Tenant moving out. HELP

[Joshua Ferguson]

Hello all,

While I don’t have a rental of my own yet I’d like to see if you all can help with my friends unit. He has a tenant that has stayed in the unit for 9 years and is moving out. Issue is he only had him sign an original 1 year lease and since then has just kinda went with the flowb due to the tenant paying on time and lack of calls from the tenant. Well fast forward to now and the tenant has told him he is moving. The fire place door needs replaced, new molding around a door, painted when not approved and they tried to add new flooring only to put wood floors in the living room and hallway with no transfer strips to the carpeted bedrooms. And that is the original carpet that was in when they moved in and is worn out. My question is can my friend legally do anything other than keep the security deposit?? I’m so new idk what he can do as there is not lease in place... thanks for any advice

[Marcia Maynard]

Rest easy. Even if the lease was not intentionally renewed, the original terms would likely still apply. In most jurisdictions a lease will revert to month-to-month if the lease expires and the tenant continues to live in the property with the owner's permission. This should not be an issue.

Nine years of tenancy is a good long time.  If your friend didn't do periodic inspections and regular maintenance and repair, then he will likely see quite a few items that will need attention.  Ordinary wear and tear will be significant after nine years and some items would have come to the end of their normal useful life.

Your friend should not be too quick to assume he can keep the entire security deposit for the items you mentioned. Start with what is allowed by landlord-tenant law (state/local) and the terms of the original rental agreement.

1. Fireplace Door - Was it new when the tenant moved in? What is it's useful life? Does it need to be replaced or can it be repaired? Did the tenant damage the fireplace door or did it just fail?
2. Door Trim - Should not take much to repair or replace. Repaint or replace. Simple and not too costly.
3. Addition of New Flooring - This could be significant, depending on how the work was done and if it enhanced or damaged the home. Obviously if it went this far the landlord had his eye off the ball. Find out what it would cost to correct the flooring problem in a sensible way.
4. Carpet - Useful life used up in nine years. Ordinary wear and tear. Don't try to charge tenant for that.