Hi Bigger Pockets -- I have a situation I'm not sure how to deal with, am hoping for your help. For context, I am a new investor who is househacking my first property; at this time I do not have a lawyer, and the house is in my personal name (rather than an LLC).

I have former tenants who recently moved out, and they took it upon themselves to "fix" the pinholes where they hung pictures. They accomplished this by painting large, discolored squares in multiple areas, of every wall, of every room (with only a couple exceptions). The color difference was not subtle, I've attached some images for reference (links below) -- it was like this through the entire house, total of 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and a hallway. We attempted to match the color for touchups, but failed to do so (the house was recently purchased, original paint samples unavailable). My former tenants also left a decent amount of cleaning to be done, ~10 hours worth. I received a formal bid of $3,200 to fix the paint, and then did all the work myself.

All things considered, my tenants received back ~1.6% of their $2,250 security deposit. The charges included A) $110 worth of remaining utilities, B) $835 for cleaning ($235 carpet + $600 for labor), and C) $1,270 for paint damages ($295 for supplies + 30 hours of labor at $32.50/per). Along with their disposition of deposit, I included and referenced Bigger Pockets' Vacating and Cleaning Instructions and Itemized List of Common Deductions (both of which were provided to tenants ahead of time), images of the damages, an invoice for the carpet cleaning, receipts for the paint materials, the page of their signed lease saying they are not to paint without permission, and finally the formal $3,200 bid we received.

My former tenants were predictably less than enthused, and they are now threatening legal action -- they claim that because I could not provide them with the appropriate color, the paint is not their responsibility. There is obviously nothing in the lease which defines it as my responsibility to provide accurate paint samples upon move out, but they don't see it that way. Naturally.

I am not sure how to proceed -- aside from this situation, these were quality tenants. They paid rent early, took care of the property, etc. -- they were great at living in the rental, they just weren't great at moving out. As far as the cleaning, I believe we simply have different standards for what qualifies as "move-in ready". As far as the paint, these tenants genuinely spent a lot of time and money *trying* to fix the situation; they just unfortunately made it much, much worse than if they had done nothing at all.

I am 2nd guessing how much I charged them for the cleaning, and am also considering a small refund on the paint based on remaining materials. At this point, I honestly just want them to go away. Is it worth sending them more money, or is that a slippery slope which will just leave them asking for more? Should I hold strong to my claim that their painting violated the lease agreement, and that I would have been fully justified to hire the work out and send them an invoice?

Any advice you have would be much appreciated -- thanks BP, you're always there when I need ya!

https://drive.google.com/file/...

Vancouver, Washington

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