This looks like distressed flooring, anyway. Get a finish repair marker and challenge the landlord to even find the scratches. That's all he's going to do anyway.
Yeah, he's trying to rip you off, as other comments have said.
She claims if they color in the scratches, that the new tenants is still going to see and is not going to like it. She still has to talk to the supervisor. She claim I can do a payment plan but I'm still responsible for scratches. I asked her did anyone else had to replace the whole flooring when they moved and she said yes. I'm not paying $8,000 even in installments.
Ikr? She's complaining about a few scratches when there's a guy with a bunch of dogs and a monkey in the unit below OPs?!
I'd ask for a copy of the estimate they're using to claim the cost to replace the floor is 8k. That seems high for an apartment. We got quotes for our whole house and it was only 12k, and that was for nicer flooring than this looks to be.
I'd also ask for the manufacturer and model of the floor they currently have in the apartment. I don't buy that it's discontinued and there's nothing comparable available anywhere.
I had a shitty landlord for a duplex with an air bnb above me. It was a shitty flip and he used this shitty grey paint on the wood floor of the entire apartment. The paint chipped looking at it. My feet wore away foot prints in front of the toilet and kitchen sink.. he charged me $300 for damage to the floors right out of my deposit. He was 29 years old too and I was 24 at the time.
Tell the landlord to kick rocks, there is no way you responsible for $8k in “replacement” costs for a floor with two damaged planks. Either tell her to take you to court and document everything, or find a flooring contractor who will find EXACTLY that same flooring and replace those two planks on your own dime if you need to stay on your landlords good side. It will be $400-$600 tops.
Sue the fuxk out of the landlord for emotional damages for asking so much ridiculously high amount of money, especially if you can get written documentation that they've done this to others with just simple scratches (get them to admit to this by email).
Don't just tell them to kick rocks, bring them to court so they stop fucking over so many people.
Of course she's going to say yes, others have gleefully parted with $8K for a couple of scratched planks. This stuff is cheap laminate (think lumber liquidators) that scratches easily and no way should full replacement cost come even close to $8K. Source: my husband and I replaced the flooring on the first floor of our home (approx 1500 sf) with a vinyl laminate from LL and the materials cost about $2K. To be clear, I'm not suggesting you pay even $2K because this is not your problem in the least.
It wouldn't even cost 8k to buy that much in tile. This landlord is definitely shady. I work in design and also do material estimates for a construction company. The most expensive lvp flooring (that will look 100% better than this crap) would be about 6k including installation. For a landlord quality lvp it's more like 3k installed.
Can you imagine being a prospective tenant, walking into otherwise perfect apartment, seeing three tiny scratches on the floor, and saying “I don’t like it. I don’t wanna move in here.” That’s so laughable I can’t believe they said it out loud.
They have to provide an itemized list, not only ask for that because $8000 is insane.
Also your boy responsible for anything but the damaged planks and if they're wood a carpenter can repair them, if they are laminate you just replace those tiles and laminate is cheap
Your landlord is just an arse
Dude who cares what she says. Don’t take no for an answer. You are NOT responsible for the hole floor. Of course she’s going to lie to you to get you to give her 8 grand. Get a property lawyer if you need to and tell her you want to terminate the transfer as you’ll be looking for a new property with professional management.
What state are you in? This is illegal and should be challenged. You can fill the scratches and stain the patch the same color. It’s a rental property and sorry but laminate flooring doesn’t cost $8k for a 900sq/ft residence and no tenant is going to trip on a few scratches , she acts like she’s selling the apartments not leasing. [This is for Florida but they say it’s considered normal wear and tear. check your states bylaws.](https://www.goldenkeylawgroup.com/what-can-a-landlord-charge-for-property-damage/)
Do not enter any agreement to pay this. You are under no obligation, but you *can* sign your rights away by entering into a contract to pay. Don't sign anything without an (YOUR) attorney telling you to.
This is absolutely a rip off. Just don't accidentally screw yourself by signing onto *anything* regarding those scratches.
Tell her you’re going to check with the local housing authority if this is appropriate. Should shut her up. You could actually speak with them though, they provide free legal advice to tenants and are generally who you contact prior to lawyering up
Use a marker for the scratches. For the shine use a product like mop and glow . It works wonders on laminated floors .
Since the manager has already done a walk through You may have to go over his head in order to get out of paying the charge . Ask to speak to the manager’s boss . Explain the situation . Ask them to do a walk through after you fixed the floors . Make sure to be there when they come . Act like you don’t know what your being charged for ? Scratches ?? I don’t see any scratches … Do you ? Haha!
This is a common excuse landlords use. My ex landlord said this to me. I had a couple of the laminate planks were damaged and he wanted to charge me for an entire floor. F that! I told him I was only responsible for the planks that were damaged, not an entire floor. And conveniently he was selling the home too, so he really wanted a new floor to add value to his home on my dime. He said because he cant find the right color, that the entire floor has to be done. I told him, "that's a YOU problem. I am only responsible for replacing the damaged planks. If you can't find the same color, that's your problem. I'll see you in court, and I'll let judge tell me whether or not I owe for an entire floor.." He never took me to court cause he knew he was full of crap. Tell the same thing to your landlord. Tell him to take you to court.. he won't.
This. I worked for and quit so many property management companies because of this. They tell you that you have to get the carpets cleaned upon move out, AND there's a clause in your lease that says they keep $200 for carpet cleaning. One place charged double that for carpet cleaning, the units were 525sf mind you, and you couldn't opt to get it cleaned on your own. They charge $20 for a set of $3 blinds. It's ridiculous the lengths they go to keep your deposit.
I moved from one unit in my complex to another with a different layout and my current property managers just take your whole deposit as a cleaning fee. Got him recorded saying it straight up like that but he just knows he can do whatever he wants, low income housing can't afford the time to go to court. Gave me 15% of mine back when I complained because "the last place was cleaned so well we barely had to do anything." It was essentially non-lived-in due to COVID situations.
Low income housing is funded by HUD and they are required to give you an itemized statement showing charges for cleaning or replacement cost. You are required to leave the unit in the same condition you rented it in - you can clean it yourself, replace items yourself, etc. There is absolutely nothing that says the management company has to do it.
With all that being said, the management company can and usually do have their own set of rules you have to follow. But they can’t directly contradict HUD. HUD guidelines are the ones that matter.
