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Hi, My name is Jim and our company is Vantage Property Management
Today we're going to take some time to discuss the difference between, what is "normal tenant wear and tear", versus tenant caused damage.
Sometimes the difference between the two can become a pretty thin line. As a management company with over 300 properties under our care, we are used to having these questions come up on almost a daily basis.
In the course of a typical year, after tenant nonpayment of rent issues, we spend considerable time in court addressing security deposit issues, in which the property owner and the tenant have a difference of opinion over tenant damage issues.
There are a couple of things that we can do before hand, in order to head off these types of problems at the end of the lease.
The first important thing that you can do as a landlord (We discuss this at length in another blog) is to conduct an in depth, room by room, written inspection of the property just prior to the tenant's move in.
This inspection report should be provided to the new tenants. The tenants should then be invited to discuss any issues which they may have with items contained in the inspection report. Resolving problems concerning the condition of the property at the beginning of the lease will go a long way towards heading off issues at lease end.
The next thing that must be remembered as a landlord is, that the tenants are going to actually live day to day in the home. Walls are going to get scuffed and carpets going to get worn. These are just some of the normal items which the landlord has to expect from time to time during the course of ownership of an investment property.
Where it starts to get "dicey" is when it becomes less clear as to where normal wear and tear ends and tenant damage begins.
The following is a scenario in which we have many times ended up in the local District Court, when the landlord and the tenant have not been able to work through the wear & tear/tenant damage issue without the assistance of the Court.
The scenario goes as follows: The lease has ended and our final inspection notes that, right in the middle of the living room carpet, there is this mysterious, big pink stain.
We report this issue to the property owner, who then instructs us to charge this against the tenant's security deposit, as tenant related damage. The tenant disagrees and we all end up in court.
The landlord testifies that the pink stain was caused by the tenant; the carpet is ruined and therefore asks the Court to award the cost of the carpet replacement from the tenant's security deposit.
The tenant replies that, "We have learned that the carpet was six years old when we moved in, and we just don't think we should have to pay for the replacement".
Guess what, the Court is going to consider the age of the carpeting in the their ruling. The judge then hands down the following ruling, "Yes Mr. tenant, you did cause the big stain in the carpet. However, because the carpeting was installed over six years ago, it has seen it's useful life (this is called depreciation). Therefore, Mr. Landlord, the Court is going to rule in favor of the tenant in this matter".
These are just some of the issues which will come up in the course of day to day property management. As I mentioned earlier, it's sometimes a "very thin line" between normal tenant wear and tear and actual tenant damage.
If we can give you some additional information on this subject, feel free to contact us here at Vantage Property Management.
What Is Normal Wear and Tear?
1120 Benfield Blvd.
Millersville, MD 21108
Vantage Property Management
410.729.2770