How Much Really, Really, Really Bad Tenants Cost
June 18th, 2007 categories: Investors/Landlords
The results are in - the terrible tenants who recently vacated my in laws’ house have cost them over $4,400.
Here are the expenses they’ve incurred that are directly attributable to damage done by the tenants:
$1,600 - Cat urine odor removal, includes labor. When the guys who clean up smelly houses for a living have to leave the house because it smells really bad, you know you have a problem.
$1,200 - Dumpsters for trash left in house and in yard, including over 100 empty cat food containers, two dog houses, a swing set, a riding lawn mower, etc.
$1,000 - Paint, new doors, new subflooring, hardware and other miscellaneous supplies.
$600 - Bathroom fixtures and lights.
Except for the cat urine odor removal, the cost is only for material, not labor. The labor is being provided by family. Also, this figure does not include lawyers fees or eviction costs since the tenants left on their own.
Also not included in figures above are items that were probably going to be replaced anyway, including:
$4,000 -New wood floors to replace the destroyed carpet and new tile in the bathroom and kitchen - also just for materials.
$4,000 - Kitchen cabinets, countertops and fixtures - materials only.
$800 - Exterior doors - materials only.
Had my inlaws not intended to replace these items anyway, these would also have been included in the total damage.
For more pictures, go to Really, Really, Really Bad Tenants and Even More Really, Really, Really Bad Tenants.
Shudder.
Scary, scary, scary.
-Athol
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Did they not know any of this was going on? I sometimes make a pain of myself with my tenants. But they know I care on my once at least every 60 days visit.
But, alas, that doesn’t always work, either. Sorry ’bout the bad news for your in laws.
That is a lot of money but its not unusual. How do the cost effect the total return for this investment. When approving new tenants, especially for a single family home, I try to visit the home where they now live. This weeds out many of the prospects that would leave a home like this, but not all of them.
I feel your pain. I just hope that my tenants left my house in better shape than yours.
We just purchased a house that was used as rental, planning to use it as our single family home. The day we closed, the overpowering scent of cat urine was suddenly present.
We’re facing around $30K in remediation as on that scale of cat urine smell (1-10) the house is around a 15. New hardwoods, subfloors, trim, stairs (yes, stairs), drywall, venting (cats just love to pee in vents as it turns out), doors, paneling in the kitchen, tile in kitchen, etc. Really, what doesn’t need to be replaced? Ah! I know…the windows.
Cats in houses? Not so much. They’re too unpredictable and wild, and most people don’t know much about managing them. And the damage they leave has a way of lingering long after they’re gone.
I feel your pain! I found that the smell worsened when we started demo and only got better after the first layer of sub flooring came out, the bottom layer was sprayed with some kind of bleach concoction, and sprayed with Kilz. We’re still having an issue in the basement- the odor there is very strong despite painting the ceilings, floors and walls with Kilz.
We’ve even discovered that the smell is outside the house - on the decks, around the foundation & stairs!
The expense isn’t so bad because we were planning on it but if you’re not…
Try Zinsser B-I-N shellac primer. It sticks to almost anything, and most people agree it’s much better than Kilz for odor control. It basically entombs the odor–it’s often used after fires to control smoke damage smell. That’s what our specialists have recommended we use on the plaster walls in our moneypit, er, new house.
Good tip. I’ll try it if we’re still smelling the cats.
That’s terrible. Thanks for the interesting read.
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