Inherited Lease Agreement/Security Deposit

[Samuel J Claeson]

Hello,

My wife and I recently purchased a Triplex in Minnesota and inherited tenants in each unit. Since we purchased the home using an FHA loan, we are required to occupy the home for one year. Therefore, I had to give notice for one of the tenants to vacate.

The tenant that will be leaving has lived in the unit for over a year and has a $600 security deposit, which the previous owner/landlord gave to us at closing.  We want to deduct from the security deposit, but the previous owner/landlord did not have a move-in checklist for when the tenant first moved in. 

The tenant treated the unit horribly. There is damage and it is absolutely FILTHY. Are we allowed to deduct from the security deposit?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks,

-Sam

[Tim Swierczek]

@Samuel J Claeson Unfortunately you have no chance of winning with a condition claim, however, exessive filth is something you can push a bit.  Have they moved you yet, if not use cleanliness as your leverage to get them to clean on the way out.  If not use very reasonable numbers to deduct for lack of cleaning and then list all the damage that you are not charging them for.  You do this for psychological reasons, showing you are reasonable and starting to build your argument if it were to go to court you would argue that you couldn't know the previous condition but that has no bearing on them cleaning as expected on the way out.

The main thing is to move on and create policies that will prevent this in the future.  PM me let's do coffee.