State Specific Question About: PENNSYLVANIA (PA)

Is there a law specifying that Landlords paint between tenants?

When do you deduct for costs of painting?

SueAnne,

I don't know Pennsylvania law but I would be surprised if there was any law about painting between residents. It does make a great urban legend!

All court decisions are very local. My local court will allow me to charge $250 per room to repaint when I have photographs to show that the needed to be repainted after the resident left.

My local court is not concerned about depreciating the existing paint.

My lease is clear: resident must clean and restore the home to move-in condition ready for the next resident.

Locally, we have used this and won in several hundred court cases.

That would be a "check your local ordinances" question. NYC, for example, has stuff like:

New York City Administrative Code Article 3 - § 27-2013

law.justia.com/codes/new-york/2006/new-york-city-administrative-code-new/idx_adc0t27c2sc2a3.html

I usually do a little touch-up between tenants.

There is no law in PA about painting between tenants to force you to do so.

If you MUST paint due to excessive dings, gouges, stains, etc., caused by the tenants, then you first document the damage with plenty of photos. You then ding the security deposit for the cost of the materials (but not labor, if you do the job) - or for the entire job if you hire it out. But if you don't have good "before" pictures (which most district justices want for proof of previous condition) from when the tenants moved in, you may have to just chalk it up to experience, and repair/repaint and then do lots of great photos before the NEXT tenant moves in.

If you WANT to paint in between tenants because the place looks a bit tired (or HAD to do it without dinging the s.d.due to lack of move-in photos), you then expense that under "repairs" for the prep work, and "supplies" for the primer and paint. (Others can correct me if I'm wrong on these categories.)

No law in Pa saying when to paint or not to.

If you are wondering how to charge someone for painting, generally divide the expected life span of a paint job over the the time in which a tenant lived there.

Let assume you believe a paint job will last, say 5 years....and the tenant lived there four of the five years. Assuming the tenant moved into a place that was freshly painted, you should only charge 20% of the cost to repaint the place. If they were there six years, you shouldn't deduct anything from their deposit.

Pa just says the place has to be habitable - not pretty. So color, style or decor doesn't really matter either. Just make sure the place doesn't have peeling paint

Our town has passed an ordinance that repaint must be done between tenants. Sometimes if the tenancy is short and the paint is good and no damage, I can get away with painting only one wall in a room.

Thank you for all of your feedback! Please tell me how many photos are enough? To me they all look very similar...gouges& marks of one room are hard to distinguish from another room.

Do you use crime scene procedures...putting numbers, dates,& location on damaged spots (w/ a sheet of paper) before the photo is taken? Do you bring in extra lighting...many of my rooms have limited lighting or none so photos w/ flash are just not capturing what is actually there. I take the photos w/ my Samsung S5 cell phone.

Photos: I include features such as a window or door to help identify the room.

Wall smudges are very difficult to capture in a photo. I always use a flash and take the pic at an angle to the wall. I put my hand or a tape measure next to the hole or mark to show it's size.

I use a good inkjet printer. However prints from Walmart might show the spots better.

I give the res a set of prints with their deposit settlement to show why I deducted. Halts arguments. Pics don't lie.

Yes I am the Owner/LL. Court case on 4/1/16.

Soot Damage on ALL the walls...worse in corners, behind things hung on walls, along studs on walls, frames of windows (darkened). Soot migrates to all area of the house especially cold areas. Soot is oil based. Can't be washed off. Must be reduced w/ TSP cleaner or similar product. Time intensive prep. Oil based primer to block bleed thru.

This was because the tenant burned candles...lots! "Because of the residual carpet smell"...never reported to me until they had left. Also lots of Baking soda all over the kitchen in cabinets.

Inspection in May 2015. I did not notice the walls or think of the effects of the burning candles...too many other distractions & maintenance to address. I did show them how to clean the grease filters to the non vented fan & changed the charcoal filters as this was not being done as outlined in the lease. I also showed them another very important job...cleaning the coils under the refrig...packed w/ dust & dirt. When they left 7 months later, the coils were as bad as ever. No wonder the kitchen was stinky! MASKING the problem does nothing to solve it!

The actually vacuumed the carpets before leaving! But, I vacuumed them again to find 3 full Dyson containers of dirt in them! So their vacuum did a BAD job & I am guessing caused the ODOR they were MASKING w/ candles! Another good reason for ALLURE etc.