Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I have tenants that I had move out after a year and 2 months. My question is can I charge an excessive filth fee and a painting fee? I repainted a month prior to their move-in date and had the carpets professionally cleaned and treated for fleas. Upon their move-out I knew that the carpets were more than likely going to need replaced so I told them not to get the carpets cleaned not knowing what condition they were actually in. I was trying to be nice and save them money from getting them professionally cleaned if I was going to replace them. Well, upon their move-out walk through the carpets were severely stained with dirt, bleach stains, tooth paste, food and even fecal matter. As well as the condition of the walls. I had to repaint every wall after a year due to excessive filth and drawings with marker, crayon and pen that I could not clean and yes even fecal matter on the wall in one spot. She told me she hired a move-out cleaner but nothing had been cleaned. There were also large holes in the walls that they had patched but had not be painted, of course. They had also broken 2 kitchen drawers, cracked a kitchen cabinet door, microwave door, 4 blinds, broken toilet due to a toy being flushed, left the yard not mowed and hedges severely overgrown that had to be cut down to basically nothing. I have a clause in the lease saying that the property must be upon move out in the condition that it was upon move in, other than normal wear and tear. So can I charge them an excessive filth fee and painting fee? Mind you they never once paid rent on time and were often days from being over 30 days late, so my tolerance to be nice is very low.

That sounds horrible. You can deduct everything you mentioned above from the security deposit. Make sure you list each deduction with an amount of what was charged to clean it. The carpets however are a different story, since you told the tenant not to have them cleaned and you were replacing them, I don't think you can deduct it, since it was already being replaced. But the rest of the damages including the hole in the walls and all around uncleanliness of the place you can deduct from the deposit. Good luck

Posted by Holly B, NY on Wednesday, June 24, 2015