Tenant kids causing increased wear on unit

[Jeff N.]

One of my rentals has a couple with three kids. When I visit to make repairs I have been noticing the stains and wear from three kids running around my unit all day. Any suggestions on how to mitigate the wear on the unit? The walls are getting dirty from the kids touching them as they walk, newly installed carpet in bedrooms is already stained, etc. They are not causing extreme damage, but more wear than I would expect for a typical family.

Can I charge them for repainting the walls on moveout, professional carpet cleaning, tile grout stains from not cleaning after spills, etc, or would this be considered normal wear?

I have sent them an email with my concerns and I'm going to start making monthly visits to the unit for inspection to attempt to mitigate further excess wear if possible.

Have you ever had situations where you had good paying tenants, but they were not the cleanest people?

[Jon Holdman]

You both should have a look at fair housing law:

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/FHLaws/yourrights

There are some exemptions for small landlords. IIRC four or less units that are managed by the owner.