Tenant leaves - property damage

[Maxwell Lee]

Hi there,

I had a quick question for you landlords out there.

A year ago, I had a tenant who finished their lease and moved elsewhere.

We had a final property walk-thru of the unit and found the beige carpet we newly installed in the bedroom prior to the tenant moving in, had 4 round red paint marks that was impossible to clean out.  Each mark was around the size of a golf ball.  This was most likely made from a bed frame where the posts must have been painted red.  We tried to address this with the tenant and he swore up and down that this was not his doing and said it was there prior to him moving in.

I know that was not the case as mentioned above, the carpet was new before he came in.  We went back and forth and he said he would take it to court (he was a lawyer) and I finally decided it was not the hassle (probably cost me more money and time to go to court) and coughed up a few hundred bucks to replace the carpet in the bedroom myself.

How can i avoid this next time?  I was thinking, do I use a video camera or something during our initial move-in walk thru with the tenant before they move in so i have proof?  or is that too over the top or even legal? 

I know they have to fill out a walk-thru form saying everything seems to be in order prior to move in but they can just say they didn't notice it...who knows..

How do you landlords handle property damage when the tenant moves out?  If the tenant denies the damage was made by them, how can one prove it?  Without hard evidence like a video recording of the tenant walking thru the area, then its their word against yours...

Thanks in advance