Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Ugh....my tenants moved out and had 3 cats. During the final walk thru, there was visible wet spots in the garage from cat urine and the smell was really bad. I was unable to hose out the garage, because my tenants already had the water turned off. The next day I was able to find a nice couple with 3 kids to sign a 2 year lease on the house. After 5 days, they had to back out of the 2 year lease, due to the car urine smell in the garage. We live 300 miles aways, so we could not just make a quick trip down. My husband went down the following weekend and 20+ hours and $300 in supplies, he was able to shellac the floor and Kilz the walls to get rid of the smell (keeping my fingers crossed it works). He was then able to rent the house out again. My question is, since the cat urine issue was a deal breaker for the 2 year lease tenants, and I able to charge my previous tenants 10 days rent, due to the poor conditions they left the house? Also, can I charge them for the gas to drive down a second time? Thanks in advance!

Probably not. You should have notified tenant about a joint walk-thru prior to them moving when you received notice of their moving. At that time you would have notify them of items requiring repair/cleaning. If they had not performed, you would be in a better position to charge them. This also depends on your rental agreement.

Posted by Bob R, CA on Monday, March 12, 2012

Thanks for responding Bob. Ya, that is what I was afraid of. Just wish I could find a loop hole.

Posted by KristySmith S, CA on Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Sorry for bumping an old thread but I just really want to share my story. I hope that's fine. One of my 2 cats (both neutered males) had taken to painting all of my walls, furniture, and anything else he could reach. I was horrified when I got a UV light. He never did that in all of the 9 years I've had him and didn't when I got him a buddy (they love each other and did so right away) but when a strange black cat started showing up outside both of my cats went nuts and the older one (9) started his wall painting, as well as the curtains out in the kitty room. I couldn't keep up with it. My cats are indoor cats so it's not like the stray is actually going to get in here but they both hate him (and he is weird...my neighbor's cats hate him too). I've tried cleaning with a pet urine enzyme and then spraying some "No More Spraying" but that hasn't worked. He's a sneaky little bugger too; he waits until he thinks I'm not looking and then does it. He's learned that the minute I see him backing his butt up to something he gets yelled at. It wasn't until I found "Cat Spraying No More" that I was able to finally get rid of this tiresome behavior. Now my house doesn't smell like a litter box anymore :) Here's a link the their site if you're interested in checking out: https://nomorecatpee.com

Posted by Nabil A, on Monday, September 9, 2019