Kitchen sink scratches are NOT wear and tear, is it?

[Sam Leon]

I have an enameled cast iron kitchen sink at one of my rentals.  Never an issue for years, but this tenant moved in and I have never seen things abused to this level.  Handles of refrigerator yanked loose.  Kitchen hinges broke off.  Now my sink is all scratched up.  It's scratchless before they moved in.  This is what it looks like now.

It's badly scratched up and I don't think it's fixable unless I coat it but once I do I have to do it every year like those old tubs.

They said it's nothing it's just "normal wear and tear".  Do you think this is wear and tear?  If not how would you charge/deduct damages like this?

[Jim K.]

You can most likely get everything off with Bar Keeper's Friend and then you shine it up with Turtle Wax or another automotive paste wax. As far as passing the cost off to the tenant -- you should really let that dream go.

Harden your rental. Replace that thing with a cheap 22-gauge drop-in stainless steel sink and never worry about this again.

[Michael King]

Broken handles and hinges are excessive wear and tear so you should be able to keep some of the deposit on those. 

[Stephen J Davis]

If you have before pictures, I would charge them for the sink. I would replace it with stainless steel.

[Theresa Harris]

Wait until they are gone (do not renew their lease) and charge them for the replacement.  Not sure how to approach it, but you should mention that they seem to be hard on things.  Fridge handles and kitchen hinges should not come off from regular use-well maybe one once, but not repeated items.

[Mark Fries]

@Jim K.

Agreed...that kind of sink really shouldn't be in a rental anyway. If I had that type in my rental, I would expect it to look like the one in the picture or worse.

[Larry Alexander]

Hey, that's what my sink looked like after I cleaned parts from my old 1950 Dodge truck. I used one of those magic eraser sponge things (only $2.99 at Target) and it looks great again! FWIW I did change to a stainless eventually :)

[Joe Splitrock]

Originally posted by @Jim K.:

You can most likely get everything off with Bar Keeper's Friend and then you shine it up with Turtle Wax or another automotive paste wax. As far as passing the cost off to the tenant -- you should really let that dream go.

Harden your rental. Replace that thing with a cheap 22-gauge drop-in stainless steel sink and never worry about this again.

 Exactly what I thought when I saw the pictures. I had an enamel sink that looked the same, cleaned it with bar keepers friend and looked like new. Billed the tenant 30 minutes cleaning and I sent them before and after photos as proof of cleaning. They text me back, "wow how did you get that clean". Same tenant, toilets were worse and required CLR cleaner (Calcium, lime, rust) to get the build up off. I am pretty sure they didn't clean the toilet or sink for three years.