Can I use tenant's Security Deposit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you sound ridiculous. You leave your house unattended for 9 years and then complain about the carpets.

You should be thanking your lucky stars for having good tenants who paid on time for 9 years, during which time you did nothing to upgrade the place, rather than bitching and threatening to take their deposit.

I am sorry but it is the tenant's legal contractual and moral duty to pay rent on time. It's like congratulating someone for passing a class with a C.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you sound ridiculous. You leave your house unattended for 9 years and then complain about the carpets.

You should be thanking your lucky stars for having good tenants who paid on time for 9 years, during which time you did nothing to upgrade the place, rather than bitching and threatening to take their deposit.

I am sorry but it is the tenant's legal contractual and moral duty to pay rent on time. It's like congratulating someone for passing a class with a C.

Nevertheless, the reality is that a lot of people get Fs, and a lot of tenants don't pay rent on time. OP, I think it is reasonable to charge them for the cracks in the countertop. It is entirely unreasonable to charge them for the carpet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why weren't you inspecting annually?

Rookie mistake.

OP here. Yes, it was a rookie mistake. They were my first & only tenants. And, they paid on time. Had no idea my house was being trashed.

OP, you should have been inspecting the house every year and replacing things over time, just like you would on your own home. We also own a rental, we inspect it every year and the tenant alerts us of anything that needs to be replaced. I would suggest you get hardwood floors in your rental since they last longer than carpet. Or you should have had the carpet steam cleaned a few times.

Trying to keep their deposit is risky as they could sue you, then you would end up with legal costs and still having to pay to replace everything that you failed to replace over the past 9 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you sound ridiculous. You leave your house unattended for 9 years and then complain about the carpets.

You should be thanking your lucky stars for having good tenants who paid on time for 9 years, during which time you did nothing to upgrade the place, rather than bitching and threatening to take their deposit.

I am sorry but it is the tenant's legal contractual and moral duty to pay rent on time. It's like congratulating someone for passing a class with a C.

It is but many renters in my experience do not pay on time especially over a 9 year period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why weren't you inspecting annually?

Rookie mistake.

OP here. Yes, it was a rookie mistake. They were my first & only tenants. And, they paid on time. Had no idea my house was being trashed.

OP, you should have been inspecting the house every year and replacing things over time, just like you would on your own home. We also own a rental, we inspect it every year and the tenant alerts us of anything that needs to be replaced. I would suggest you get hardwood floors in your rental since they last longer than carpet. Or you should have had the carpet steam cleaned a few times.

Trying to keep their deposit is risky as they could sue you, then you would end up with legal costs and still having to pay to replace everything that you failed to replace over the past 9 years.

Keep inspecting & replacing so the tenants can keep trashing the place?? No thanks. Getting them out, & then fixing the place. Personally, if I were the tenant, I would be jumping up and down about it, & not being content living in that filth that they created. Hence "the hoarders" comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why weren't you inspecting annually?

Rookie mistake.

OP here. Yes, it was a rookie mistake. They were my first & only tenants. And, they paid on time. Had no idea my house was being trashed.

OP, if the tenants paid on time and were responsible in every other sense, I think that you should listen to many of the posters here and be realistic about the life spans for some of these items. The carpet has run its normal life cycle to be replaced. Most carpet looks like crap after 9 years! If the countertops were cheap laminate, they could have cracked with "normal" wear and tear due to age. If you can document that the tenants were in fact irresponsible and did not report damage correctly given the terms of their lease, by all means withhold some of the deposit. But when you are a landlord, you also have to accept that situations like these are the cost of doing business.

Frankly having the same tenants for 9 years probably saved you a ton of money in vacancies, sprucing things up, etc. so you probably are coming out ahead.

+1 pick your battles carefully, OP. You sound unreasonable and way too emotional about this. You've had a good tenant and most of what you describe is cosmetic and the result of normal wear and tear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why weren't you inspecting annually?

Rookie mistake.

OP here. Yes, it was a rookie mistake. They were my first & only tenants. And, they paid on time. Had no idea my house was being trashed.