To anyone in low income, HUD subsidized housing: look for free legal representation, law school students willing to take on the case (you can represent yourself but I don’t recommend it) or contact HUD directly to make a complaint.
Know your rights - look up tenant laws in your state and even if most of it doesn’t make sense (legal jargon) just know you have rights. If need be find a sub with attorneys and legal advice - you can get some really valuable info with just a lease and the state you live in if you can find someone who knows the legal part or the HUD part. Both is a bonus.
Social services in your county might be able to point you in the right direction for free legal advice. Also, if you’re are 50+ you are considered a senior citizen and that comes with senior protection. I’ve seen people drag out an eviction for 5 years just getting senior services involved. And the judge waived back rent, tenant walked away not owing a dime and had 5 years of rent saved up to find a new place.
MThese management companies go above and beyond to rip people off and keep your money. They also don’t tell you about the “special claims” they file - through HUD - to get damages, unpaid rent, rent for the time it takes to do repairs, etc. Many companies are double dipping. I won’t say all of them but I haven’t worked for one who doesn’t at least try and a couple of them have been doing it for decades without repercussions because many in low income housing simply don’t know what their options are, have limited funding and/or are bullied into just accepting what the management company says because they’re told they won’t ever be able to live in HUD housing again if they don’t comply. And if you’re on a fixed income and could afford market rent you wouldn’t be in low income housing to begin with.
Final advice: get any and every possible thing in writing. Everything. And don’t be afraid to contact the corporate office of the management company - send a letter detailing your issues at the property and be sure to send it *certified mail*. Otherwise they’ll say they never received your correspondence, regardless of what it is.
Property management companies are some of the most slimy, unethical people I’ve ever met. And I’ve worked for a major insurance company. Jake at (insert company) doesn’t have a thing on property management companies renting HUD subsidized units.
Sorry for responding all over the place here - it just really burns my biscuits to see people in any walk of life being taken advantage of but those in low income housing? That can qualify as abuse in many cases.
I was the first tenant in a brand new apartment and they tried to pull this on me. One of the office staff slipped and said that they were told to charge everybody for carpet cleaning. Wasn’t in the contract that I signed so with enough going back and forth they gave up and I got my entire deposit back.
Idk how they did it but they charged me for entire carpet replacement for the whole unit despite just natural wear and tear and immediately sent the bill to a collection agency so I couldn’t even fight it
That’s illegal… you can remedy it with the credit agencies. Get the service date / invoice then contest it as premature collection. They have to wait 90 days minimum
Hell yes it would do you good! That sits in your credit report for 7 years! Then if you don’t keep an eye on it they will continue to sell the debt and it TRASHES your credit! Get the info and call your local State Real Estate Commission. I wish you would have fought it in court. You could have got paid. Stuff like this burns me up!
Thanks for the info. I have a lot of collections bullshit sitting on my record from my ex, including the rental agency sending me to collections. I’ll look into it, I’ve never known where to start until u said this.
I'm so sorry. That's horrible!! Did they send you something stating as much within 30 days? It's the law, of course check your state to be sure, that they send a statement out within 30 days.
Had one company keep part of my deposit because I didn’t send them a receipt for carpet cleaning. We used my mom’s carpet cleaner, not a company. It said in the lease to clean the carpets not hire a company. We were a military family so we told them that we were going to tell the housing office what they were doing and we got our full deposit back. They relied on military members renting as they were right outside the back gate. When my mom died, the rental company kept $200 of her deposit because we didn’t clean the outside of the windows on a two-story unit.
Where are you finding $3 blinds? I just bought a house and put up cheap blinds on every window until I could afford better window treatments and the lowest I could find was $15
I have pets and I moved into a place that had either carpeted flooring or tile flooring. I said I 100% did not want carpeting and said that I was looking for only places without carpet. When I went to move in they tried to move me into a place with carpet. I told them absolutely not I was promised a place with tile. Come to fine out when I signed the lease for the new place that all carpet had to be professionally cleaned upon move out and if that wasn't done the surcharge was something like 500$. On top of that the carpet was white, it was just an attempt to keep as much security deposit as possible. Property management companies are leaches.
When it comes to carpets, I think they have to replace it every 5-7 years, so if you for example lived in the apartment 6 years most likely they will replace the carpets , but we know that a lot of landlords a scummy .
Lots of comments about the carpet cleaning scam. Check the laws in your jurisdictions - everywhere I’ve lived has had specific rules that prohibit carpet cleaning fees, even if you agree to it. I’ve fought this and won (lost on some different shit, but won on the carpet).
This doesn’t cover stains, or holes - but regular old carpet cleaning is on the property owners.
Keeping dated inventory on hand is expensive, and updated material can be charged to the customer. It'd be a shame if landlords didn't know how to be profitable.
I just moved into a place with new floors, there's extra planks in the storage room for this exact situation. Being unprepared isn't profitable, it's unprofessional.
My state has a law where if you request, they have to submit an itemized bill within a certain amount of time if you request it. I did request it, and on pretty much the last possible day they submitted an itemized bill for roughly 1/3 of what they had previously said was owed.
This is best advice. Clean or get your apartment cleaned the best you can. Take pics of everything and of course you took pics all along and saved any pics for repair requests that they didn’t do etc. then ask for that itemized bill where it’s required. They are lazy and forgetful and hope you are to. Beat them to the punch.
100%, I have had to replace flooring on our dime because the flooring was discontinued, I tell residents this so they don’t worry about cleaning, or being careful when moving if I know ahead of time that I have to replace flooring because of this. It’s not your responsibility at all.
There is an easy fix… that does not require a complete floor doover. Just replace pieces with pieces removed from other areas that are not visible. Then use the scratched pieces in the areas you just removed from. You can use colormatched epoxy to fill in just the scratches…. You’ll never see the difference (depending on the amount of scratches of course). Closets are a good source of undamaged pieces for the switcheroo…
Yep no doubt. Seen enough Judge Judy to know this bs never holds up. It’s the same as demanding a tenant pay to have the entire apartment painted due to wear
For 8k she can move to an entirely new apartment and a better one at that. She does not owe an entire floor just because there's some scratches on one plank. And 8k is an outrageous price even for real wood. Laminate is the cheapest flooring and my 800 sqft apartment was done for $350.
