Advice- Tenants Wrecked Home

[Candice Mears]

Hi I’m new here. I own a rental property that we built less than 5 years ago. We’ve had two tenants. Before the first tenant I took photos of the home which was still in pristine condition for move in and move out. I did not take photos again prior to our second tenants of 2 years, shame on me. We just did a walkthrough and the house is filthy which is aggravating but it gets worse... they painted one room without ever telling us and they used the full gallon we left to repaint the room back poorly. I suppose they ran out so they got a close swatch from Home Depot and continued on. Instead of wiping any marks off the walls they used the wrong color paint to go over them so our walls are completely zig zagged and horrific now. We can not list the home this way. Thoughts about keeping the security deposit? We are concerned about not having photos before however we know repairs will be much greater than the security deposit. Need advice. 

[Jon Holdman]

If that carpet is five years old you probably cannot charge the tenants for that.  That would not fly around here.  That's the sort of thing that, as a landlord, you should expect to replace periodically.  IRS depreciation period for flooring in general is five years.  If you get more than that you're lucky.  Carpets in rentals will need frequent replacement.  Consider something sturdier, like the luxury vinyl plank stuff.

Document what you have solid evidence for and send them an accounting.  If that's more than their deposit, request payment.  You can take them to small claims court.  If you win, you'll get a judgment which you're on your on to collect.  Or turn that over to a collection agency.

This really is just part of the business of being a landlord.  Don't let it get you down.  Be grateful when you get a good tenant.  Most are OK or great.  A few bad apples raise your blood pressure and cost you money.