Tenant made unauthorized upgrade

[Stephanie Kiel]

Hi all, I am a fairly new landlord in northern Virginia, and have been renting my 2 bedroom town home for the last two years. I just had new tenants move in and within two weeks, the closet shelves in the master bedroom (wire) collapsed on one side. I hired a contractor to repair the damage, and reinstall the existing shelves within a few days of the issue being reported to me.

While the contractor was on site, the tenants then bought new shelving after the contractor told them wire shelves tend to collapse (I was not made aware of any damage to the shelving itself that would otherwise have made it impossible to re-install properly). The tenants then sent me receipts for the supplies and new shelving they purchased and asked the contractor to instal, and asked for reimbursement. I never authorized a change in shelving, or purchase/installation of new shelves (I did authorize restoration of the closet shelving to its original condition, installed properly). That said, I offered to cover half of the unauthorized costs, and reminded the tenants that alterations/modifications require prior written approval. They have since quoted Virginia statute at me stating I am required to provide a living environment that doesn’t cause hazard to life, and the wire shelves were a hazard to life. One of the tenants is a lawyer. I’m just uncertain of where to go from here. have others dealt with similar issues? I worry that if I reimburse them for the total (only $200) it will set a precedent this early in their tenancy that they can make whatever upgrades they want and then charge me for them. I also don’t want to deal with a lawsuit, or in trying to get rent if they just deduct the shelving from monthly rent dues. Open to any and all advice!