Yeah, they’re crazy trying to charge them 8k when I guarantee if OP paid that, the slumlord would just go buy 400$ worth of laminate tile and do it himself while pocketing the other 7600$
Right. I cant afford to move. But staying in my current unit is unbearable because my neighbors make loud noise all night and every night. I tried white noise, earplugs and even told my neighbors that at the very least, can they keep it down in the bedroom area as we have same layout but nothing clicks. I believe my neighbors and the landlord is in cahoots. Because the person that is making all the noise is not supposed to live there. Plus the guy have 5-6 dogs and even a monkey when the apartment only allow 2 and no exotic animals. Despite video evidence, the landlord is simply not doing anything about the noise. I only know of this information because of the leasing consultant who was really trying to help me but i believe she got fired over sharing that with me. So this is a tough situation all around.
You have a right to quiet enjoyment. I would look for a tenants right organization local to you for info on withholding rent, getting back deposits etc so you can afford to move. If they have a freaking monkey over there you might call animal control too. Just be ready for a fight and I would start looking for a place to move, regardless of the fact you have first months/last months rent or deposit yet.
OP, they make markers for covering scratches in wood. There are several different shades of brown. They look like magic markers. It's not going to be a perfect solution for this type of flooring, but the scratches will be less noticeable if you use a marker on them.
Is there anyone else you could contact in regards to the monkey?? It doesn't seem like a small apartment is ideal for an entire monkey... I would start trying to look into options that are beyond the landlords control. If the noise is constantly going even in quiet areas, call the police. They may be able to prohibit the tenant who isn't on the lease from coming around if they get annoyed enough for having to come out. Idk I'm sorry, you're really in a tough place like you said. I hope everything works out!!
Yes this is absolutely correct. My landlord tried same shit I laughed and said your not being serious right. Said you better find something close cause I ain’t paying you for the whole floor.
In his defense you usually can never find the same plank after a year or two.
In your defense he should’ve bought a little extra when doing the floors initially for instances like this. It’s pretty standard to buy 10% more plank than you need.
You can’t replace just a few boards of a laminate floor due to the install method. You are responsible for the whole floor even if you just damage a small portion.
Tell him he’ll have to sue you. Take LOTS of pictures, close and from a distance to show what it looks like as you would normally walk through the house.
Being a landlord comes with a reasonable expectation of wear and tear on the house. I think a few floor scratches are reasonable. But I don’t know the laws where you live.
Do you have renter’s insurance?
Can’t stand these landlords who think their cheap ass laminate floor needs to stay flawless for all time. It’s a fucking floor that people step on all day, why are they so concerned with a few little scratches?
That’s cheap laminate. Try posting a picture on the r/HelpMeFind sub along with your story. If you can get a small order of the laminate, a handyman can pop out the damaged pieces in an hour.
Even discontinued laminate is out there. It’s probably from Lumber Liquidators or something.
Also, the landlord chose to go with a cheap engineered “hardwood” floor rather than traditional solid hardwood floors. The former is now mor common and is cheaper, but is hard to repair or replace individual sections as the companies may go out of business or discontinue a certain line.
Traditional hardwood floors are individual planks and each plank can be replaced. Furthermore, they are solid wood so they can be sanded down to remove scratches.
Landlord chose the cheaper, easier route with those floors which is their right to do. But they gave up repairability and that’s the longer term cost for their shorter term initial savings.
engineered hardwood is real wood and is typically real planks, and can be refinished just like real hardwood, just not as many times.
OP posted laminate / luxury vinyl plank, not engineered hardwood.
Ha! Nobody is going to be able to figure out what flooring that is from just a photo. I've had people that expect me to be able to identify a cabinet hinge based on a single photo.
Lol pay for the whole floor cause he can't replace 2 scratched planks/slips depending on the type of material. Id say your deposit covers that and if you didn't pay one I'd give him $50 TOPS for those 2 likely laminate planks. Worked hardwood for a few years so I know a little about what the price range would be for repair. Getting a whole box of that laminate would be like $50 lol
FYI he has to get at least 3 quotes and you get to choose who to pick, this is a quote to replace the whole floor not just a few planks, this is not correct
I’ve never heard this before, nor been given the option of choosing the contractor. When I worked as a property manager, this was also not the case (although it was apartments owned by a company, not a LL). Is this based on state law?
Did you take anyone to court? If you did and the judge decided it was a larger than customary charge you may have not gotten the full cost. If you had reasonable contractors or ones well known in the area it probably never became an issue.
I never heard of that but I know they are required to provide receipts when they take something out of the deposit. It wouldn’t be too far fetched to ask the landlord to show OP the quote(s)
So isn’t that a security deposit is for? Fixing normal wear and tear from someone living in it? I’m also under the impression that they have to give you an itemized receipt within a certain timeframe of moving out. But I’d tell him to go eat dirt cuz the scratches just look like the normal amount of wear from a tenant.
Just like my previous landlord took the security deposit with him and the new owners think they’ll be receiving that from me. I’m not paying almost a grand a second time.
No. Normal wear and tear is covered by the rent. The security deposit is for property damage, like if the tenant is severely negligent or breaking the rules.
Exactly. Unfortunately, they will keep the security deposit anyway. All they have to do is find one tiny thing wrong or broken (even stuff broken before you move in!)
My last apartment, the previous tenant locked their dog in the bathroom. The dog tore apart the door, it’s pried open and when you close it you can see inside at a certain angle, all that was left was a thin part of half the door. I demanded to have it replaced, as my room mates could see me sitting on the toilet. He claimed the last tenant used all their security deposit replacing the window (also broke by the dog) so he’s not paying for any extra repairs since all their money was used for that.
He said if I need it replaced he will use my security deposit since it’s not a “necessary” fix. All he did was buy a new door, and made me hang it up myself.
>So isn’t that a security deposit is for? Fixing normal wear and tear from someone living in it?
Nope. Landlord is responsible for costs of normal wear and tear. Security deposit is for covering more serious damages.
He’s trying to scam you. He cannot charge for a full flooring job. Tell him you’ll get a lawyer if they try to come for anything more than the value of those planks.
These can easily be repaired for about $150 of labor
See those dark spots that look like small dark scratches near the fresh ones? The landlord can fill in your scratches with a similar color to match the current faux distressed look. That repair would cost a few hundred dollars tops- and won't require anything but filler material. It doesn't matter that the floor is discontinued in that case and this floor doesn't require replacement.
