Landlord / Rental info

[BONE WSO]

I recently had a TSgt and his family at Ellsworth that rented my house. When he moved out his dogs ruined my carpet with piss stains everywhere. I had two carpet cleaners come out and both said the carpet was ruined and took pictures for me. I got an estimate from Lowe's for the cost, which was $4000. I told him that I would pay $1000 of it since the carpet was 4 years old and he was going to pay the other $3000. He gave me a little trouble and tried to not pay it but I told him that I was going to take it to small claims court and email his CC and First Shirt. We eventually agreed that he would pay me $200 per month interest free for 15 months because there was no way he could pay me up front. It would have been very simple and cheap to take him to small claims court in South Dakota, you don't even need a lawyer. He has been paying me for a few months, and if he stops I will contact his chain of command and take him to court.

If he is military, and you take him to court and win and he doesn't pay, it will likely affect his security clearance.

Edited June 11, 2013 by BONE WSO

[Guest]

What was your pet policy on the lease? Was there any pet deposit? I'm amazed you managed to get anything out of him.

[BONE WSO]

I allowed them to have pets. I should have asked for a bigger deposit but it wouldn't have mattered since the carpet was $4000. It is very simple, I put in the lease that if any damage was done to the house they would be held responsible. There were never any pets in the house before he moved in and then there were piss stains everywhere when they moved out. I think that would have been a pretty easy case to win in small claims court. He signed a contract and he must abide by it. Why are you surprised that I got anything out of him? I asked the SNCO's in my squadron what they thought I should do and I did exactly what they recommended. They all told me he would be held accountable by his chain of command for the incident and I think he knew it.

[Guest]

I think you got more out of him than you would have in court. Even if you were basing the carpet depreciation on an assumed lifespan of 10 years (which is absurdly long for a rental) and all of the carpet was ruined and needed replacement you would be looking at $2400. That said, what's considered damage versus normal wear and tear when you're leasing to a pet owner? Why are spending that much on carpet if you're going to allow pets? Lastly, I think threatening to go through his chain of command is a bit of a dick move. If you're leasing to an IBM employee it's not like you can go to his boss.

[FallingOsh]

I think you got more out of him than you would have in court. Even if you were basing the carpet depreciation on an assumed lifespan of 10 years (which is absurdly long for a rental) and all of the carpet was ruined and needed replacement you would be looking at $2400. That said, what's considered damage versus normal wear and tear when you're leasing to a pet owner? Why are spending that much on carpet if you're going to allow pets?

There's an assumption that the pet won't piss and shit all over the interior of the house. Allowing pets in a rental is a favor to the renter. Abusing the favor and breaking the contract has consequences.

Lastly, I think threatening to go through his chain of command is a bit of a dick move. If you're leasing to an IBM employee it's not like you can go to his boss.

Fuck that. He breached the contract and should pay. Taking the IBM employee to court and having a judgement against him would ruin options for him. Threatening a chain of command involvement has no lasting effect on the Sgt.

[BONE WSO]

Forgot to add that he left in the middle of the lease with no prior notice. It took me about a month to find another renter and cost me about $1400, which was partly factored into the repayment since I only took a $500 deposit from him. And that he paid me late 5 out of the 7 months he lived there and never paid the roughly $300 in late fees.

I don't really think it was a dick move. It was dick of him to not take responsibility for ruining the carpet in a very nice house. We don't work at IBM and the AF expects us to be accountable for our actions outside of work also. If I wouldn't have threatened that I would likely be out the full amount. Lesson learned: next time I will run a credit check and take a full month's rent for deposit. I also wrongly assumed that I had to rent it to the first person that was interested in the house.

Also, that was the cheapest carpet that Lowe's had, other than the industrial crap.

Edited June 13, 2013 by BONE WSO

[Fud]

Forgot to add that he left in the middle of the lease with no prior notice. It took me about a month to find another renter and cost me about $1400, which was partly factored into the repayment since I only took a $500 deposit from him. And that he paid me late 5 out of the 7 months he lived there and never paid the roughly $300 in late fees.

I don't really think it was a dick move. It was dick of him to not take responsibility for ruining the carpet in a very nice house. We don't work at IBM and the AF expects us to be accountable for our actions outside of work also. If I wouldn't have threatened that I would likely be out the full amount. Lesson learned: next time I will run a credit check and take a full month's rent for deposit. I also wrongly assumed that I had to rent it to the first person that was interested in the house.

Also, that was the cheapest carpet that Lowe's had, other than the industrial crap.

Depending on what state you live in, the rules are different. I don't think it is a dick move at all to get the NCO's chain of command involved. He/she signed a legal agreement and are responsible for the things in the lease. If you performed your due diligence and didn't write anything crazy in the lease, then you should be good to go.

My current landlord is great and I have consulted him on purchasing rental properties sometime later in life. He has a great practice of performing a credit check ahead of time, and will usually not rent to anyone with a credit score below 700. Sometimes, his places go unoccupied, but it is better than him having to deal with a bad tennant. I am his first military rental, and I have told him about getting the chain of command involved if needed. It baffles me how some people think they cannot pay rent, get out of early termination clauses, or expect to get their rental deposit back if their dog defecates all over the house.

I think it is common in every state that the tennant is first and foremost responsible for paying rent at the time given by the landlord. If you had good documentation ahead of time about the state of the carpet, then you should be good to go. However, expect the carpet to be replaced at the end of the rental period. I'm also sure there is a mom and pop place in SD that would install the carpet for much cheaper. An additional note about appliances is that you can get a lot of good, cheap, used items on craigslist for the house (just an FYI).