Home › Forums › Financial Markets/Economics › Tenant Pre-Inspection Questions
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Coronita.
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August 19, 2012 at 5:32 PM #750535August 19, 2012 at 7:21 PM #750550
paramount
ParticipantYes, tenants are entitled to a pre-move inspection, but at what point do the repairs exceed the reasonable ability of a tenant to correct to avoid deductions.
I don’t want the tenant replacing carpet, or even repairing carpet.
Also, if I am only entitled to replace carpet in rooms with damaged carpet, now I have a house of mismatched carpet.
When they moved in the carpet was nearly new, and it all matched.
Also, if I replace the carpet with tile or some other material, it may appear that I attempted to improve the house with tenants deposit.
August 19, 2012 at 7:30 PM #750551spdrun
ParticipantGet a quote for the carpet replacement from a reputable contractor.
Charge them for the amount of the quote, minus an allowance for wear and tear.
Do whatever you like with the money.August 19, 2012 at 8:24 PM #750549mike92104
Participant[quote=flu][quote=EconProf]This will alienate about half the Piggs reading this, but I learned long ago to simply not rent to people with pets. Saves all sorts of problems even though it eliminates half your market and probably lowers your asking rent, and certainly your deposit.
Cat urine is worse than dog urine and the smell CANNOT be removed. A future tenant without pets and possessing a sensitive nose (IOW, the kind of tenant you want), will surely smell it and rightly complain, perhaps not upon initial showing but after moving in.
Don’t waste your time and money on carpet treatments that claim to eliminate pet urine smell. They don’t work. Furthermore, you can’t just replace the carpet–the pad must go too. And during the new installation when both are up, treat the affected area heavily with bleach and water, because the smell is in the wood and concrete too.[/quote]You won’t alienate me.. I always said. No pets…[/quote]
I have pets, and still wouldn’t rent to people with pets. There are just too many people out there who can’t or won’t train their pets properly, and they can be damned destructive.
September 20, 2012 at 11:14 PM #751641ParticipantOne last question: So my new tenant moves in, and finally provides me with an initial move in inspection report that is extremely detailed. For example:
1. The outside condenser unit has rust at the bottom of the unit.
2. A bathroom ceiling light fixture has a small amount of rust stain.
And on and on…
It’s as if they went through the house with a microscope.
It just doesn’t seem right, and I think something is up.
Anyone have a similar experience?
September 21, 2012 at 2:41 AM #751643CA renter
Participant[quote=paramount]One last question: So my new tenant moves in, and finally provides me with an initial move in inspection report that is extremely detailed. For example:
1. The outside condenser unit has rust at the bottom of the unit.
2. A bathroom ceiling light fixture has a small amount of rust stain.
And on and on…
It’s as if they went through the house with a microscope.
It just doesn’t seem right, and I think something is up.
Anyone have a similar experience?[/quote]
Didn’t you walk through the house with a black light when your last tenant moved out? Don’t many landlords go through the home and make detailed lists in order to keep the tenant’s money? How is that any different?
These new tenants probably had a bad experience with another landlord and are now trying to protect themselves. You can’t really blame them.
Not trying to pick on you, Paramount, but what comes around goes around. Too many landlords want their tenants to pay for all of the maintenance and upkeep of their properties. That’s not the tenants’ responsiblity.
September 21, 2012 at 6:52 AM #751647Fearful
Participant[quote=CA renter]Too many landlords want their tenants to pay for all of the maintenance and upkeep of their properties. That’s not the tenants’ responsibility.[/quote]Wonderful words. You, the landlord, have got to accept that there is such a thing as normal wear and tear, and that it is not the tenant’s responsibility to return the dwelling to you in pristine condition.
You also have to accept that the dwelling you are renting to them is not in pristine condition in the first place. Even brand new houses have wear and tear in them.
The fact that they are documenting preexisting wear and tear is excellent.
[quote=CA renter]Don’t many landlords go through the home and make detailed lists in order to keep the tenant’s money? How is that any different?[/quote]
The tenant documenting the condition is preserving their legal right to wear and tear. The landlord keeping the tenant’s money is stealing.I had exactly that experience with Lisa Zhang of Prudential Scripps Ranch. I ended up getting dinged for stuff that was absolutely normal wear and tear. I was too busy to fight it. Classic landlord nickel and diming.
September 21, 2012 at 7:23 AM #751650EconProf
Participant[quote=paramount]One last question: So my new tenant moves in, and finally provides me with an initial move in inspection report that is extremely detailed. For example:
1. The outside condenser unit has rust at the bottom of the unit.
2. A bathroom ceiling light fixture has a small amount of rust stain.
And on and on…
It’s as if they went through the house with a microscope.
It just doesn’t seem right, and I think something is up.
Anyone have a similar experience?[/quote]
You are lucky you have a concientous tenant. And a very detailed list of deficiencies upon move-in is exactly what you want. For starters, it establishes a list both sides can point to upon move-out so that deficiencies NOT on the list can be charged to the tenant. The most frequent statement I hear when a tenant moves out is “That was bad when I moved in”. I pull out their move-in list and say “Show me”. They can’t, and the more detailed their list, the weaker their argument, since they have shown they tried to list everything.
I actually encourage the new tenant to be as detailed as possible, and to wait till they’ve lived there a week to be sure to include every little thing.September 21, 2012 at 7:46 AM #751653CoronitaParticipant[quote=paramount]One last question: So my new tenant moves in, and finally provides me with an initial move in inspection report that is extremely detailed. For example:
1. The outside condenser unit has rust at the bottom of the unit.
2. A bathroom ceiling light fixture has a small amount of rust stain.
And on and on…
It’s as if they went through the house with a microscope.
