily stains and is not exactly as cheap as most people thing to replace.

My recommendation is to install decent quality laminate flooring. We did this in our first condo and then our first house. I think we paid $2.42 a sq.ft (we managed to get a 20% discount coupon for Lowes)... our floors were beautiful and they took the beating that iowa winters (tracked in sand) and our dogs nails threw at it. And everyone thought they were hardwood floors. We actually now have hardwood floors and are very dismayed with the damage our dogs nails has done with them.

My suggestion: Keep the deposit, get laminate flooring, don't use a realtor, get a good management service that is recommended by a person that you know (actually a friend of mine started using one recently when she was transferred to seattle, if you're interested PM me) and get photos of what your place looks like right now. Depending on what you see, the cost of new flooring then decide if you want to pursue something against the tenants. While some have suggested just going after them I suggest contacting them and seeing if they want to help settle the damages - I say this because I think that if they are logical tenants they wouldnt want to lose a court case and have a bad tenant judgement against them.

Either way I wish you good luck. But seriously, go with the laminate flooring (not bad, awful cheap stuff, scratch resistant). It will be completely worth it.

I was just looking at lowes and they have some very well reviewed ones for $1.99-2.50 a sq. foot. We did the install ourselves but sometimes you can hire people or if there is a special you can get it done for a decent deal.

Take care!

[camelian]

Another option would be to stain the concrete and maybe buy a few rugs. It would look nice and also be cheap/durable

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by camelian

Another option would be to stain the concrete and maybe buy a few rugs. It would look nice and also be cheap/durable

After pulling up tack strips and dealing with cracks, craters, etc, it would likely require floating a new surface on top of the slab(and dealing with the sub-floor upstairs. Cool idea for new construction, no easy feat for a re-do.

You could always sell it as is...!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by cBach

In the end, the time spent on this and the attorneys fees would probably negate any savings. They need to suck up the cost and learn a few lessons next time.

You can sue in small claims court for up to $10,000 without needing an attorney. There is no reason to let a tenant escape repercussions for causing all of that damage. Should not be hard to proove the damage, simply taking lots of dated photos to the court should easily proove the case. There is a good chance you can collect on a judgement against them given that it will have a major negative effect on their credit rating for years.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

You can sue in small claims court for up to $10,000 without needing an attorney. There is no reason to let a tenant escape repercussions for causing all of that damage. Should not be hard to proove the damage, simply taking lots of dated photos to the court should easily proove the case. There is a good chance you can collect on a judgement against them given that it will have a major negative effect on their credit rating for years.

If the tenants hire a halfway decent lawyer, the lawyer can claim the damage was either pre-existing or expected for the timeframe.

Trust me, if the tenants fought this out and had a good lawyer, the costs of fighting this would negate any possible judgment. You also have the time consumed spent on this, which time=$$$. Calculate the hourly rate you get paid and calculate all the time spent in court, add attorney's fees, etc... that's the real cost of it all.

The OP's need to chalk it up to the cost of not properly vetting their renters.

[cp102]

If you are an Angies list member they have some really excellent cleaning teams and carpet cleaners, on there and their rating, I am sure you can get this cleaned up and looking great again. Stains can normally be removed and the dirty dark areas can be removed. Don't let the real estate agent make you think its a loss. Maybe she uses a cleaning team she knows. But I doubt very much it could cost that much to clean a house. I bought a foreclosure with dirty carpets, grout, its 2200 square feet, I spent a total of $700 for cleaning the house and carpet, and the house looked new again. If it needs painting they have painter specials on there also. For the $2000 you should be able to get your house back in shape. How old were the carpets?