Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Hello All, This is a continuing subject but hopefully my last. I have two tennants (sisters) living in a rental home with monthly agreement. One sister is moving out and boyfriend of the other sister will move in. The sister moving out will relinquish any rights to original security deposit but what about possible damages to her room as they agree to limit it to? I fear there will be scratches on what was new hardwood flooring. She did not put coasters, or possibly not adequate, on furniture legs per contract in order to limit damages. 1) If the flooring has scratches/scuffs can I charge/withhold an amount? Do I have to actually make the repairs as the other sister/boyfriend are looking to possibly purchase the home? I will be selling it soon. 2) What about indentions in the flooring where they may have rolled something heavy? No real repair possible for such. 3) What steps to take as the boyfriend will be looking to move in with new contract? Thanks, Ralph

When the sister moves out I would take that opportunity to do the walk through of the entire house. You can then address any damages and do proper notification of cost to her damage deposit at that point. If there are damages have the other sister restock the damage deposit at that point.

Posted by Doug K, CO on Friday, February 26, 2010

Hello and thanks for the reply. I am going to do a walk-through in regards to the one sisters bedroom as they have requested. If all is ok everyone will sign an Addendum replacing her with the boyfriend on rental agreement. Otherwise, she has agreed to pay for any damages limited to her. I will then do a complete walk through with the boyfriend and have him fill out a Pre-Inspection form. The other sister, as I have written in the Addendum will be bound by her initial Pre-Inspection. This way any differences can be noted. My question would be in regards to flooring. Can I charge an amount for damages to flooring which cannot be fixed or otherwise not worth a complete redo? Such as deep impressions or deep scratches. Thanks, Ralph

Posted by Ralph D, AL on Friday, February 26, 2010

I do not think you can charge for something you are not going to repair. I would charge it and repair it. In fact I believe you can take the entire deposit and make the sister start over, with a new lease and larger deposit. (let the two sisters sort it out) Also if there is still a difference in the deposit amount and the cost to bring your property back to what it was then you can sue the tenant, both of them. They may not have the money now but eventually, they will need good credit to buy something. With said judgement you can also garnish both of their wages.

Posted by Doug K, CO on Sunday, February 28, 2010