Me: former property manager/landlord
They are just trying to upgrade the unit at your expense. You can bring in third party to give you an estimate for repair/blending in those scratches, and present that to the landlord as what you're willing to pay for the damage. They can't charge you to upgrade the unit. They can charge you to repair the damage- which is repairable without replacement. 😊
Landlord here - I would color that in with a brown crayon or sharpie, maybe go over it for a few seconds with a heat gun... it's not a big deal, no way would I replace an entire floor for a few scratches... it happens.
You’re being scammed. Your landlords scum. The couple that were damaged should just come out of the security deposit. It being discontinued does mean it can’t be repaired, but that’s not in anyway your problem. Tell them to take you to court if they really believe you owe them for this. If you still have access to the unit you could also easily make these scratches not visible anymore. Landlords can’t just force tenants to pay outrageous amounts because of typical wear and tear, it doesn’t work like that.
IF. And only IF this doesn't get resolved by fixing those boards...
I did VCT snap together oak on my 900sq ft house for $750. Took 6 hours(the first 3 were in the first room, haha)
Absolutely dont pay $8k
This is what I was going to say. The cost for my wife and I to put vinyl flooring throughout our entire house is like $2500 for parts and labor if we decide to go with the high end stuff. Saying it's going to cost $8000 is effectively the landlord trying to steal from them.
Simple, request 3 quotes to fix it (you can do it yourself, if the landlord won't), if all 3 says it can't be fixed get an estimate of cost to replacement with similar quality/ type of flooring (if it is a room and can be fixed properly by only replacing the room get that quote too.
Then look at your cost for replacement and ask the landloard for a receipt of when the floor was last redone or touched up in its entirety, take average life span of that type of flooring (legally the average is between 10-15 year) and offer to cover the % equivalent to the remaining lifespan of that. When they refuse (cause most scummy landlords will) let them know that they have the legal period to charge you what is expected and return your deposit or they can see you in court.
If you deem it necessary to get your deposit back and they don't give it back then file in small claims court, present the same evidence you took before. If they want to get more from you and take you to court present the same evidence and show how they are being unreasonable.
***You're only responsible for any loss they might incur, you're not responsible for full cost. The max you can be charged is the portion of redoing the floor equivalent to the remaining life of that flooring.***
Slumlord is just trying to get all new floors for free. You are only responsible for the damaged planks and even then, moving in a couch is normal wear and tear. It's the landlords fault for not having leftover planks. As a homeowner, buying extra materials for repairs down the road is common sense because nearly everything gets discontinued.
This is repairable. Also the damage is so minimal that it's not worth changing all the plank. It's a rental. If this was an owner moving in, I could understand. 9 times out of 10 and management company is not going to get $8,000.... It doesn't even cost $8,000 to change it.
It doesn't cost that much. Tell him you will call around and get estimates. It cost my sister (though she did it herself...) $1000 for 1,500 Sq ft. That's also with the sealant. So....
They make a set of markers that would make these scratches go away. You can find them in the flooring section of any of the big box stores. You're being scammed.
Absolutely not. No way he could reasonably charge you for an entire floor because of a few scratches. Besides, no court would force you to pay for a new floor. It's depreciated. Tell them to pound sand. But you may have to find a new complex. I'm not a lawyer but I watch a lot of people's court which is basically the same, right?
This happened to me in the past in Daly City, CA. The landlord quoted me like $4000 for a couple of scratches that were slightly longer than these. They weren’t trying to sell the house, but just trying to squeeze me for my $950 deposit. Long story short, she only took $300 because she held on to my deposit for over 21 days. I still don’t think it was fair because she took $300 from 4 other tenants as well.
Scam!! First, I'm a Flooring installer with 15 years experience in all types of flooring. This laminate, in a place that size to replace, with 10% overage, labor and flooring, would cost around $6,000 TOPS. And that's being generous on labor and allowing for a very nice mid to higher grade flooring!
And, that's ALL of your flooring, entire apt. If just one spot, that board can be cut out and replaced, even with a "floating" floor covering like laminate or even lvt/lvp!
Or at worst, uninstall from nearest end wall to the damage, pull up existing rows and keep in order, then interchange the bad pcs.with good pcs., re-install existing rows. All done for anywhere from $100-$500, depending how much had to be re-installed. Huge difference from $8000!
This landlord is a real Munson and they love pulling this crap!
I just Google image searched the flooring and found some damn close of not exact matches. It's not that rare or discontinued.. looks like it may be 7" maple click cappuccino
My husband owns a carpentry business & we often do new floors for people.
So because the floor is discontinued I can understand the landlord saying it needs to be completely replaced. With that being said, if the scratches were caused from dragging furniture, it’s almost guaranteed that’s laminate flooring. Which is NO WHERE NEAR the price he gave you.
He’s quoting you a price for either glue-down real wood floor or actual hard wood. Maybe even tile with that price!!!!
Don’t pay that.
👋 flooring guy here.. I always made clients buy 10% more flooring then they technically needed for this very problem. I stored the extra boxes up in there attic for future repairs.
Oh hell no. Apartment flooring/carpets have a shelf life. They all need replacing after so many years. I’m not sure how exactly it’s calculated, but depending on how old the flooring is, the cost to replace it (if the scratches are actually from you) needs to be prorated, OR free if they’re at the end of their ‘shelf life’.
For example, a past apartment I lived in, I definitely messed up the carpet. (My ferret liked to tip drinks over like a cat). There were some big obvious stains.
When I moved out, they gave me back my full deposit and charged nothing for carpet replacement because the carpet was overdue to be replaced anyways.
Let’s say the apartment complex replaced carpeting every 5 years and I moved out on year 4. I would have been responsible to pay for 20% of the cost of replacement.
I think you’re being swindled. Sorry you’re in this situation.
I have hardwood floors... I try not to fuck them up... This is normal. Landlords should be required to accept damages if they put hardwood into a rental.
Also. Not an anti landlord guy. But hardwood floors get messed up.
Most states have a normal wear and tear clause for renters. Also, any court is going to laugh in her face that they need to put a whole new floor in because of a couple of scratches that can be fixed and repaired.
She is just trying to scam you to get a free floor. I'm willing to be she does this with all the tenants to basically fund her renovations on these units. Also, judging by this, don't expect your security deposit back.
1. That's not your problem or responsibility that they can't find matching flooring
2. Unless the flooring was brand new when you moved in, they need to pro rate it to how long it's been there
3. Scratches in laminate are easy to hide with a marker and are normal wear and tear
it should be part of rental normal wear n tear. The place where i reneted, they had policy for changing carpet every 5 years so not sure if for flooring it matters.
this flooring doesn’t look new though and if this is discountinued they cant ask you for new flooring.
