Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I did my final move out walk through with my tenant last night and the issue is that upon locking the front door, the deadbolt wasn't working properly anymore. The tenant said that it has always been like that since day one yet she never once reported that it's not working. I told her that she should have said something, but she said that she was doing me a favor by not telling me because I wouldn't have to come to fix it. I told her that she wasn't doing me any favors. She said that she didn't want to complain. She also said that the previous bigger apartments that she stayed at always took a long time to fix anything. I reminded her that anytime she had a problem we always came to inspect and fix. There was never a time when we ever made her wait for more than 3 days. I told her that we might have to fix it and if we can't we'll have to replace it, for which we will have to deduct it from her security deposit. She didn't like that. Am I wrong to charge her?

You can charge her if you want. I would probably look at how she was as a tenant? Did she pay her rent on time? If so, If the answers are yes and it was me, I would not charge her.

Posted by Donna , NC on Thursday, April 2, 2009

Did you do an initial tenant walk through at the time of signing the lease? If so, and the deadbolt was not mentioned, she is liable.

Posted by KJ B, CA on Wednesday, June 17, 2009