Tenant breaks pet least (security deposit)

[Tim Jahnke]

Tenant signed lease (No pets, No smoking) They moved in with 2 cats and 2 dogs. The place reeks to cat urine. So I fined them $100 and raise the rent $50 per month. So they moved out. Before they left they painted the place flat white to hide smoke damage and urine smell. I re-rented it with no pets and no smoking. New tenet refused to move because of the smell. I'm out $2000 to replace older carpeting $200 in base molding $850 in lost rent $275 in unpaid water bill $60 in semi gloss paint And 80 hours of my labor -$850 security deposit Now they're threatening to take me to court for their security deposit back. What do I do now?

[Amy Beth]

It depends on your state laws but in many states you can’t charge for your own labor. But you can charge for the materials and labor if you pay someone else to do the repairs. The other issue is if they broke the lease you could charge them depending on what is in the lease. You may have a problem though if you did not notify them in writing about these itemized charges in a timely manner. You can’t just keep a deposit without notifying the tenants in writing in a time period depending on your state’s laws.

I would suggest becoming familiar with for state’s laws regarding tenants ASAP.