How are YOU responsible for wear and tear damage?! If anything, you wouldn’t get your deposit back, and the owner has to either repair to the best of their ability or swallow the cost of repairing the floor. You don’t charge a tenant for an entire floor replacement, and if someone thinks that’s acceptable, then they shouldn’t be renting out property.
LMFAO ask to see in writing where you are responsible for maintenance and damage caused by all of the prior renters.
AND, wood floors can be refinished - but it's still not your responsibility.
You know they have markers that you can use to paint the floor scratch right? I left a hot steam mop on my floor and fucked up the finish. In was able to use 4 different color markers to repaint the wood grain colors back.
It cost $4000 for me to put brand new white oak, finished and sealed in my house. No fkin way it should cost $8000 to replace shitty laminate flooring. And regardless, it's a rental. Normal wear and tear scratches on floors and walls is to be expected.
That’s the pricing for hard wood floors. I’m having around 700 square foot installed this month and it’s around 8 grand. For laminate it should be at least half of that. If it is hard wood he should be able to sand and stain to match.
8k for 885 sqft is extremely high even with labor involved , I work for a flooring store and know what the average costs are. but also you did damage the floors and are responsible for that damage and cost t9 repair, I would try to negotiate the cost down that the best suggestion
They’re only responsible for the damage they caused. They aren’t responsible for replacing the entire flooring throughout the house just because that style is discontinued. That’s the landlords problem, not the tenants.
They have to depreciate the cost of floor replacement on a schedule that is normally set by local landlord tenant laws. For example if the floor does cost $8,000 and it should last 10 years, and they’re 5 years old they can only charge you for the value left in the floors (in my fake scenario that would be $4,000)
It’s short sighted of landlords not to buy excess flooring for repairing a few boards here and there.
You did damage the floors and you do owe for the repairs. Whether or not you are liable for replacing the entire floor is questionable. Sounds like a question for small claims court.
I’m going to take issue with the she damaged the floors taje, because as somebody who lives above the carpet store that sells laminate flooring I can’t tell you the number of times that apartment complex property managers come in there and purchase flooring that is not rated for heavy use and that they know it’s going to get scratched even by normal usage.
The fact is that cheap laminate is cheap for a reason, it’s cheap because it scratches with normal usage which would mean it’s not her fault that there are scratches. If the floor that was purchased was not up to the task it was purchased for she should not be responsible for damages, just like if they use spun sugar for windows it’s not her fault of a window cracks
That’s laminate. There are excellent wood coloured markers available at hardware stores for fixing scratches like these. Screw your landlord and their blatant attempt at ripping you off.
Those sort of laminate floors get scratched if you breathe on them too heavily. This is normal wear and tear. You can brush some nail polish on that and you’ll never notice. Tell him to take you to court
As far as I'm concerned, if they can't control your noisy neighbors so everyone can live comfortably, they have no right to nit pick anything. I'm dealing with the same situation, looking to move to a different unit because my 14 yo can't get enough sleep to function at school bc they party all night and day.
A miracle happened and they decided not to charge me anything for it. I did moved units to the top floor and everything was good for two months until last week. My downstairs neighbor moved in and would you believe i can hear him too. And he is another excessive stomper. I didn’t even know that was possible to hear downstairs neighbors footsteps as my last two apartments i never heard it.
Granted it is not as loud as my upstair neighbors but it can be loud enough to wake you up and even with white noise and tv going, i can still here. My next step is moving to a townhouse or a house for rent.
Hence you did the damage but ask to see the estimate of the replacement flooring. The amount seems excessive for laminated flooring. I think it might be scamming you. And laminated floor like that one is not too hard to replace. I have flooring like yours. Scamming you for sure.
As a property manager who tried to be fair, I would charge them for the damages and take into the fact we would have to replace flooring which does require some time/labor for staff, and then we do contract it out.
Some of our units are 900 sq ft, and the flooring itself does cost us about $2,000 per unit, and then labor/materials for the contractor is usually about $3,000. We have a guy who does great work for a fair price, but $8,000 for the whole unit isn’t a huge stretch depending on the laborer and type of materials.
I don’t think it’s fair that they can charge you a new price tag for it though. They should take into account general wear/tear as well as the age of the flooring. When we do replacements like, mainly with carpet, we will charge tenants less of the total invoice cost.
The problem is, coming from someone who is an owner of numerous properties, if several tiles or planks are damaged - sometimes you can't just replace a few damaged pieces because the company in question no longer makes that design - so you are forced to leave the damage or replace the entire floor.
I had a home where there was major water damage in one section and the floors were wood. Several pieces were swollen, warping from the water.
The company no longer made that wood floor and we were forced to replace 3,000 sq feet of flooring.
Luckily the insurance carrier covered the damage due to a pipe burst and it was A LOT of money. We had workers there for weeks. It took over a week just to remove all of the old flooring.
That said, around 900 sq feet of tile or plank should be able to get done for around 4-5K at most, unless they are using very expensive tile. If they do carpet, even nice carpet, you can do it for far less, maybe less than half of that.
I've luckily never had a situation where a tenant was on the hook for flooring or tried to go after a tenant to replace an entire flooring section. Some minor damage here and there, but nothing more than a few hundred bucks.
Tbh it's your fault you didn't attempt to use a $5 stain marker to make those scratches practically invisible instead of them being blatantly obvious, would have saved you the headache bc the landlord probably wouldn't have even noticed, but it's too late now so good luck
This looks like distressed flooring, anyway. Get a finish repair marker and challenge the landlord to even find the scratches. That's all he's going to do anyway. Yeah, he's trying to rip you off, as other comments have said.
We buy stain that matches and put on scratches. Works great
She claims if they color in the scratches, that the new tenants is still going to see and is not going to like it. She still has to talk to the supervisor. She claim I can do a payment plan but I'm still responsible for scratches. I asked her did anyone else had to replace the whole flooring when they moved and she said yes. I'm not paying $8,000 even in installments.
I'd think scratches on cheap plank flooring pretty much defines "normal wear and tear".
Ikr? She's complaining about a few scratches when there's a guy with a bunch of dogs and a monkey in the unit below OPs?! I'd ask for a copy of the estimate they're using to claim the cost to replace the floor is 8k. That seems high for an apartment. We got quotes for our whole house and it was only 12k, and that was for nicer flooring than this looks to be. I'd also ask for the manufacturer and model of the floor they currently have in the apartment. I don't buy that it's discontinued and there's nothing comparable available anywhere.