OP, if the tenants paid on time and were responsible in every other sense, I think that you should listen to many of the posters here and be realistic about the life spans for some of these items. The carpet has run its normal life cycle to be replaced. Most carpet looks like crap after 9 years! If the countertops were cheap laminate, they could have cracked with "normal" wear and tear due to age. If you can document that the tenants were in fact irresponsible and did not report damage correctly given the terms of their lease, by all means withhold some of the deposit. But when you are a landlord, you also have to accept that situations like these are the cost of doing business.

Frankly having the same tenants for 9 years probably saved you a ton of money in vacancies, sprucing things up, etc. so you probably are coming out ahead.

+1 pick your battles carefully, OP. You sound unreasonable and way too emotional about this. You've had a good tenant and most of what you describe is cosmetic and the result of normal wear and tear.

+another

Tenants aren't houseguests. While they are living in your rental property, it is *their* home, and they are entitled to make themselves at home there. You can't expect someone to live in a space for 9 years without leaving marks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why weren't you inspecting annually?

Rookie mistake.

+1

+2

+3 - everyone thinks property management is so easy. It is not.

[Anonymous]

Hire a property management company. You clearly need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why weren't you inspecting annually?

Rookie mistake.

OP here. Yes, it was a rookie mistake. They were my first & only tenants. And, they paid on time. Had no idea my house was being trashed.

OP, if the tenants paid on time and were responsible in every other sense, I think that you should listen to many of the posters here and be realistic about the life spans for some of these items. The carpet has run its normal life cycle to be replaced. Most carpet looks like crap after 9 years! If the countertops were cheap laminate, they could have cracked with "normal" wear and tear due to age. If you can document that the tenants were in fact irresponsible and did not report damage correctly given the terms of their lease, by all means withhold some of the deposit. But when you are a landlord, you also have to accept that situations like these are the cost of doing business.

Frankly having the same tenants for 9 years probably saved you a ton of money in vacancies, sprucing things up, etc. so you probably are coming out ahead.

+1 pick your battles carefully, OP. You sound unreasonable and way too emotional about this. You've had a good tenant and most of what you describe is cosmetic and the result of normal wear and tear.

+another

Tenants aren't houseguests. While they are living in your rental property, it is *their* home, and they are entitled to make themselves at home there. You can't expect someone to live in a space for 9 years without leaving marks.

Three is a difference between breaking a counter in half and leaving a shoe scuff mark.

What kind of shit landlords are you that you let people trash your house and be like well that's life? Are you all section 8?

[Anonymous]

As a landlord, I would let it go. Renting a house for 9 year to tenants who paid their rent on time is a minor miracle. Trying to dock their deposit for a cracked countertop will not be worth the hassle for you and will only result in hard feelings. I'd much rather have tenants leave on a peaceful note.

[Anonymous]

If I were your tenant and you kept all or some of my security deposit for any of these "issues," I'd either take you to court or make sure every potential new tenant that came through the house to replace me knows what a shitty LL you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a landlord, I would let it go. Renting a house for 9 year to tenants who paid their rent on time is a minor miracle. Trying to dock their deposit for a cracked countertop will not be worth the hassle for you and will only result in hard feelings. I'd much rather have tenants leave on a peaceful note.

Since when is it a miracle? I have been a landlord for 10 years for 3 properties and never had tenants miss a payment. It's their damn duty? WTF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a landlord, I would let it go. Renting a house for 9 year to tenants who paid their rent on time is a minor miracle. Trying to dock their deposit for a cracked countertop will not be worth the hassle for you and will only result in hard feelings. I'd much rather have tenants leave on a peaceful note.

Since when is it a miracle? I have been a landlord for 10 years for 3 properties and never had tenants miss a payment. It's their damn duty? WTF.

I was thinking this too. I've been a tenant for 6 years at 4 different properties and have never missed or been late with a rent payment.. didn't know this was a thing.

[Anonymous]

What kind of annual maintenance do you do on the house? Surely you would have seen some of the issues over the years when you were in the unit? also have you repainted or doing any upkeep in those 9 years?

If you haven't done any maintenance or upkeep then I don't think you use the security deposit unless there is clear intentional damage