All Forum Posts by: Amy Martin

Ok guys... I wanted to thank everybody for the advice you guys gave me yesterday. In response to tenants'  super long checklist and their note about "lots of marks/holes on the walls", I sent an email to them saying that since the walls were painted fairly recently and nobody pointed to any holes/marks on the walls during the walkthrough,  I'd like to go to the rental house and take pictures to document the location/severity of these conditions, so they won't be charged for them after moving out. I also explained in the email that my job, as a landlord, is to provide a safe and functional space for them, but i will not be able to take care of every minor/cosmetic issues that occur during the lease. 

Well...oddly enough, they did not respond to my email yesterday or today (they usually respond my emails within the hour). Tonight, I JUST received another email from them, not only did they completely ignored my email and my request to go in the house and take pictures of the walls, but now they are asking me if I could go fix the wobbly door handle of the oven...

Our lease states that appliances are left in the house for the tenants to enjoy but landlord assume no duty to repair them if they break. I have explained to them TWICE already during lease signing and move-in walkthrough. 

My question for you guys is - how do you train your tenants during the first couple of months, so they know what your rules are and eventually give up testing you.

@Joe Splitrock

Their move-in list is 3 pages long, handwritten on legal pad zip paper...most of the issues are marks and scratches type of issues. They also included things like the windows are hard to open and close, and the mini blinds on a window don't pull up evenly. 

All windows in the house CAN be open and closed, just need use some strength. The mini blinds were newly installed by my husband, he might have done improperly wrong during the installation but the blinds still work and give privacy- Should I fix anything that is not affecting their daily use/habitability? 

@Susan M. Thank you so much for the step-by-step explanation, very helpful! Looks like I'll be going over to the rental again..I didn't expect to go up there this soon into the lease term. 

@Susan M. If you allow your tenants to write whatever they want on the checklist, do you also agree to incorporate their findings as part of the move-in condition of the house? My fear is that if I don't say anything about the "LOTS OF marks/holes/scratches" on the walls, they will start nailing in the walls or do whatever they want, and I won't be able to charge for damages at the end of the tenancy, simply because we have agreed to their findings as the move-in condition. 

I like how you deal with tenants..and I would like more clarification about how you do it exactly -:)

@Jim Adrian Please excuse my ignorance.. what items fall into "normal wear and tear" exactly? 

If the walls are freshly painted when tenants move in, and the walls get some marks/scratches when tenants move out, would you charge them for that? Or would that be considered as normal wear and tear? 

What about small holes/nail holes on the wall? 

@Joe Splitrock I like the second idea better, however, if I go over there and fix it up the paint that they scratched up during the move-in process, would I look like a too easy-going landlord? I have already gotten them a welcome gift bag prior to them moving in- since they just had a baby, I got them a baby outfit, a large wall decal for the nursery, and baby cleaning supply.. I thought my nice gesture would pay off, but I'm starting to doubt it. 

@Michael Johnson It definitely makes sense to keep a good relationship with them until they move out of my house.  However, if I just let it be without questioning their misleading "loft of marks on the wall" statements, am I giving too much power to them and giving them the impression from the very beginning of the tenancy that they can continue to do what they want, say what they want?

@Edward B. Thanks a lot - that is really good advice! LOL I'm imagining the evil laugh in my head...

@Jon Holdman Thanks for the quick reply! I think it is a good idea for me to go in there this week and record the condition of the walls. BUT...what if they've already done some damages to the walls during their move-in process? Can I use the video (taken on the day prior to them moving in) and show them that the walls used to look new, and start charging them for damages? 

This is my first rental and I thought I have found very good tenants...But I'm concerned about this list of "problems" I'm getting from my tenants. 

The lease started from beginning of April but tenants didn't actually move in until this week. On the first day of April, we did an original walk-through together and took notes of the condition of every room/area of the house, then I allowed them extra 10 days to find additional pre-existing problems and add to the move-in checklist. 

However, today I received a supplement list from my tenants, and it states all bedrooms have "Lots of marks, dents, and holes & scratches on all walls". Most of the walls were freshly painted, I have never noticed any marks or holes on the walls, let alone "LOTS OF" them. 

I'm guessing they are saying this to avoid any responsibility for any marks/holes/scratches that may occur during their tenancy? Or, they might have done some scratches/marks/dents on the walls when they moved furniture into the house. I took a video of all rooms on the day we did the original move-in walkthrough, and the video doesn't show any marks or holes on any walls. 

My question is - should I confront the tenants about their statements? Should I go in to the rental and take a look at the walls? I don't want to annoy my tenants by I definitely don't want them to manipulate me from the beginning. I'd love to hear what you guys (all the experienced landlords) would do!