Guest Smoked in our STR

[Shan Vincent]

Hi Everyone!  

We use our property as a vacation rental.  We had people there for 2 months that smoked in the house.  We found the evidence in the trash.  They denied smoking in the house and do not want to pay the cost of the remediation.  I did not do a walk through with them, shame on me. I did have several people come over and verify the smoke smell and we found the evidence in the trash which I sent to the guest. I spent about 6k to get rid of the smoke smell including painting, cleaning the vents, cleaning the furniture etc.  He has quoted the general codes stating that I cannot charge for these things.  He is saying that it has to be physical damage.  The lease says the following.  

14. SMOKING:A. (i) Tenant is responsible for all damage caused by smoking including, but not limited to stains, burns, odors and removal ofdebris; (ii) Tenant acknowledges that in order to remove odor caused by smoking, Housing Provider may need to replacecarpet and drapes and paint the entire premises regardless of when these items were last cleaned, replaced or repainted.Such actions and other necessary steps will impact the return of any security deposit.B. The Premises or common areas may be subject to a local non-smoking ordinance.C. NO SMOKING of any substance is allowed on the Premises or common areas. If smoking does occur on the Premises orcommon areas, (i) Tenant is in material breach of this Agreement; (ii) Tenant, guests, and all others may be required to leavethe Premises. Smoking of the following substances only is allowed:

He's threatening a lawsuit.  I'm thinking to let him sue us if he feels it's necessary and take my chances in court.

Thoughts?

[Orrett Lawrence]

Hi Shan- Did you rent through AirBnB or VRBO or some similar platform? If you did, file a claim them. (have photos of events and invoices (to show your expenses).  If this was a person to person, then you might have to use small claims court to recoupe some of that expense. Question for you, does going down that path worth your time?  

I am by no mean an expert on how to proceed, these are just a few options I would consider.

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Shan Vincent, I would get the OTA involved and make sure they know what happened.

Many people say they will sue but never will. In the end, he broke the agreement and it is demonstrable.

Tell AirBNB or VRBO and get them to work on the payout for the repairs.

[Melanie Thomas]

I wouldn't pursue it due to the lack of documentation/evidence. It would be wise to take date/time stamped photos or conduct inspections when such incidents occur to have solid evidence. Otherwise, you might end up spending more in attorney fees trying to fight this issue. It's the classic risk/reward choice. Good luck & happy investing!