I have a 3 bedroom house in Virginia. I reside in the house and rent out two bedrooms. I have had a total of 4 tenants over the years. Currently I have one really good tenant (Tenant A - been with me over 2.5 years) and one really crappy tenant (Tenant B - been with me 1 year and 2 months).
Tenant B has been a problem child. Her boyfriend started staying with her every night as of 6 months ago, she leaves insane messes, has destroyed 5 pots and pans, never cleaned anything (and she creates massive messes), doesn't contribute to shared household chores (taking out garbage, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen after she destroys it every night, yard work etc). I have spent hours every week cleaning up after her, told her her boyfriend should not be showering at our house everyday, staying there while no one else is home or storing things at our house, I also requested she contribute more to cleaning etc., but she never has.
We have had a lot of other problems with her, nothing illegal but definitely horrible to live with (loud all night, leaves rotting food EVERYWHERE, leaves lights on all night, leaves the stove on unattended for hours, the refrigerator doors open for hours, front door left open all night, showers for literally over an hour each night, then stays in the bathroom for another hour forcing Tenant A to often use my en suite bathroom etc., just generally really annoying). Tenant B rents out my smallest bedroom, shares a bathroom with Tenant A and has free use of the rest of the house which is shared space. I have two cats (had them 6 years now). The only damage they've ever done in the house is claw my couch.
A few months ago this tenant told me through my bedroom door one night that one of the cats had been scratching at the wallpaper in her room. I told her to kick the cat out of the room if she did it again, or spray her with water, whatever, but didn't really think much of it. Tenant A doesn't let the cats in his room.
A few days later I walked by Tenant B's open door and noticed the wall paper was completely destroyed about 3 feed above her bed. I was shocked at the damage.
It has gotten to the point where neither Tenant A nor myself want to live with her anymore as she keeps us up and leaves constant messes (we even got ants!). Her lease expired after 6 months and automatically rolled over to a month to month lease. I am going to give her 60 days notice at the end of the month.
My question is this, my pet did the damage (according to her), but the room is her responsibility. I have had 2 other tenants in that room and there was never any damage to the wallpaper. Am I able to withhold part of her deposit to remove the damaged wall paper?
Thanks, Landlord
Submitted July 21, 2016 at 01:13AM by getwiser87 http://ift.tt/29Vpibt legaladvice
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