Apartment Manager - End of Lease Procedures

[John Murphy]

Hi, I've been an Apartment Manager for 10 years.  I manage 8 apartments.

One of the things I did from the beginning was to paint all 8 apartment interiors the same color: Antique White Semi Gloss.

Here we are 10 years later and a lot of the apartments look great - the interior paint has held up well.  For example, I recently had a tenant end a five year lease and as I know exactly what paint color is there, I was able to touch up the entire apartment with 1-2 gallons of paint.  I did not have to brush the top of the wall or the lower section of the wall.  No brush work = much less time.

But then my next end of the lease apartment was very different.  The tenant had been there for 7-8 years and I had to thoroughly scrub the walls and even then when I rolled the middle of the walls on the interior, guess what the exact paint did not match.  I thought about this and realized the reason the paint didn't match was because the tenants had cooked three meals a day for 7-8 years and there was smoke discoloration at the top of the wall.

1-2 gallons of paint did then turned into 5-6 gallons of paint and I had to brush (cut in) both the top of the wall where it meets the ceiling and the bottom of the wall where the baseboard meets the floor.  Instead of 1-2 days of getting an apartment ready for the next tenant, it took 5-6 days.

My question is - would a court say that the second apartment and the additional costs for additional paint and additional labor to paint - this is reasonable use and therefore the landlord has full responsibility.

Or, on the other hand, is the tenant responsible for the end of lease interior painting and the additional cleaning which was required to prepare the interior walls for painting?  The first apartment required very little cleaning.  The tenant was clean and tidy.  The second tenant was not so clean and tidy.  Additionally there were kids and probably more messes and stains on the wall.  

My question is does the tenant owe for the cleaning and interior painting?  What would a court say?  Would the court say that the interior paint job was needed as the result of normal wear and tear and normal use and therefore it is fully the landlord's responsibility?

[Patrick O'Sullivan]

I'd agree with Greg. After 7 to 8 years, a repaint is normal wear and tear, even with heavy cooking and daily use. I'd only charge the tenant for damage beyond that, like unauthorized paint, holes, or stains that need extra prep work. Otherwise, it's a turnover cost.