Landlords! What is worth deducting from a security deposit?

Question

Reasonable wear and tear seems subjective. I have a bachelor military tenant, whom was negligent and never cleaned. The toilet had dark brown stains. The formica counter drawer corners were chipped off and full of water stains. The carpets were stained to name a few. He failed to tell me the refrigerator wasn't working properly nor was the a/c working at all. He didn't even want to clean the apartment when he left. The whole place was immaculate when he moved in 4 years ago. Originally, I was only going to charge him $250 for cleaning. But I need to replace the carpet at least. Is it fair to charge him for replacement of carpets too? He never paid his rent late, this is in Hawaii and his rent was $1825/mo.

Alyssa Dyer · Answer

Echoing the thoughts of the others.

Think about having to stand in front of a judge and defend your decision.

- Is it fair/reasonable? - Do you have photos/inspections/etc to show the before and after?- For carpet if it was old carpet I'd quote what you'd have to pay to hire a professional to clean it, and then use that toward what you spend on the carpet, whether it be cleaning or replacement. If it was newer when he moved in and now it's in need of replacement, I say go ahead and charge toward that. - we provide a breakdown of what they should handle prior to moving out and written explanation of why they were charged and it goes a long way with judges

Duc Ong · Answer

@Summer Cherry I agree with others on here. The key is to have proof such as a condition report and photos before his move in to compare with current condition.

Anthony Wick · Answer

@Summer Cherry. I basically approach it from a "What would a judge state" mentality. Document with photos. If it can be cleaned, clean it. And charge him. If it can't be cleaned, replace it. And charge him. Carpet is always tricky. It depends on age of carpet and actual damage. What he paid for rent, and whether he always paid on time has zero relevance when it comes to damage deposit. I just had a couple move out that always paid rent on time, and rarely bothered me. However, I used their entire damage deposit due to cat urine mitigation and cleaning.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Charge him for carpet cleaning and hire a professional.  Charge him what you would normally charge for cleaning based on the condition.  You can also charge him for the countertops-chips are not normal wear and tear and other damages.

Summer Cherry · Answer

Thank you everyone for your input!

Steve Morris · Answer

Well, I think the better a case you can build on the beyond normal wear-n-tear items (like price and photos), the better.

However, if it has a 15 year carpet and he lived there years 13-15, I wouldn't expect replacement to be a defensible expenses, but I guess you can try and collect it.

Landlords! What is worth deducting from a security deposit?

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