Welcome folks,
There are 17246 Posts in 5558 Discussions so far. Use the 'search' for topics and people ↓

Refunding Deposit

posted by shippsl 08 Oct ’09, 9:00 pm

We're new to the landlord business and bought our duplex from a lady who did a very poor job of maintaining the property. So, we put a lot of hard work, time, and money into the vacant side before renting it but had tenants in one unit who had been living at the duplex for 3 years when we became the landlord. They didn't want to sign a lease, which we reluctantly accepted but now that they've bought their first home, we're needing to do a walk through and figure out how much of the deposit they are eligible for. The walls have 3 holes in them, the blinds (both sliding and window treatments) are torn up, have ripped out blinds and dog bites all over them and the kitchen cabinets are in extremely poor shape, where you can visibly see dog scratches all down them (these tenants had a red and blue heeler in-door dogs). The carpets are of course soiled, stink and are not even tacked down but they did have a couple of floods that the previous landlord did not repair efficiently. So, the tenants did not do a walk through with previous owners leaving us with nothing showing what damage might have been done prior to their moving in. Now they're telling me they moved in in such a hurry that the place wasn't painted, still had nail holes in the walls from previous tenants and reminded me that they had experienced a water heater flood prior to us buying the property. Out of a $600 deposit (and an additional $200 pet deposit) we're thinking we would be being EXTREMELY generous to refund them $300.00. Can anyone tell me if you've experienced a similar situation and/or offer some good advice? Thanks so much!!

This discussion so far ↓

• Refunding Deposit - shippsl, 08 Oct ’09, 9:00 pm
  • Refunding Deposit - Greg Bell, 29 Oct ’09, 5:14 am