Tenant ruined driveway with various automotive fluid spills

[Nick K.]

This is not a minor case of a tenant's car(s) leaking oil on a driveway. The tenant was trying to repair cars as a business on the property and spilled various automotive fluids over much of the driveway and concrete parking areas. Far beyond "normal wear and tear" and I have pictures of what things used to look like. Tenant has moved out. I hired a pressure washing service which removed about 60% of the stains, but overall the concrete as a whole still looks terrible. I'm going to try soda blasting next, but it seems like the damage is permanent at this point. Looks worse than an actual shop floor, as if he didn't take any care in cleanup or preventing spills.

The driveway and concrete areas weren't new to begin with and are actually a patchwork of various sized and shaped sections of concrete like you would have if you filled in or repaired areas over time. Nothing fancy, but at least before it looked tidy and decently maintained for an older house.

Security deposit was $1900. I'm definitely deducting the cost of the pressure washing. Then, I was going to keep another $500 for the permanent damage. But now I'm thinking I should just keep the whole deposit and put it towards an eventual driveway replacement. Tenant is probably going to freak out, but I guess that's the cost of doing business.

How much would you keep?

[John Underwood]

They make paints and sealers for concrete that will make it look new.

Also this will likely not detract from rental income, most tenants will not care about driveway stains.