Normal Wear & Tear vs. Tenant Damages
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What is normal Wear & Tear?
Property owners and managers can't be there all the time to watch to see what happens to their property, or that a tenant doesn't do something stupid or destructive to damage something. Some people are malicious and intentionally destructive, but some others are simply unconscious: they don't mean to do any harm, they just have no way to connect what they have done with the damage that's caused. One of the mysteries of life.
Deciding whether damage to rental property is beyond ordinary wear and tear often boils down to common sense. We can usually determine if something was used in a way it was designed for or not. If it wasn't, it is damage which should be paid by the tenant.
Cabinets
Carpet
Dishwasher
Doors (hinged)
Doors (sliding & bi-fold)
Driveway
Floors (hardwood, tile, vinyl)
Furnace & AC
Furniture, fixutures, structure
Range/oven
Storm & screen doors
Water heater
Cabinets:
Most tenants will not pick up a screwdriver and tighten a screw that is coming loose. Many don't seem to know what a screwdriver is. Consequently, when the door comes loose from one hinge, they will let it hang from the other one until it breaks.
Cabinets should last for 20 to 30 years. If they are damaged from tenant neglect it is above and beyond ordinary wear and tear. Although we should be able to expect a tenant to tighten a screw, a periodic and thorough management inspection would probably have discovered a loose cabinet door and prevented costly repairs.
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Carpet
Dirty or worn carpet in a traffic area is normal wear and tear. Burned, ripped and stained carpet is damage. Wall-to-wall carpeting is a fixture. Unless the landlord and tenant agreed otherwise, the tenant may not install, then remove carpeting from the rental unit when they move. Fixtures are items that were once personal property, which have been installed in, or attached to, land or a building constructed on the land. Fixtures are also things, which cannot be removed without damaging the structure, such as something that was attached with cement, plaster, nails, bolts or screws.
A fixture may also be an item that was designed specifically for the property on which it sits. So things such as wall-to-wall carpeting, custom-designed draperies, screens, window blinds and tool sheds qualify. But a window-mounted air conditioner would not. Nor, for that matter, would anything installed by the tenant to make the dwelling more comfortable and attractive during the lease.
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Dishwasher
Dishwashers must be run periodically. A lease or house rules should clearly require that a cycle be run at lease once a month so that seals do not dry out and cause serious damage. If the requirements are properly documented, the cost of repair made necessary by neglect may be charged to the tenant.
Tenants sometimes use the dial to run the dishwasher through the cycle which will strip the timing mechanism. Dishwashers should be allowed to run through their cycles fully, not set to rinse again or dry again. A dishwasher should last between five and twelve years. If the control breaks before that, it is usually damage and above and beyond ordinary wear and tear.
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Doors (hinged)
When something doesn't work the first time, some tenants, or their children, force it. Things get caught in doors, such as broom handles on the hinge side of the door, and then the door gets sprung. Screw holes are stripped and hinges get bent.
Doors will last indefinitely, if used properly. Damage to them is above and beyond ordinary wear and tear.
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Doors (sliding & bi-fold)
Sliding and bi-fold doors come off their tracks, and despite the fact that it is easy to fix, some tenants don't put them back on their tracks. When the doors stay loose and get banged around, they can damage the tracks and the door so that both may have to be replaced. Landlords should be able to take the cost of such damage out of the security deposit.
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Driveways
Concrete is damaged by both automobile oil leaks and something known as "point loading." That happens when a heavy vehicle is parked on the same spot for a long period of time or over and over. Eventually that weakens the concrete in that spot and it cracks. The cracks radiate out from the spot of the point load. If your tenant has a heavy vehicle ask that he park it in different places on the driveway. Both bad oil stains and point load damage could be considered above and beyond ordinary wear and tear.
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Floors, hardwood, tile, vinyl
You usually know what the life expectancy is when you buy flooring, and of course, it varies by quality. If you buy cheap vinyl, and a tenant's high heel pokes a hole in it, you got what you paid for. But if a tenant drags something sharp across the floor and scratches or cuts the flooring, that is damage and above and beyond ordinary wear and tear.
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Furnaces
It is important to change the furnace filter once a month; particularly in cold climates at certain times of the year. When a dirty filter is left in for extended time you run the risk of ruining the fan motor. If necessary, get the tenant a supply of filters with the instructions to change it the first of every month, whether he thinks it needs it or not.
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Furniture, Fixtures, Structure
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Range
Gas ranges will last indefinitely. Many investors have bought homes built in the first half the twentieth century that still had antique gas ranges working in the kitchen. About the only thing a tenant can do to damage one is break a knob, and it happens. But accidents happen, and it is probably ordinary wear and tear.
Electric ranges, on the other hand, do not last as long, about 15-20 years. Tenants will sometimes remove elements to clean and not put them back in properly, shorting out either the element or the entire wiring on the stove. Landlords are always pleased when tenants clean, but should not be expected to pay for damage done while doing it.
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Storm & screen doors
A storm or screen door should last until they are too ugly to leave up. However, storm-doors on rental property often have a half-life of one rental period. Tenants remove the wind spring to make carrying parcels in or out easer. That allows the door to fly open, breaking the glass, springing the hinges, or worse.
In warm climates, screen doors suffer even more from dogs, kids and carelessness.
Without mistreatment, storm and screen doors will last If a tenant breaks one, it is damage and above and beyond ordinary wear and tear.
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Water heater
Tenants who pay the electric utility bill may be told by some environmentalists or government worker that they should wrap the electric water heater in an insulating blanket. Doing so voids the warranty and the Underwriter's Laboratory certification. The insulating blanket makes them too hot and can overheat the wiring. If a tenant wraps a water heater, thinking they are saving energy, and the water heater goes out, that is damage that goes beyond ordinary wear and tear. Tenants will sometimes drain an electric water heater without turning the electricity off. That will bum out the elements.
Water heaters should last from eight to twelve years. Burnt out wiring or elements are beyond ordinary wear and tear.
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You can find additional information on wear and tear vs. damage on the Rental Web Wear page.
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