Tenant Asking For Lots of Repairs On Normal Wear And Tear

[Jared Campbell]

So I've had the same tenant for 2.5 years and he's currently 6 months into a 2 year lease.  He's always been a great tenant and never had any major requests and I've been pretty quick to get everything fixed that has come up.

There are a few items though that he's asked about that I'm not sure if I'm responsible for or not.  I had my handyman go out there and he reported that they all look like normal wear and tear stuff.

My tenant wants me to fix/repair:

1.  The paint on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets is chipping off here and there (small chips) because they were painted over - probably will have to keep being re-painted unless they are re-surfaced.  They are old cabinets for sure, not sure what to do here other than just paint the cabinets or spend a couple thousand (at least) on re-facing?

2.  There is flat paint on a few of the walls making it difficult to clean - so there are some dirt/smudge marks.  My handyman estimated $600 to get it done.  Doable but am I responsible for dirty walls?

3.  Carpet has normal wear and tear (5 years old) - starting to become threadbare at the tile entry transition and transition into the kitchen.  Don't think the carpet is at the end of it's life but if they moved out, I'd probably replace it.

So do you guys think I'm responsible to fix all of the above or what's my best option?  I

[Ron T.]

I don't post a lot here but felt inclined to do so because I just went through a similar situation. My tenant had been in place 4 years and was 2 months in to a re-up when they emailed asking for new carpet throughout the house and a fresh paint in every room. Below is a copy and paste of my response (with pertinent info edited out) I think may be useful to you:

• A)We will leave the home as is and rent will remain the same as it has been for the duration of your stay.
• B)We would propose to re-carpet the entire home and repaint all interior walls (not ceilings) and we would increase the rent to XXXX. You will notice that the new amount is $50/month ($600/year) less than what I stated above. This is offered as a loyalty discount for your excellent customer history with us. If you would like to select this option we will need to sign a new lease agreement that we will either run through current lease end or renew for a new 12 month period, your choice. This new payment amount would be due on your April 1st payment to allow you time to plan for the payment increase, and all updates would be completed by April 10th.

Ultimately they chose to increase their rent (and re-up for a full year) and have the updates done. In full disclosure the high number is legit but I was skeptical that we would find a tenant at that price, and we were more than happy at the net $150 increase. As the total repair cost for me will be ~$1200 so the ROI is less than 1 year, and of course this is a necessary update anyway and business expense.

I think the beauty of this situation was it allowed the customer to choose how to proceed and I was happy with either decision. We did discuss but thankfully did not have to decide how to respond had she replied that neither option was acceptable. Also this is a solid B-/C++ area so I understand different dynamics would exist in either a higher or lower end property.

Good luck and please let us know how it turns out!