Are these rental turn/make-ready costs reasonable?

Question

After my tenant moved out after his year lease on my 4/2, 2000 sqft, 100K property in Indy, here are the make-ready estimates I got from the PM for the larger items along with a few other minor issues:

• Paint assorted walls & entire rooms - $775
• Carpet cleaning (tenant already cleaned the carpet & produced receipt, but the carpet is not clean enough) - $250
• Replace laundry room vinyl floor, since badly stained - $650

This property was completely rehabbed just over a year ago before the tenant moved in, so these issues don't seem to be normal wear & tear within a year.

What is an "average" make ready costs that others have seen? What of these costs would you go back and hit the tenant for?

Thanks in advance for any feedback

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

not knowing the specifics but you can count on usually 750 to 2k per turn over ... Its never nothing :)

Bettina F. · Answer

I would be interested in seeing a video walk-through by my PM.  We get 2-3 turns from a paint job, with only spackling nail holes and touch up paint with a Qtip.  We wash woodwork and trim down.  And how was the vinyl floor stained in just a year?  Is it just a little rust from washing machine feet, that will be covered by the next tenant's washer?

If these are legitimate repairs, I would charge them all to the tenant, but you first have to make sure your property manager is not exaggerating the condition.   Property repairs can be a big profit center for PMs.

A clean, fresh smelling carpet is a must, so the carpet cleaning charge sounds reasonable.

Bart H. · Answer

My sense is painting the walls is fairly common.  If you have a higher end price point, you more or less will need to have at least a few walls painted/patched.  We use the same color paint in all of our houses so that we can paint just a small portion of the walls.

Unless there was actual damage, ie writing on the walls or a large hole in the wall or something, imo the paint is regular wear and tear.

The carpet cleaning, I would ask why it was being cleaned again after the tenant supposedly cleaned it.  Minor wear and tear or small stains I think would be wear and tear.  A quart of motor oil, and I would be charging the tenant.  IMO you might consider changing out the carpeting sooner or later to something that would hold up to tenants a little better, lament flooring etc.  I think it will save you money in the long run.

The price the charged you on the carpeting seems about right, maybe a little on the high side, ie sounds like they just hired a retail cleaning service vs paying a handyman to do it.  Not obscene, but I would maybe look at how you could lower the cost in the future.

Vinyl floor, was it badly stained before the old tenants moved in?  If not, this sounds more like damage than wear and tear.  If it was damage, then I would charge the tenants.  Depending on the square footage, it sounds order of magnitude about right in price.

We typically find our turns are in that $700-1,500 range as well.  Paint, spackle, make ready clean, maybe some restaining or refinishing of warn spots on the hardwoods etc.  And I don't know what it is, but I swear just about every time we have a new tenant, we have to replace at least one appliance.  Seems to happen every time.

James Wise · Answer

Prices seem very reasonable to me. Sometimes magistrates will consider everything on that list normal wear & tear. Just because the condition the tenant left it in is considered by the courts as normal wear & tear doesn't mean you won't have to spruce it up to get it rentable again. Many landlords seem to think that the tenant needs to pay if the unit is not rent ready again, simply not the case out there.  If you keep the security deposit & you loose you can often find yourself paying the legal costs plus double damages for withholding the security deposit.

Kim Meredith Hampton · Answer

Mano,

Sounds like most of this could be charged back to the tenant , especially since it was just renovated

Mano Chidambaram · Answer

I did get a video walk-thru but couldn't really tell much from it. Anyway, I am planning to charge the tenant for most of these issues

Thanks everyone for your immediate response. Appreciate it.

Are these rental turn/make-ready costs reasonable?

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