Question about tenant damage to hardwood floors

[Anil Thomas]

Hello BP community,

Wanted to get your advice about repairs to our rental:

We have just had our first tenant move out of our rental home.  The tenant had put a plant pot on the hard wood floor on the first floor which caused damage (discoloration of the wood with an uneven surface).  Our property management company has just informed me that they will only charge the tenant to fix the square footage that was damaged (and this would be based on the age of the floors too -- home was built in 2001).  They had a flooring company assess the floors and we were quoted about $4100 to refinish the whole first floor hardwood floors.  I do not want to pay to refinish the floors -- and it seems unfair that the tenant would only have to pay for a small area of damage as this area cannot be repaired without repairing a larger area.  (We have a $3200 deposit on the home which is being held by the property management company).  Not sure what the tenant is responsible for in this situation?

Thanks.  

[Deanna McCormick]

I'd get another quote for the work, but to repair or restore to original condition is the issue, I would go forward and charge for the entire restoration of the area of that room. Get a detailed explanation from your flooring company and take photo's of the damage.. Make sure you get the sec deposit statement out to the tenant that left within your state allotted time period or you'll not be able to charge a dime. In this case if it were me I'd charge for the repair and if they don't like it I'd let them take me to court.. Give complete details with the move out sec dep statement to them with photo copy and bill from the flooring guy. Flooring guys can do a good job and don't necessarily have to do the entire 1st floor,, so sounds like the flooring guy may have been pushing for a larger job than what you required to do, get another bid.