Blog & Advice

Useful Life and Property Damage: What Landlords Need to Know

It's a common scenario: a resident has moved out of a rental home, leaving the property a mess or damaged. On top of the necessary cleaning the house badly needs, you discover that interior elements like the carpets and walls have sustained damage beyond normal wear and tear. Frustrated, you may console yourself with the thought that your resident is responsible for the cost of the repairs. Or are they?

Depending on how long ago you installed the carpet or painted the walls, they may not be responsible to pay for or replace anything. Who is responsible to pay for repairing damaged interiors depends almost entirely upon the “useful life” of the damaged item. Home interiors are made up of many elements that have a range of life expectancies. Paint, carpet, and other flooring wear out over time, and so their useful life can be quite short. This is particularly true for rental homes, as the standard number of years is shortened when the home is lived in by multiple occupants not just one family.

Most carpets used in rental homes have a useful life of about five years. If your resident manages to damage the carpet within the first five years after the date of installation, they may be responsible for the pro-rated share of the cost of replacement, or for cleaning costs if the carpet is simply very dirty. But if the carpet is older than five years and needs to be replaced, chances are that no matter how negligent your resident has been, the courts will almost always rule in their favor. Generally speaking, if the damaged carpet is over five years old, you probably won’t be able to make a convincing case that your resident is responsible for the repairs. If that is true, then you will bear the full cost of repairs yourself.

The best course of action is to replace the carpet in your rental home on a regular basis. It’s also important to do regular property evaluations to monitor the condition of the property, including the carpets and other interior features. At Real Property Management, we take a proactive approach to property maintenance and repair. That means that we will work with you and your resident to keep a close eye on the property, complete necessary maintenance when needed, and inform you to replace worn items when their useful life is over. Would you like to learn more? Please contact your nearest Real Property Management office for information.