Can I keep deposit for Breach of Lease due to pets?

Question

I know the typical approach to replacing carpet is to prorate it based on life of carpet. In this case, the tenant had 2 unauthorized pets in the house (a cat and a wild Crow -yes a wild crow), in addition to 3 authorized pets. The carpet was completely destroyed by urine and general pet odor. They were very unclean and the house was completely neglected - looked as though the carpet was never vacuumed in 3 years; heavy grease and grime everywhere; gobs of pet hair corroding vent covers. They hired cleaners, but it wasn't sufficient. The odor in the house is nauseating. I've had the entire interior painted and carpet is being replaced. I am not charging them for painting of course. I may also have to clean HVAC ducts if the odor is lingering there.

Can I charge them any part of the HVAC cleaning? ( i have no proof the ducts have ever been cleaned. The home is 19 yrs old.)

Can I keep the whole deposit since they violated the pet policy which led to all the damage?

Can I add any charges for loss of use/ inability to rent the house until carpet can be installed?

I sincerely appreciate the help!

Can I charge them any part of the HVAC cleaning? ( i have no proof the ducts have ever been cleaned. The home is 19 yrs old.)

Can I keep the whole deposit since they violated the pet policy which led to all the damage?

Can I add any charges for loss of use/ inability to rent the house until carpet can be installed?

I sincerely appreciate the help!

Cassi Justiz · Answer

It's all going to depend on the wording of your lease and state/local laws. I would check and see if your lease had any provisions about being able to charge in the case of breach of contract.

My lease has wording in it that says "In the event of breach of contract and/or eviction, Tenant agrees to pay Property Manager for Owner (Landlord) for all losses incurred as the result of the breach and/or eviction, including, but not limited to attorney’s fees, late fees, rent, advertising costs, cleaning, painting, repairs, landscaping, etc., and re-letting expense of 100% of one month’s rent."

For carpet, I charge full replacement cost if there is any pet urine and/or if it's damaged beyond any reasonable wear and tear. *this is in my lease and in my pet addendum* In your case, this is far beyond reasonable wear and tear and I would 100% charge full replacement value. I would also have ducts cleaned and charge it back out of their deposit.

James Mc Ree · Answer

Good comments above regarding the security deposit.

In addition, I recommend once or twice per year inspections of the property that you personally perform, or your property manager does.  You didn't comment on whether or not you do this, so just a suggestion.  I am sure this isn't what you want to read, but it is one of the best ways to prevent this from happening to you again.

Russ B. · Answer

I'm not sure where you are (laws differ from place to place) or what's in your lease... but ripping up three year old destroyed carpet and cleaning pet urine out of the ductwork sounds like textbook usage of a security deposit to me. If you can't use it for something like this, why even require one?

The only thing I'm not sure on is the time you can't rent due to repairs.. I'm not sure whether they are liable for this or not.

You should probably get good pictures of all damage before repairing, and be sure to follow your local / state laws on the handling of the deposit. In a lot of places, you need to either return it or provide an accounting of where it went within X days after move out - or else a judge will return it to them no matter what.

Also, hopefully you got "before" pictures or video from lease signing day. If not, I'd start doing so going forward - you never know when that stuff will come in handy.

John Thedford · Answer

The security deposit is for damages. If you had to fix things they damaged then you MIGHT be able to offset that cost by claiming part of their security deposit. Keep in mind that reasonable wear and tear is NOT damage. In your case, if they totally destroyed the carpet in 3 years then you MIGHT be able to keep some deposit for replacement. I would document everything, keep receipts, and only charge them for what will stand up in court. Also, make sure you give proper timely notice of your intent to keep all or part of their deposit according to your state laws.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

If your lease agreement does not include a specific penalty for unauthorized pets, then I wouldn't charge anything for it. Even if you have a penalty spelled out, it may not stand in court so you have to be careful with it.

The deposit is supposed to be for cleaning, repairs, and unpaid balances. It sounds like you will be cleaning and/or replacing the flooring. Use the deposit for that and you'll probably use the entire thing.

In the future, you should inspect at least once a year. If a tenant appears riskier, then you should inspect more often. Anyone with three pets sounds high risk to me and I would want to set eyes on the property every 3-6 months to see how they're handling it.

You should also consider charging an increase to the rent for each pet. If you had charged $50 per animal, that would be an extra $1,800 per year or $5,400 in rent over the last three years. That would have covered the damages they caused. You don't have to be crazy with the pet increases but you should use it as an extra source of income to offset the additional risk taken by accepting animals.

Corby Goade · Answer

If you want to use the deposit for carpet repair or HVAC cleaning, it's not impossible. As said above, you need to follow local and state laws. The real challenge you will likely have is proving that the damage was excessive and not "normal wear and tear." Obviously to those on BP, your description sounds excessive, but you are preaching to the choir here, it's possible you'd have more difficultly in front of a tenant friendly judge.

In accordance with our state's laws, deposits are assumed to be refundable, so tenants expect to get them back, regardless of how they neglect the property. When our tenants have pets, we charge them non refundable fees and we are very clear about them not getting the fee back both in our lease and in person before they sign. We also charge a non-refundable cleaning fee to every tenant and make sure they understand that isn't coming back either. Finally, we collect a damage deposit to cover ourselves and our clients in the case that there is true damage beyond normal wear and tear.

Screen properly and keep in reasonable touch with your tenants and most of these problems will go away anyhow. Screening is the best thing you can do to protect your investment and make it as passive as possible.

Best of luck!

Can I keep deposit for Breach of Lease due to pets?

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