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I had a good tenant for 5 years. They created some damage in the apartment and I wanted to get sense of what I should charge. I am NOT charging for the labor.
1. Broken porcelain sink - the sink is attached to a marble countertop with cement (not clips or silicone). I got an estimate to have it repaired for $1200. Plumbing disconnect and reconnect not included. A new countertop cost $1000 shipped. I opted for a new countertop. What should I charge the tenants?
2. Cabinet under broken sink heavily damaged and full of mold. They used the sink after it was cracked. I cleaned out the mold the best I could and cut out the rotten wood. I put in new wood but it's a different color. It looks like a bandage. Cabinet cost $1000.
3. Cabinet under Kitchen sink rotted out / full of mold from leak. I cut out the damaged part and replaced with new wood. Cabinet cost $750. I feel the tenants should have reported the leak which I would have gladly repaired.
First things first, make a complete list of everything that needs to be replaced/fixed and itemize the cost and make a journal of what you have already done to correct it. Will you still be renting out the unit to the same or another renter? Do you think your renter can afford to pay you back at all and if so, will it need to be broken into multiple payments? Did the renter provide any deposit? When I had a renter who damaged my garage door and required replacement, I retained 50% of his original deposit when they moved out as a penalty but I should have retained more after I started cleaning up the unit. Being a landlord can be challenging at times and you never know what could happen. Good luck.
First make sure you are within the statutory time frame to account for the security deposit otherwise you may be prohibited from charging anything.
Second, check with your landlord association to see what standard Judges in your area apply to damages. In many areas, Judges are strict about requiring proof of condition at time of move in and move out in order to establish the baseline condition of the item. They may also expect some ownership over the property by limiting damages to what occurred based on your last unit inspection. lastly, find out if they are "by grade" Judges who wont allow damages above a certain range when talking about above grade fixtures. So a damaged gold plated faucet may only get you a better grade stainless steel replacement value.
Now, if there are no impediments you can see, charge for the cost of the damages you incurred keeping in mind if push comes to shove and this ends up in court, Judges have a bit of flexibility in assessing final damage awards.
First things first, make a complete list of everything that needs to be replaced/fixed and itemize the cost and make a journal of what you have already done to correct it. Will you still be renting out the unit to the same or another renter? Do you think your renter can afford to pay you back at all and if so, will it need to be broken into multiple payments? Did the renter provide any deposit? When I had a renter who damaged my garage door and required replacement, I retained 50% of his original deposit when they moved out as a penalty but I should have retained more after I started cleaning up the unit. Being a landlord can be challenging at times and you never know what could happen. Good luck.
I'll be renting to new tenants who have already signed a lease. New tenants moved out already. Didn't mention any of the damage to me. The security deposit more than covers the full replacement cost of everything listed. I don't think it's fair to charge full replacement b/c I'm not replacing everything.
Yeah - I've had that experience in the past .... being nice to the sellers of a small multi-family. They didn't clear out the junk from the buillding. I didn't think it would cost more than $300 dollars. It cost me way more than that. Being nice didn't payoff.
Since you fixed/replaced everything, how are you going to prove that the tenant did the damage ? Did you take any photos of the damage before you did the work ? I think you're out of luck at this point.
Since you fixed/replaced everything, how are you going to prove that the tenant did the damage ? Did you take any photos of the damage before you did the work ? I think you're out of luck at this point.
Check your state landlord-tenant laws regarding depreciation and lifespan. Landlord cannot charge full replacement cost to the tenant in some cases, based on how old the item was.
For example, carpet has an expected "life" based on wear and tear and a landlord cannot charge a tenant full cost to replace damaged carpet if the carpet is 4 years old(even if in brand new condition upon move-in). There is an expected lifespan of carpet and the landlord has to prorate the cost of the carpet in some states. Let's say state law says carpet lifespan is 8 years, and if the carpet, on date of move out, is 4 years old. In this case, landlord should charge 50% of the replacement cost.
Some states have lists of expected lifespan of various items in a rental home - even cabinets. Not sure about sinks. See if you can find out if there is a lifespan rule for sinks and vanity cabinets in your state. If you go to court, the judge would expect that you prorate fairly based on lifespan. I googled and found a reddit post saying sink lifespan is 15-25 years but no clue what state or if that is correct. Just saying that you need to research this.
State laws require that you notify renter of damages to be taken from their security deposit with X number of days. Make sure you follow rules for you state
Check your state landlord-tenant laws regarding depreciation and lifespan. Landlord cannot charge full replacement cost to the tenant in some cases, based on how old the item was.
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This is what I was going to say. There is a general depreciation schedule for rentals so you need to know how old things were before you charge them for it.
Always good to do a walk through on move in and move out dates.
A friend of mine takes pictures of his rental house the day before new renters move in and prints them that day.
When the renters move in, he has them initial the pictures verifying that the pictures represent the state of the house on that day.
He (or his manager) does a move-out walk through, also with pictures. If the renter won't do the walk through with him, he puts a newspaper with the date clearly showing in the pictures to show the condition on move out day.
It's a PITA, but he had gotten burned with tenants saying "the sink was damaged when we moved in" and that the LL's pictures were faked.
If there was one thing we learned as landlords it is to schedule and do inspections at intervals while the tenant is in the rental.
I had a medical doctor tenant who ignored an obvious ceiling leak from an upstairs shower- didn't bother to tell us. If it had gone on it would have been a disaster.
Take photos of ALL rooms before and after any rental!!! We're now out of the business (after about 30 years) of tearing our hair out. I'd say about 30% of our (well vetted we thought) tenants were good and had integrity. The rest pfssst!!
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