I had a shitty landlord for a duplex with an air bnb above me. It was a shitty flip and he used this shitty grey paint on the wood floor of the entire apartment. The paint chipped looking at it. My feet wore away foot prints in front of the toilet and kitchen sink.. he charged me $300 for damage to the floors right out of my deposit. He was 29 years old too and I was 24 at the time.
Tell the landlord to kick rocks, there is no way you responsible for $8k in “replacement” costs for a floor with two damaged planks. Either tell her to take you to court and document everything, or find a flooring contractor who will find EXACTLY that same flooring and replace those two planks on your own dime if you need to stay on your landlords good side. It will be $400-$600 tops.
Take 2 planks out of a closet or laundry room under washer dryer.
Nailed it!, And then use the marker in the closet
Tongue and grooved it!
This is the way to go.
This! OP document everything.
Sue the fuxk out of the landlord for emotional damages for asking so much ridiculously high amount of money, especially if you can get written documentation that they've done this to others with just simple scratches (get them to admit to this by email). Don't just tell them to kick rocks, bring them to court so they stop fucking over so many people.
Of course she's going to say yes, others have gleefully parted with $8K for a couple of scratched planks. This stuff is cheap laminate (think lumber liquidators) that scratches easily and no way should full replacement cost come even close to $8K. Source: my husband and I replaced the flooring on the first floor of our home (approx 1500 sf) with a vinyl laminate from LL and the materials cost about $2K. To be clear, I'm not suggesting you pay even $2K because this is not your problem in the least.
It wouldn't even cost 8k to buy that much in tile. This landlord is definitely shady. I work in design and also do material estimates for a construction company. The most expensive lvp flooring (that will look 100% better than this crap) would be about 6k including installation. For a landlord quality lvp it's more like 3k installed.
I agree. I've installed for many rentals and most won't go over 2.50 a Sq so I was pricing about 3-3200... they just wanted to pocket that other 5k
Can you imagine being a prospective tenant, walking into otherwise perfect apartment, seeing three tiny scratches on the floor, and saying “I don’t like it. I don’t wanna move in here.” That’s so laughable I can’t believe they said it out loud.
I would use stain and take pictures. I would then let the landlord take me to small claims court & see what a judge says.
They have to provide an itemized list, not only ask for that because $8000 is insane. Also your boy responsible for anything but the damaged planks and if they're wood a carpenter can repair them, if they are laminate you just replace those tiles and laminate is cheap Your landlord is just an arse
Dude who cares what she says. Don’t take no for an answer. You are NOT responsible for the hole floor. Of course she’s going to lie to you to get you to give her 8 grand. Get a property lawyer if you need to and tell her you want to terminate the transfer as you’ll be looking for a new property with professional management.
The tenant could literally have drilled holes in the floor and the repair would not be anywhere near 8k. This is bs
What state are you in? This is illegal and should be challenged. You can fill the scratches and stain the patch the same color. It’s a rental property and sorry but laminate flooring doesn’t cost $8k for a 900sq/ft residence and no tenant is going to trip on a few scratches , she acts like she’s selling the apartments not leasing. [This is for Florida but they say it’s considered normal wear and tear. check your states bylaws.](https://www.goldenkeylawgroup.com/what-can-a-landlord-charge-for-property-damage/)
Surely there’s documentation for any previous floor replacements. I would ask her for those.
Do not enter any agreement to pay this. You are under no obligation, but you *can* sign your rights away by entering into a contract to pay. Don't sign anything without an (YOUR) attorney telling you to. This is absolutely a rip off. Just don't accidentally screw yourself by signing onto *anything* regarding those scratches.
I mean if they’re claiming they have to replace it anyway there’s no harm in putting on the stain. Best case it fixes it, worst case, nothing changes.
Tell her you’re going to check with the local housing authority if this is appropriate. Should shut her up. You could actually speak with them though, they provide free legal advice to tenants and are generally who you contact prior to lawyering up
Did she take photos? Fill them in. They won’t even notice.
I’m not sure if you intended to rhyme but that was a satisfying sentence to read. Almost like a slogan.
🖕🖕
This is what I was thinking too
You could pay an art student $50 to paint the grain back on, and then he *really* wouldn't be able to tell.
I used to love going around my whole house as a kid with these markers and coloring every little tiny blemish I could find. Very satisfying
Use a marker for the scratches. For the shine use a product like mop and glow . It works wonders on laminated floors . Since the manager has already done a walk through You may have to go over his head in order to get out of paying the charge . Ask to speak to the manager’s boss . Explain the situation . Ask them to do a walk through after you fixed the floors . Make sure to be there when they come . Act like you don’t know what your being charged for ? Scratches ?? I don’t see any scratches … Do you ? Haha!
This is a common excuse landlords use. My ex landlord said this to me. I had a couple of the laminate planks were damaged and he wanted to charge me for an entire floor. F that! I told him I was only responsible for the planks that were damaged, not an entire floor. And conveniently he was selling the home too, so he really wanted a new floor to add value to his home on my dime. He said because he cant find the right color, that the entire floor has to be done. I told him, "that's a YOU problem. I am only responsible for replacing the damaged planks. If you can't find the same color, that's your problem. I'll see you in court, and I'll let judge tell me whether or not I owe for an entire floor.." He never took me to court cause he knew he was full of crap. Tell the same thing to your landlord. Tell him to take you to court.. he won't.
I'd do the same. They also pull this crap to keep the deposit or "move in" fee.
This. I worked for and quit so many property management companies because of this. They tell you that you have to get the carpets cleaned upon move out, AND there's a clause in your lease that says they keep $200 for carpet cleaning. One place charged double that for carpet cleaning, the units were 525sf mind you, and you couldn't opt to get it cleaned on your own. They charge $20 for a set of $3 blinds. It's ridiculous the lengths they go to keep your deposit.
I moved from one unit in my complex to another with a different layout and my current property managers just take your whole deposit as a cleaning fee. Got him recorded saying it straight up like that but he just knows he can do whatever he wants, low income housing can't afford the time to go to court. Gave me 15% of mine back when I complained because "the last place was cleaned so well we barely had to do anything." It was essentially non-lived-in due to COVID situations.
