All Forum Posts by: Robert Melcher

I posted this earlier today for a landlord in Oklahoma:

We provide a clean house at lease start, including professionally cleaned carpets.

The outgoing tenant is expected to leave the house clean and to have the carpets professionally cleaned when they depart (its in our lease, in Texas and in Oklahoma). If they don't, we use professionals to clean and bill it against the deposit.

Normal wear and tear means use consistent with proper care and cleaning, over an expected life of "X", which varies from item to item. Paint and carpets of reasonable quality should have a life expectancy of 6 to 7 years. One year's normal wear and tear would be about 15% of the cost of replacement. Someone who messes up your paint or carpet the first year could expect a charge of 85% of the cost to replace. In the third year, 55%. and so on, presuming you only touch-up or professionally clean between tenants. I have defended this depreciation in court.

We provide a clean house at lease start, including professionally cleaned carpets.

The outgoing tenant is expected to leave the house clean and to have the carpets professionally cleaned when they depart (its in our lease, in Texas and in Oklahoma).  If they don't, we use professionals to clean and bill it against the deposit.

Normal wear and tear means use consistent with proper care and cleaning, over an expected life of "X", which varies from item to item.  Paint and carpets of reasonable quality should have a life expectancy of 6 to 7 years. One year's normal wear and tear would be about 15% of the cost of replacement. Someone who messses up your paint or carpet the first year could expect a charge of 85% of the cost to replace. In the third year, 55%. and so on, presuming you only touch-up or professionally clean between tenants. I have defended this depreciation in court.

I enforce the lease, collect and distribute rents, respond to every request and communicate to everyone.  There will ALWAYS be people who want to get over, or need special consideration.  A PM does the same job for everyone without bias and with both empathy and fairness. And is an absolute TYRANT when it comes to enforcing your lease.

I'd visit NARPM  find local members. We have an office that serves your area, if you would like an intro.  Our service is all-inclusive.  Normally, the tenant would be held responsible for repairs like your example.

Brenda, one more thing: they do have the right and the house should be equipped with privacy locks to keep you out if they are home, but they should be disengaged when the house is vacant.

Texas property code does not elaborate on access by landlord:  

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PR/htm/...

However, our lease states repairs will be conducted during business hours and that we will make reasonable attempts to notify the resident, but that we can access the property at reasonable times without notice to conduct repairs, inspections, or in the case of unpaid rent, perform a Landlord Lien (be very careful with this one).  I presume you have a copy of the key?  If the resident rekeys without permission and your key will not work , I would order a rekey at their expense.

Agree with JC.  Never reduce the rent. It becomes an oral agreement and may invalidate the authority of the lease if you end up in court.

John T is absolutely correct.  Absolutely rekey every time and if you don't know the property code in your state, you should learn the requirements for locks first.

In Texas they must be changed, the tenant must be able to exclude the landlord when home, and this applies to every exterior door.  Failure gives them the right to leave without prejudice or notice if this is not done within7 days of a move-in unless you can prove it was done at turnover.

I have anecdotal experience that you can change.  I was/am a softy engineer used to dealing with only technical people.  I learned my lease inside out, and stick to the lease unfailingly.  As a PM, I analyze rents on every renewal and make my recommendations to the landlord, then the tenant gets the word on the decision from me.  Occasionally we revisit to negotiate.  A tenant will seldom move if rents keep up with the local rate of increase.  Moving expenses will also total about 3% of annual rent, so it doesn't hurt to point that out.

We have the same requirement. It protects the PM for liability because sadly, not all landlords are honest and conscientious. Plus we can track if a landlord neglects to insure. We also require HOA change of address so we pay the dues, but more importantly, we get any violation notices directly from the HOA. We're here to alleviate stress, not create it. These are steps that let us be better PMs and helps to assure the landlords are also taking care of business (they hired a professional for a reason).