It just doesn’t seem right, and I think something is up.
Anyone have a similar experience?[/quote]
Paramount,
In my experience, a few scenarios1)Person had a really bad experience with a previous tenant and/or being extra careful.
2)Person is anal and/or cheap and is gonna nickel and dime you to death and bug you for every single minor thing on the face of the earth.
I hope it’s #1 (I’m more like #1)…
#2 people are a real PITA, but as long as they pay their rent on time, just suck it up (unless you can find better tenants).My recommendation is you can *try* is that if the person is so anal, go and take a few pictures and have him agree with the condition prior to move in. If he’s gonna be anal with things, I think it’s reasonable you politely tell him/her. That’s fine, so to make sure there is no disagreement, let’s take a few pictures and make sure we agree on it.. (for your protection, and mine)…
One of my tenants was in category #1, so I get along with them just fine. one of my tenants is in category #2. And oh, my, every since time rent check is due, he always contacts me to try to get me to reduce his rent by complaining about something….
The latest episode was that his lease was up, I decided to give him a favor by alonging him to continue his lease on a month-month bases for exactly the same price as he was paying before…Big mistake…Market price was $50-100/month for a 1 year term and I had plenty of interest…This guy goes back and forth with me like for a week trying to “negotiate” with me to reduce his rent. I’m like WTF dude, check out the comparables. You aren’t even gonna find a comparable to what I’m offering you month-month for 6months or even a year for that matter. I even offer him a 6month term for this below market rent…He goes on and complains about he doesn’t like this, he doesn’t like this about my place. I get so fed up, I tell him. Sorry you feel this way, I thought you were happy. If you think you can find a better place, please let me know if you don’t plan on renewing month-month…So anyway, he still goes and complains back and forth, etc. I’m like, dude…Here’s my craiglist posting of the place, here are my 6 prospects, all of which are offering to lease for a year $80 more than you are paying month to month…Hurry up and make your decision…
Meanwhile, the dude mails me his rental 2 days after it’s dude (I give a 3 day grace period)…And I got it late because he didn’t put a postage stamp on it and didn’t put a return address on it, so it’s stuck at the post office, to which when I finally asked the postman where it was, he hands me the envelope with a nice “postage due” on it….Anyway, so I tell the tenant, dude, not only am I offering you a reduced rent, any other creditor right now would have charged you the per contract late fee for your rent, and BTW next time put your fricking stamp on it…Next time, I’m gonna charge the late fee.
Anyway, dude ends up renewing because like I said, despite him trying to nickel and dime, I told him the truth…I’m doing him a favor…And frankly, if he bugs me anymore unnecessarily about reducing the rent, I’m not going to continue his lease.
While I can understand why some tenants hate landlords, but dude….Some tenants have an astonishing sense of entitlement and/or such out of touch with reality, it’s almost hysterical.
September 21, 2012 at 9:37 AM #751657SD Realtor
ParticipantI would agree that having the tenant send you such a detailed list is fantastic. It may seem anal to you and it may be a precursor of many requests to fix little things but it also provides a documented list. You should follow up with documentation that states an acknowledgement of that list and that everything else is in good condition.
September 21, 2012 at 11:54 PM #751693ParticipantThanks everyone.
It seems in general that landlords and tenants have a very contemptuous relationship.
Here’s the thing though: when you rent a car and the rental company asks you to inspect the car and note any damage do you pull out a magnifying glass?
I doubt it.
What your looking for is significant damage – not every little defect.
You and the rental company both know the car isn’t brand new….
September 22, 2012 at 11:21 AM #751711joec
ParticipantI’ve noticed Alamo in my last few car rentals don’t even have that check anymore. Maybe they just check it themselves and don’t treat their customers like crooks? As long as nothing major is broken, they’re ok it seems from my experience.
In my last rental, we cleaned up absolutely NOTHING and was so happy when they gave us practically everything back minus a small cleaning fee. TOTALLY worth it to just not bother cleaning a single thing from my last few rentals.
This is why to be a landlord, one should think like a business person and just “hire” the cleaners, etc since it doesn’t sound like it’s that much for what you get.
September 22, 2012 at 11:40 PM #751750bobby
Participanta while back I commented on the cracks in granite counter during walk through. The landlord happily noted that down.
A few days later, I called them up and mentioned a few more defects I had missed during the initial walk through.
went it came time to check out, there was no penalizing me for the preexisting defects.September 23, 2012 at 1:32 AM #751754CoronitaParticipant[quote=paramount]Thanks everyone.
It seems in general that landlords and tenants have a very contemptuous relationship.
Here’s the thing though: when you rent a car and the rental company asks you to inspect the car and note any damage do you pull out a magnifying glass?
I doubt it.
What your looking for is significant damage – not every little defect.
You and the rental company both know the car isn’t brand new….[/quote]
Rental car. Yes.Definitely…
I borrowed a 328 loaner from BMW dealer when I dropped my car for service. I went through it with a fine tooth cone. When I got home, I parked on a driveway and noticed the the previous borrower royally suck at parallel parking because he/she completely scraped the lower skirt on the passenger side below the door. That very moment I took it back to the dealer, and explained to them what happened. They kinda didn’t believe me, and had to ask a few technicians if they’ve seen this before. Fortunately, one of the techs said “it looks familiar” and he checked his service records that confirmed it… Had it not been for that, I would have been screwed.
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