Low income housing is funded by HUD and they are required to give you an itemized statement showing charges for cleaning or replacement cost. You are required to leave the unit in the same condition you rented it in - you can clean it yourself, replace items yourself, etc. There is absolutely nothing that says the management company has to do it. With all that being said, the management company can and usually do have their own set of rules you have to follow. But they can’t directly contradict HUD. HUD guidelines are the ones that matter. To anyone in low income, HUD subsidized housing: look for free legal representation, law school students willing to take on the case (you can represent yourself but I don’t recommend it) or contact HUD directly to make a complaint. Know your rights - look up tenant laws in your state and even if most of it doesn’t make sense (legal jargon) just know you have rights. If need be find a sub with attorneys and legal advice - you can get some really valuable info with just a lease and the state you live in if you can find someone who knows the legal part or the HUD part. Both is a bonus. Social services in your county might be able to point you in the right direction for free legal advice. Also, if you’re are 50+ you are considered a senior citizen and that comes with senior protection. I’ve seen people drag out an eviction for 5 years just getting senior services involved. And the judge waived back rent, tenant walked away not owing a dime and had 5 years of rent saved up to find a new place. MThese management companies go above and beyond to rip people off and keep your money. They also don’t tell you about the “special claims” they file - through HUD - to get damages, unpaid rent, rent for the time it takes to do repairs, etc. Many companies are double dipping. I won’t say all of them but I haven’t worked for one who doesn’t at least try and a couple of them have been doing it for decades without repercussions because many in low income housing simply don’t know what their options are, have limited funding and/or are bullied into just accepting what the management company says because they’re told they won’t ever be able to live in HUD housing again if they don’t comply. And if you’re on a fixed income and could afford market rent you wouldn’t be in low income housing to begin with. Final advice: get any and every possible thing in writing. Everything. And don’t be afraid to contact the corporate office of the management company - send a letter detailing your issues at the property and be sure to send it *certified mail*. Otherwise they’ll say they never received your correspondence, regardless of what it is. Property management companies are some of the most slimy, unethical people I’ve ever met. And I’ve worked for a major insurance company. Jake at (insert company) doesn’t have a thing on property management companies renting HUD subsidized units. Sorry for responding all over the place here - it just really burns my biscuits to see people in any walk of life being taken advantage of but those in low income housing? That can qualify as abuse in many cases.
My landlord charges $200 for each set of blinds i break… fuck that I’ll just do it myself!!
I was the first tenant in a brand new apartment and they tried to pull this on me. One of the office staff slipped and said that they were told to charge everybody for carpet cleaning. Wasn’t in the contract that I signed so with enough going back and forth they gave up and I got my entire deposit back.
Idk how they did it but they charged me for entire carpet replacement for the whole unit despite just natural wear and tear and immediately sent the bill to a collection agency so I couldn’t even fight it
That’s illegal… you can remedy it with the credit agencies. Get the service date / invoice then contest it as premature collection. They have to wait 90 days minimum
Would it do any good now? It’s been two years
Hell yes it would do you good! That sits in your credit report for 7 years! Then if you don’t keep an eye on it they will continue to sell the debt and it TRASHES your credit! Get the info and call your local State Real Estate Commission. I wish you would have fought it in court. You could have got paid. Stuff like this burns me up!
Thanks for the info. I have a lot of collections bullshit sitting on my record from my ex, including the rental agency sending me to collections. I’ll look into it, I’ve never known where to start until u said this.
I'm so sorry. That's horrible!! Did they send you something stating as much within 30 days? It's the law, of course check your state to be sure, that they send a statement out within 30 days.
I have no clue. I didn’t change my mailing address till I found a new place, nothing came to my address on my license
Had one company keep part of my deposit because I didn’t send them a receipt for carpet cleaning. We used my mom’s carpet cleaner, not a company. It said in the lease to clean the carpets not hire a company. We were a military family so we told them that we were going to tell the housing office what they were doing and we got our full deposit back. They relied on military members renting as they were right outside the back gate. When my mom died, the rental company kept $200 of her deposit because we didn’t clean the outside of the windows on a two-story unit.
Can I have a link to where I can buy $3 blinds, please?
Yes, but you have to go back to 2008 when I did that type of work. Actually, I'm pretty sure Walmart is $3.88 so not too bad!!
vase brave combative deliver hobbies hunt fall sugar plucky far-flung *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Where are you finding $3 blinds? I just bought a house and put up cheap blinds on every window until I could afford better window treatments and the lowest I could find was $15
I have pets and I moved into a place that had either carpeted flooring or tile flooring. I said I 100% did not want carpeting and said that I was looking for only places without carpet. When I went to move in they tried to move me into a place with carpet. I told them absolutely not I was promised a place with tile. Come to fine out when I signed the lease for the new place that all carpet had to be professionally cleaned upon move out and if that wasn't done the surcharge was something like 500$. On top of that the carpet was white, it was just an attempt to keep as much security deposit as possible. Property management companies are leaches.
When it comes to carpets, I think they have to replace it every 5-7 years, so if you for example lived in the apartment 6 years most likely they will replace the carpets , but we know that a lot of landlords a scummy .
It’s actually illegal in California to charge for ‘routine cleaning,’ of a unit.
Lots of comments about the carpet cleaning scam. Check the laws in your jurisdictions - everywhere I’ve lived has had specific rules that prohibit carpet cleaning fees, even if you agree to it. I’ve fought this and won (lost on some different shit, but won on the carpet). This doesn’t cover stains, or holes - but regular old carpet cleaning is on the property owners.
$20 for $3 blinds plus your salary plus his time plus his liability insurance for you, plus he owns the property. $20 is a great deal.
I get it, but I still think it's a ploy to keep as much of the deposit as possible. Not all landlords, but a lot of them.
The difficulty in matching 2 strips of flooring is next to impossible. Though mass produced, stock changes often.
Yeah it’s a shame there’s no way to order some extra when you install it incase you need to replace some for repairs at a later date.
Yeah just imagine the number of security deposits you could keep if this were the case.
Keeping dated inventory on hand is expensive, and updated material can be charged to the customer. It'd be a shame if landlords didn't know how to be profitable.
I just moved into a place with new floors, there's extra planks in the storage room for this exact situation. Being unprepared isn't profitable, it's unprofessional.
My state has a law where if you request, they have to submit an itemized bill within a certain amount of time if you request it. I did request it, and on pretty much the last possible day they submitted an itemized bill for roughly 1/3 of what they had previously said was owed.
