State Specific Question About: NORTH CAROLINA (NC)

Tenant had clogged toilet and flushed. And left. (Teenage boys, not THE tenant per se...) Overflowed ALL DAY LONG. Took out the bottom apartment. We dealt with that mess last year - and she had just moved in...

Now she's moving out at end of lease and is really pushing to get her Security back lickety split. Place is disgusting (Xmas up in April, dog dirt, etc.) BUT that's not my concern until the walk-through. If it's spotless, I am now back to: WHAT CAN I DING HER FOR?

I mean we spent an easy 4 grand (would have been 10 grand under insurance, but we found our own contractors and actually did better work without claiming it) to repair the downstairs...which luckily was empty (tenants waiting to MOVE IN when it happened...)

Her place is pretty much okay BUT it ruined the floor in THAT bathroom...however that took a while (vinyl flooring gradually turned grey...and now it's WAY noticeable.)

It seems odd that you waited until the end of the lease (like a year, right?) to determine whether or not she owes anything for the damage that happened with the toilet.

What did you tell her at the time? Did you hold her responsible for any damage done then?

Are you now asking if you can get some of that $4k back from her from a year ago? Or do you just mean current damage?

I think the bad vinyl floor will be reasonable to deduct for -- it was fine when she went it and it was damaged beyond normal wear and tear. But, it seems odd to me, so far after the fact, to be looking to see what you can "ding her for" related to damage from a year ago that you were fully aware of. You should have been dinging her THEN if it was her fault, IMO.

- John...

In researching it at the time, we felt that what happened was not deliberate...but c'mon. A LITTLE effort??

It wiped us out for the year on the second apartment.

And second, I phrased MY question poorly. I am not someone who WANTS to ding ANYONE. Honestly. Hand me back the place as you got it, I'm THRILLED. SO much rather give you back your ENTIRE deposit than have me deal with anything, you know? Just leave it as you found it!!!!!!

But this is not the case. We had the 4k downstair damage - I don't even KNOW how to write that off! Well I do but I'm not going after her for that - I don't know why, I should have but didn't. I'm stupid.

But if nothing else she had a BRAND NEW bathroom floor when she moved in - now a VERY DAMAGED bathroom floor. If we had not been on our game and the toilet overflowed or backed up due to negligence, our bad. But that was not the case.

But my question is: am I ALLOWED to take out that bathroom floor from her deposit? Honestly, I would have expected her to FIX IT during the year she lived there! She has contractor friends, etc.

We did not even KNOW how to deal iwth it at first - do you say, "Okay you will NEVER get your SD back now?" That seems ... counter productive and possible illegal.

I'm not understanding how this happened. I have had them go over and a kid keep flushing which caused water damage in first floor apt.

But to have it keep flowing like that all day with no one home seems impossible to me. If the fill valve stuck down the water would keep flowing and that would certainly over flow the tank.

But the only way it could overflow because it was stopped up would be if someone kept flushing. Right??? Experts???

Which is not your question. Yes I would keep her security. If the toilet malfunctioned then suing might not produce any gain since it is your job to maintain the toilet in good working order, although it is their job to report problems.

What a mess, one reason to insist on renters insurance, but we generally learn from our mistakes. Be glad she didn't have the work done by one of her contractor friends, all tenants have those types of friends and then the work normally has to be redone correctly. You should have charged her for the damages at the time it happened.

I would charge for a replacement floor for the bathroom. If you have the same floor in another bath or kitchen take pictures showing the difference.

"You should have charged her for the damages at the time it happened."

She's a single mom with no resources. OH I could have charged her, all right. But I wouldn't have gotten paid. So it was actually better to just let her live there, paying rent normally.

Now she's moving out and the damage which DID NOT immediately show is clear!

I did NOT visit her regularly - she was a total slob of a tenant but a normal person but I couldn't take her housekeeping my head would explode! Who still has Christmas stuff up in APRIL?... so it's only now that the 'unseen' damage is showing up.

Wendy, we all have had that tenant that uses railroad spikes to hang and 11 X 14 picture. And has to put the spike in the wall at least 3 times before they decide where they really want it.

One of my worse water damages was the S8 mom that didn't feel like taking her kid to the neighborhood pool. So she let him play in the tub with the water running...for hours. Downstairs tenant calls - water is pouring out of their bath light fixture.

Nice mess, tenant was charged for damage and was evicted. Did I collect?...not a cent but I did report it to the credit bureau through my service. Only thing good about mine, she kept a spotless apartment.

As for adding to the leases, we started with a little one page lease. Clear, concise and to the point. We are up to six pages with multiple addendums.

There is no telling what goes through a tenants mind...or what doesn't.

Wendy, Just let this go... She is nasty like you say you will have her security...

Sorry, I will tell you this, I would have made her pay me a promissory note when it occurred. she could have paid me $40 bi weekly. That what you do in the future... get a bi weekly fee for damages. Then if she leaves you can sue her for the note and not mention she was a tenant.

I had the samething happen in an upstairs apartment she flushed then left for the day.Downstairs tenant was moved to another unit everything in unit was damaged.

Told the tenant she was responsible for all damages.

She disagreed took me to court and court found her responsible. I received money judgement and garnished her wages.

She is responsible for the whole thing. Include clause in your agreement about plumbing clogs being the tenants responsibility after so many days. Wallace uses 5 days I use 30 days. So the toilet clog was on the tenant. Add no wire thingies in the tank and no blue or any other color desolving disks in the tank or bowl. These also cause plumbing problems.

So all of the damage both in her apt and the downstairs apt is on her. If you still have not fixed the downstairs apt and you have lost a year or more of rent on the downstairs apt then that is on you.

You do a itemized accounting of all the costs and show her where every dime of her security deposit was applied to. You submit with in your states time limit. The remaining amount of cost of all of the damage to both apartments you go to small claims court and get your judgment for it all. You may never collect from her. Or you might by garnishing her wages. You just never know what will happen.

Ask your CPA about how to deduct for your costs.

OH my goodness we fixed the downstairs right away - we had a tenant with a baby waiting to move in! We lost very little rent actually. BUT the damage was in the thousands of dollars, of course.