General Security Deposit Return questions. - Landlord Forum thread 349497

General Security Deposit Return questions. by Anonymous on December 1, 2016 @09:27

I feel like I may need a lawyer (any recommendations?)to go over the issues I have with the tenant move because I'm new but this forum helps greatly. Here's one or more issues:

The tenant moves out. I had intended to paint kitchen and tenant says just touch ups needed in rest of house as it was more freshly painted. I budgeted $500 and two days to paint. Upon arrival, I discover that he had patched every little picture hole and scratch in all 1380 square feet of house. He didn't touch it up with paint. They are different colors and requires more work to gather the colors. It is violation to do painting/patching without consent. I end up painting everything at tune of $3200 and this uses up my days allocated for showing the property. It's been a mess trying to show people with all that going on. Also, in the lease he was supposed to leave any attached items (lots of shelving) he put on. He didn't and patched only half of that.

The lease say that if any violation of lease, he's responsible for repairs. Am I walking a thin line by wanting him to pay for some painting as a result of this unexpected turn of patching gone crazy?

This is a broken lease which also a violation.

Thank you.

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Re: General Security Deposit Return questions. by Anonymous on December 1, 2016 @10:07	[ Reply ]

I didn't mean to be Anonymous. This is Monica.

Re: General Security Deposit Return questions. by Anonymous on December 1, 2016 @20:11	[ Reply ]

Did you actually take the tenant's word that it only needed touch ups before you arrived? Are you showing the house during make ready, before it is ready to show? These are mistakes that should not be made. You can charge his SD everything except normal wear and tear. When my tenant left me over one hundred nail holes I charged him for about 75 holes as 100 holes is not normal wear and tear. If they screwed up the paint in a room, I would charge him a premium equal to the extra time and materials you incurred. Patching and touching up the walls with the wrong color is not normal wear and tear. Charge him via the security deposit settlement statement and make sure you send if before your state's deadline, usually 30 days.

Re: General Security Deposit Return questions. by Anonymous on December 5, 2016 @18:31	[ Reply ]

You don't get to ding him for the cost of repainting the entire house when touch-up (painting the patches, and blending)is all that is needed. Whether a shelf (or even lots of shelves) qualifies as a "fixture" and thus belongs to the landlord is kind of iffy. I suppose it would depend on how the shelf was constructed. A couple of brackets attached with screws into the wall? Probably not.