Security Deposit Can I charge the Tenant for repainting entire house ?

Status
Not open for further replies.

learningstill

New Member
Question:

Can I charge the Tenant for repainting entire house ?

Dark Color Paint issue – Tenant repainted house with dark color paint – is Tenant financially responsible to restore the neutral off white colors of the house

Paint issue
My tenant moved in 2 years ago and the house needed some work, mostly cosmetic, a fresh coat of paint (it was to be kept in neutral colors, off whites, and some repairs with the deck.
Tenant had offered to do them in exchange for a good rate on the rent and to entice me to accept their rental application.

The house was entirely painted in neutral white / shell white colors.
House needed a fresh coat of paint to refresh the walls a bit.

Tenant repainted the whole house with dark colors paint schemes without getting dark color approval from Landlord.

In one email, Tenant mentioned "….entire interior repainted (although my roommate picked an unconventioal color for her bathroom and I will repaint that if I ever move out),…."

Well Tenant is moving out in one month as she bought a house AND it I is not just the bathroom with "unconventional color" as she calls it… it is practically the entire house or at least 75 % of it. (there is no off white walls left in house, just some ceilings survived the color invasion).

When I approached her about repainting she refused and said she is not obligated under the Lease to repaint and to prepare the house for the next tenant.

I have pictures from when she moved in and pictures of the current paint colors.

Can I charge the tenant for the professional repainting of the entire house? Would her email be sufficient in court to establish her liability?

In addition the lease does say that Tenant shall not, without written permission from Landlord, paint, or remove install permanent fixtures.

This is the paragraph in the lease:
REMODELING OR STRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS: Tenant shall not, without written permission from Landlord do any of the following: remove any portion of the property or Landlord's personal property for any purpose, make holes in walls, floors, or woodwork except for the purpose of hanging pictures on walls, install alarm systems, electrical outlets or telephone cables, replace carpet, paint, remove or replace wallpaper, remove or install any permanent fixture, or permit any water beds or other water furniture in the property. Tenant shall not allow any lien to be filed by anyone against the Property.

The security deposit in only one month rent ($3,000) and the paint job done by a contractor will cost at least $5,000 or more due to the dark colors that will require 3 coats of paint instead of the usual one or two coats and may event require some primer coat as well to act as a color killer to not call it a stain killer…
In addition, Tenant caused other issues, which make the one month security deposit "insufficient security".
 
You authorized the tenant to do the painting.
Unless you can show an agreement in writing that specifies the colors to be used then this is a lost cause.
You should have purchased the paint and allowed the tenant to use that paint only. It sounds like the door was left open for the tenant to paint the house as she wanted since she is the one that was going to be living there. It appears your involvement in the decision making process was minimal, and that is not the tenant's fault.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top