Commercial Rental Repairs
 

My last renters left a week ago. Everything looks good for normal wear and tear.

With one exception: They left holes in the walls. Not little nail holes to hang a picture, but the holes they drill out to insert those plastic wall mounts and insert a screw ~8 mm wide. There are 34 of these. It will take awhile to mud in and re-paint, if I can match the color or re-paint the whole dang wall.

Is that considered "Normal Wear and Tear"? I know to read the Agreement, but it is loose. I assume, bad idea, that there is a "Normal Wear and Tear" clause. I have not confirmed that.

I am trying to finalize the agreement but really don't want to have to mess/fix the holes on my dime. But I don't want to dick with it either.

CP to the rescue.....

Fix them and let it go. You’ll be worry free sooner.

I think ambiguous statement in a court of law will always be ruled in favor of the person the suit is brought against. Keep in mind that I am not a lawyer either but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express once.

Does the "Normal Wear and Tear" clause have a description of what that means exactly? If not I would think that should be defined somewhere. Layout exactly what that means. Say something like holes no bigger than a 16d nail size and no more than X holes allowed.

Exactly.

It's not worth the hassle.

If you had renters and that's all they destroyed you came out WAY ahead. They're good renters.

Our farmhouse renter----died. His wife wants out but I have no idea where she will go (not that I care) They were barely making rent at our house.

Worried what the inside of the house looks like.

We are trying to decide what to do with the farmstead. So many issues and feelings.

Agreed. I have been mulling this topic in my head for 2 weeks and finally wanted some CP thoughts.

The previous renters left the place in tatters and settled for $20k.

I re-read the agreement last night and will post follow up questions later.

this

Don't sweat a $50-100 repair that doesn't need to be done by a professional. You see and hear about the horror stories all the time. Be thankful one of those stories wasn't yours.

Definitely not worth the hassle. Just fix it (it *is* a minor fix) and be glad that is all you have to deal with.

Edit: you've probably lost more in potential rental income by worrying about this for two weeks than the cost of simply repairing those holes.

We have several commercial office suite buildings.

It is easy for others to say to eat the repair cost.

Wear and tear means carpet, overall condition of walls, etc. 34 wall anchor holes are not wear and tear. And its going to cost more than $100 as you have to repaint the wall or numerous walls.

Charge the repair out of the deposit. Should not be a lot.

With new tenants, we state to return the suite to its original state. Has never been an issue. Most tenants know they are paying for the repairs...either they have it done themselves before the final walk through or at that time we discuss that there will be a repair bill.

Good luck.

Are there some you can leave as spots that you know the next renter will probably hang stuff there? If there are spots to hang things up the next person might use those instead of creating new spots.

Mud and paint cheaper than a lawyer which is where it probably would end up with.

your lucky they left and didnt cop a squat

Charge them $10 a hole out of the deposit. They won't even complain. Then fix the shit and paint. Those are easy repairs. If they do complain tell them you'll drop it to $5. **** , it's part of being a landlord.

I would say don't worry about it and.just fill the holes in. You could take out 200 and said you all left huge holes in the wall that need repaired and be done.

What happens.if you include that in new lease? Your renter could just putty over the holes at best or put toothpaste and paint at worst.