What evidence for the rotten bathroom door

[Ju Hyun K.]

Hello,

One of my tenant families is moving out at the end of this month. In the pre-move out inspection, I found the bottom part of the master bathroom door is badly rotten (water damage) and the paint there got bubbly. I believe that the door really needs to be replaced, and the tenant is saying that it is not caused by them and that it was already like that when they moved in. They even said the previous tenant must have flooding, even though they have been the first tenant that I had for that house since I bought the house. I know they are lying. However,I do not have any photos of that part of the door before they moved in as evidence.

1) home inspection report

What I do have is the home inspection report which was written just before they moved in. I bought this house and then immediately rented out. The house was in a very good condition almost like a new home. This tenant family is the first tenant for that property. The home inspection report picks up a lot of minor cosmetic things also, but it never mentions about the bathroom door damage.

2) they didn't report the issue when they moved in

I told them verbally (but not with a written document) if they find any damage or missing part, they should let me know and take photos before they moved in. But they didn't report anything about the door damage at that time and also never mentioned about it before this pre-move out walk through.

In this case, do you think I can deduct the cost to fix this damage from their security deposit? When I rented this home out, I was a beginner in this world and I didn't know this would become a problem.