Charging Fees to Tenants

[Aubrey H.]

As we are growing our rental business we would like to keep out properties looking nice, clean and kept up. 

Do you charge a fee for things like not keeping up with the lawn work or having trash in the yard?

When a tenant moves out do you keep money from their deposit for things like not replacing burnt out light bulbs, not removing screws or nails from the wall?

If you charge fees what kinds of fees and how do you go about it?

[Patricia Steiner]

Aubrey, before you think "fees," think lease.  What does your lease say?  What conditions do you have in place regarding lawn work?  I personally do not leave the yard maintenance in the hands of tenants; I hire someone to do it and include it in the rent.  But if it is an expectation, you need to define what that means/looks like.  If your lease contract says to "maintain yard," I can promise you that the tenants' perception of what that is will be different from yours.  And, why would there be trash in the yard?  That's not acceptable.  

I do not charge for tenants to remove nails from the wall...I'm trying to minimize damage and some of these folks aren't real handy.  Again, what's in your lease.  Changing light bulbs...I don't think that's worth the fight over a security deposit set-off.

Again, look at your lease. In most states, security deposit offsets have to meet a certain standard (one that is customary/documented).  I sure do appreciate that you're the type of owner who takes pride in maintaining your properties.  Hope this helps...