Caring for a rental home needs effort and regular maintenance. A good quality tenant recognizes this and would try and help property owners keep their Carson rental homes clean, maintained, and in good repair. But there will be occasions where well-intentioned tenants will accidentally damage a home’s interior surfaces.
There are times when a tenant causes unintentional damage because he or she sincerely did not know that their actions would result in harm. Other times, damage to property is because of accidents or as the result of a tenant’s poor decision. Property owners must know the most common ways a rental home’s interior surfaces can sustain inadvertent damage. This knowledge can be very helpful in keeping their tenants informed and maintaining the condition of their rental homes.
When surface damage goes beyond basic wear and tear, tenant negligence is usually the source. Countertops, floors, and even sinks and bathtubs are typically long-lasting and can withstand daily and heavy use for many years. The difficulty is that tenants, although well-meaning, may not be informed that some of these surfaces need to be cared for and protected in a certain way.
As an example, kitchen and bathroom countertops can normally withstand daily cleanings, food preparation activities, and a few spills. They can go through all that and still be fine. But countertops can be destroyed by harsh cleaning products, especially the ones containing bleach or ammonia. The cleaning product for your countertops should be picked carefully. They should be picked based on the kind of countertops you have in your rental home.
There are other ways countertops can be damaged. These include placing too much weight on a countertop, like an unusually heavy appliance or even a person standing on it. Some countertops may be damaged by placing hot pans or appliances on them, such as a toaster oven or a slow cooker.
Even a curling iron can cause burn marks on a bathroom countertop and can be difficult to remove. Cutting and chopping directly on a countertop can create small indentations that damage the surface, and these indentations could turn into greater problems down the road.
Floors are another interior surface that tenants often accidentally damage. There are some things that even a watchful tenant’s radar couldn’t detect. Things like small leaks under a refrigerator or a drip under the cabinet from a sink water supply line could be happening under their nose; these things could likely cause permanent water damage in a kitchen floor.
Moving furniture is one of the biggest culprits of unintentional floor damage. Pushing heavy items to move them across a laminate or wood floor can cause scratches, gouging, and tears. This is also one of the many ways carpets get torn. Placing heavy furniture in the wrong spot can crack or chip tile floors, so too would dropping heavy items, such as exercise weights or even books. Comparable to countertops, using the wrong cleaning products can permanently damage a floor, stripping off finishes and creating unsightly stains or bleach spots.
Bathtubs can also sustain accidental damage from harsh cleaning products. The reverse is also true. Not cleaning often enough allows mineral deposits from tap water to build up until removing them is almost impossible, or worse, allow mildew to form. This is also quite a common mistake. Comparable to tile, a bathtub is made to hold only up to a certain weight. When you place something that is too heavy in a bathtub, it can cause cracks. Any improper use can result in a whole slew of problems from unfixable scratches in a solid-surface unit to rust or coloring dye stains.
The best method to help tenants avoid unintentionally damaging your rental home’s interior surfaces is by informing them. When they learn how to properly clean countertops, move heavy furniture, and so on, they will be able to do a lot more for preventing expensive repairs. At Real Property Management Southland, we talk with both tenants and property owners so we can make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to taking care of the rental home. That they would have more than just a desire to help, but actual technical knowledge as well.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
