Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Our tenants moved out and caused over $1500 in damages/cleaning not to mention ruined the carpet that was estimated to be replaced at $4K+. Prior to their rental term there was no staining on the carpet and could be considered an executive rental. Now they have moved after 3 years and the carpet was black in many places and it appeared they never cleaned up anything that was ever spilled. The carpet has very little wear but is badly stained and it is/was a lighter color. The tenants said it was stained because it was a lighter color. We had it professionally cleaned twice to no avail. We have had several other tenants and never had any issues with any staining. We thought we would just live and learn with making a poor choice in renters, even though they never once were late on the rent and passed background/credit checks. They turned out to just be dirty and unkept and neglected the flooring. We kept the damage deposit but it didn't fully cover the $1500 in damages and cleaning fees. Also we did not pursue the carpet since we kept their entire damage deposit for other items and were glad they were no longer in the property. However we have never had it vacant in over 5 years and are having a difficult time renting it. We've had many showing and many comments on what a nice unit it is but no bites to rent it. The last showing the prospective tenant made a comment about how dirty the carpet was and if they rented it if they needed to have it cleaned. I was mortified the first time I saw it but then thought maybe I was being too sensitive about my property. So it appears this maybe the issue to renting the unit. We've since lowered the rent by $150 a month at loss of $1800 a year in income and now the carpet still needs to be replaced. Since we are outside of the 30 day window for disclosing are we just out of luck and have to cough up the $4K to replace the carpet/flooring or can we still sue the tenants for the replacement cost after the fact since it has substantially affected the ability to rent the property?

It is so important to record before and after with a checklist. Then what I do is add in the maintenance what needed to be done and the tenants are responsible for it. I do not believe you can sue after wards but I would contact a lawyer to see if you have something here. That's awful they didn't take care of the property. I hate dealing with tenants like that.

Posted by Bill F, MS on Friday, October 21, 2016