Can I keep security deposit for this?

Question

Biggerpockets Friends,

I have a situation where a tenant recently vacated my property. For the most part they left the condition of the home in pretty good shape. However, in an attempt to ensure he gets his security deposit back, the tenant bought paint from Home depot when the original color was from Sherwin Williams and attempted to touch up the wall through out the whole house. This of course just left the walls with spotty unmatched paint everywhere. This a three level townhouse. My contractor stated that with so much touch up work, it's best to paint the whole house. Is this something I can hold the security deposit to use to have the house painted, or at least a portion of the deposit. I hate to not return deposits for tenants that were generally very good, however it probably would have been better if he had not done anything and left the walls as is, where I would have paid to have minor clean up and touch up done. Any advise? Please share.

Russell Brazil · Answer

@Ian N. did you use the lease that Montgomery County provides? If you did, I might keep $500 from the deposit for the painting. If you did not, then Id likely return the entire deposit and use the county lease the next time around.

Ian N. · Answer

Linda D. The touchups were done on every single wall all over the wall, it's pretty all over the place, we found only one room that was in good shape the dining room so we are skipping that wall. I like your idea and that was my original thought, to give the tenant an opportunity to repair. They were good tenants. But to paint the whole house would cost me $4k.

Ian N. · Answer

@Russell Brazil. I use the GCAAR Montgomery County lease.

Linda S. · Answer

I'd just buy the original color from Sherwin Williams, and do touchups where they did it..   maybe start off in corners or areas of low traffic to see if it blends in, or if it stands out and looks bad.

If it doesn't blend in well, I'd look into painting the entire wall where the touch up is done, -- not the entire house (unless it's been 5+ years)...     Could you give the correct paint color to the tenant first, and see if they can fix the issue?   If they are painting, they obviously want their security deposit back, and they sound like good people, so I'd give them the options first-- as long as it looks good.   Can't beat new paint smell either!

Ian N. · Answer

@Alexander Felice The walls were painted exactly 1.5 years ago before the tenant moved in.

Ian N. · Answer

@Frank Chin I understand your point. The tenant stayed for a year and six months. The paint was not bad at all the last time I was at the property before he vacated, just minor ding, scratches, etc. Just one wall was bad due to their child marking it up with a pen but I was not concerned as I knew I could fix that easily. As I mentioned he had left the house without the touch ups, it would have been completely okay because in my view he didn't really do much damage to the wall (even with wear and tear) while residing there.

Ian N. · Answer

@Deanna McCormick I went to the house with the contractor and the paint on the house is cream color. It appears the tenant initially did this cover up with a completely wrong paint color of gray called Frosted White. Then after they noticed went back and bought the cream color called Paper White and re-did the work. My contractor attempted to do a few spots to see if they color will blend well but the tenants touch up color is still showing. I think had he not done the touch up in so many areas of each wall through out the whole house it would not be an issue. The contractor and I have a good relationship, he often does small work for me without a charge and in fact fixed some of the items the tenant had broke without a charge.

Frank Chin · Answer

I watched enough of Judge Judy to learn that when a tenant vacates, and if they been there for a little while, it's the landlord's responsibility to repaint due to wear and tear. In all these cases, the landlord kept the security for painting or re-carpeting.

In recent years, I switch from latex to semi gloss for rental apartments. Believe or not, folks don't notice the difference, and I primarily rent to young families. One tenant commented she was able to keep the unit tidy, since all she had to do is wipe the walls. No need to do touchup which is the source of your problem.

In fact, whereas before, I had to repaint after a two year tenancy, now after two years, a little wiping, it's as good as new. I had newer held back security to do painting.

Alexander Felice · Answer

When was the last time the walls were painted?

if more than ~3 years just suck it up. If they were just painted probably fair for you to take at least a portion.

imo

Ian N. · Answer

@Jason Hirko The lease has a repair deductible.

Can I keep security deposit for this?

Most Popular Reply