Question about security deposit and picky tenants

[Heath Lehey]

Hi All!

Long time lurker, first time poster as I unfortunately am dealing with a bit of a ridiculous tenant that just moved out and have a couple questions about security deposits in Madison, WI as it seems like tenants have a lot of rights to getting their deposit back and these guys are trying to take advantage. When I did a walk through with them I called out a few things I would need to replaced (door handles) because they broke one and lost the keys to the other. The lady followed up in an email "approving" that it was ok for ME to deduct from their deposit, and wants to confirm that they will get the rest of their deposit back.

Upon flipping the unit I noticed quite a few other jacked up things. Crayon all over the stairwell because they had a kid that was just a reckless. A hand print of paint on the screen door, and a couple other things.

One question I had is that I noticed a ~2ft burn mark in the carpet, maybe it's not a burn mark but the carpet is certainly jacked up and feels like it was melted when stepping on it. I'm kind of paranoid to just say 100 bucks to fix as I'd imagine they will flip out saying I never said anything during the walk through; however, there is nothing in their check-in sheet calling this out and I know for a fact it wasn't there prior.

So what could I charge for something like this? Looking at averages online for replacing 2 sq. ft of carpet ranged from like 70-200 bucks. How much proof do I need, or will tenants services come knocking on my door?

I'm not looking to be unscrupulous, I just want to make sure the repair is covered because this is on them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Heath

[Anthony Wick]

@Heath Lehey

You don’t commit to a damage deposit refund until you are ready to return whatever is left. Document with photos and receipts. Send them copies of photos and receipts of money spent within the timeframe. 30 days? Tenants don’t get to “approve” an expense. The expense is the expense, and you send them back what is left. If they don’t like it, they can file through the court.