Replacing Blinds - Landlord Forum thread 355204

Replacing Blinds by Anonymous (MA) on November 27, 2017 @12:14

I own a two family home in MA. My tenant on the 1st floor of five years approached me a few months ago about replacing the blinds. I told him he would need to replace the blinds at his cost. Blinds were installed when he moved in and according to MA law, the landlord isn’t required to provide blinds for tenants. Over this past weekend he replaced about eight blinds and threw away the blinds that were installed. My lease doesn’t mention anything about blinds. If he moves out, does he take the blinds with him? Or are they now my possession?

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Re: Replacing Blinds by Garry (Iowa) on November 27, 2017 @13:32	[ Reply ]

Since you furnished the blinds at the start of the tenancy, the tenant must leave you with blinds in the windows when he leaves. Since he has thrown your old ones away, he must leave the blinds there that he recently put up. It was his choice to replace them, not yours. If he takes them with him when he moves, you can charge him "something" for the missing blinds. I say "something", because after about 8-10 years, the blinds become very dusty and sun-faded,(which can be considered normal wear and tear) to the point that even if there were no other damage done to them, you would be replacing the blinds at your expense anyway, to give a new tenant some new, upgraded blinds, just as you did with this tenant.

Re: Replacing Blinds by Anonymous on November 29, 2017 @06:30	[ Reply ]

We're missing some information. Are we talking $5 mini-blinds from Home Depot or something more costly to replace? If they're custom or anything expensive, the tenant should leave them alone and not do any kind of replacement. If we're talking the cheapy blinds, you can build a lot of good will with a 5 year tenant by not quoting MA law and replacing them for him. Wouldnt $100 bucks be a reasonable gesture for a long term tenant?

Re: Replacing Blinds by Anonymous on November 29, 2017 @15:26	[ Reply ]

This falls under contract law. Your tenant rented under the impression that the landlord would maintain the rental property. Telling the tenant to replace them at their cost, you changed the terms of the lease as to the maintenance of the blinds. You have no recourse if the tenant removes the blinds, as your old blinds have no value left. You would have to show you were damaged in order to claim from the security deposit. If the tenant has an attorney, then the cost of loosing in court could be in the thousands compared to the cost of blinds. Do you really want to risk that?