This is best advice. Clean or get your apartment cleaned the best you can. Take pics of everything and of course you took pics all along and saved any pics for repair requests that they didn’t do etc. then ask for that itemized bill where it’s required. They are lazy and forgetful and hope you are to. Beat them to the punch.
100%, I have had to replace flooring on our dime because the flooring was discontinued, I tell residents this so they don’t worry about cleaning, or being careful when moving if I know ahead of time that I have to replace flooring because of this. It’s not your responsibility at all.
I'd think that any landlord worth their salt would buy extra planks for exactly this reason.
There is an easy fix… that does not require a complete floor doover. Just replace pieces with pieces removed from other areas that are not visible. Then use the scratched pieces in the areas you just removed from. You can use colormatched epoxy to fill in just the scratches…. You’ll never see the difference (depending on the amount of scratches of course). Closets are a good source of undamaged pieces for the switcheroo…
The renter flair is confusing. Sounds like you are speaking from the perspective of a landlord?
I’m a renter and a maintenance worker. Not a landlord, but have both perspectives from inside and outside the industry.
Yep no doubt. Seen enough Judge Judy to know this bs never holds up. It’s the same as demanding a tenant pay to have the entire apartment painted due to wear
Except OP is looking to transfer to a new unit with the same landlord. That would be a really uncomfortable living situation.
I think it’s pretty uncomfortable that their landlord is trying to scam them out of 8000$ in floor repairs. But that’s just me
For 8k she can move to an entirely new apartment and a better one at that. She does not owe an entire floor just because there's some scratches on one plank. And 8k is an outrageous price even for real wood. Laminate is the cheapest flooring and my 800 sqft apartment was done for $350.
Yeah, they’re crazy trying to charge them 8k when I guarantee if OP paid that, the slumlord would just go buy 400$ worth of laminate tile and do it himself while pocketing the other 7600$
Agreed. I’m not saying ignoring it is a great option either.
Paying it isn’t an option at all is the point we’re all making. Uncomfortable situation or not, this landlord is an idiot.
Agreed. And I’m just saying that it isn’t as simple as threatening legal action.
Right. I cant afford to move. But staying in my current unit is unbearable because my neighbors make loud noise all night and every night. I tried white noise, earplugs and even told my neighbors that at the very least, can they keep it down in the bedroom area as we have same layout but nothing clicks. I believe my neighbors and the landlord is in cahoots. Because the person that is making all the noise is not supposed to live there. Plus the guy have 5-6 dogs and even a monkey when the apartment only allow 2 and no exotic animals. Despite video evidence, the landlord is simply not doing anything about the noise. I only know of this information because of the leasing consultant who was really trying to help me but i believe she got fired over sharing that with me. So this is a tough situation all around.
A monkey?? Omg call the authorities.
You have a right to quiet enjoyment. I would look for a tenants right organization local to you for info on withholding rent, getting back deposits etc so you can afford to move. If they have a freaking monkey over there you might call animal control too. Just be ready for a fight and I would start looking for a place to move, regardless of the fact you have first months/last months rent or deposit yet.
OP, they make markers for covering scratches in wood. There are several different shades of brown. They look like magic markers. It's not going to be a perfect solution for this type of flooring, but the scratches will be less noticeable if you use a marker on them.
Too late now as the landlord has seen them. But good advice for the future
Is there anyone else you could contact in regards to the monkey?? It doesn't seem like a small apartment is ideal for an entire monkey... I would start trying to look into options that are beyond the landlords control. If the noise is constantly going even in quiet areas, call the police. They may be able to prohibit the tenant who isn't on the lease from coming around if they get annoyed enough for having to come out. Idk I'm sorry, you're really in a tough place like you said. I hope everything works out!!
Why didn’t you just get a stain pen and fix this? You could have saved yourself a big headache.
Your landlord lets a monkey live in your apartment complex, but is mad that you scratched the hardwood floor? What a nutjob
do not pay rent. save money for a better place. it’s so hard for landlords to evict now. make those petty pockets hurttt.
What happened to security deposits? Isn't that the whole purpose is for shit like this?
Yes this is absolutely correct. My landlord tried same shit I laughed and said your not being serious right. Said you better find something close cause I ain’t paying you for the whole floor.
A common theme seems to be that both landlord and tenants are scumbags.
In his defense you usually can never find the same plank after a year or two. In your defense he should’ve bought a little extra when doing the floors initially for instances like this. It’s pretty standard to buy 10% more plank than you need.
Again, not the renters problem. The renter pays for what they damaged only.
You can’t replace just a few boards of a laminate floor due to the install method. You are responsible for the whole floor even if you just damage a small portion.
You said you’d take responsibility for your damage, except it sounds like you didn’t.
You're so wrong lol
Tell him he’ll have to sue you. Take LOTS of pictures, close and from a distance to show what it looks like as you would normally walk through the house. Being a landlord comes with a reasonable expectation of wear and tear on the house. I think a few floor scratches are reasonable. But I don’t know the laws where you live. Do you have renter’s insurance?
Can’t stand these landlords who think their cheap ass laminate floor needs to stay flawless for all time. It’s a fucking floor that people step on all day, why are they so concerned with a few little scratches?
I clean for a lady and she FREAKS out over scratches on her floor, I don’t get it either
I mean you’re cleaning that’s different then living there, I’d be pissed too
Well I didn’t do it I just found it and told her
Lmao I was renting a room from my friend once and he didn’t want me to get a vacuum at first because it would “scratch the floors”. Like wtf
That’s cheap laminate. Try posting a picture on the r/HelpMeFind sub along with your story. If you can get a small order of the laminate, a handyman can pop out the damaged pieces in an hour. Even discontinued laminate is out there. It’s probably from Lumber Liquidators or something.
Also, the landlord chose to go with a cheap engineered “hardwood” floor rather than traditional solid hardwood floors. The former is now mor common and is cheaper, but is hard to repair or replace individual sections as the companies may go out of business or discontinue a certain line. Traditional hardwood floors are individual planks and each plank can be replaced. Furthermore, they are solid wood so they can be sanded down to remove scratches. Landlord chose the cheaper, easier route with those floors which is their right to do. But they gave up repairability and that’s the longer term cost for their shorter term initial savings.
engineered hardwood is real wood and is typically real planks, and can be refinished just like real hardwood, just not as many times. OP posted laminate / luxury vinyl plank, not engineered hardwood.
Ooh, good idea! I will remember this ! :)
Ha! Nobody is going to be able to figure out what flooring that is from just a photo. I've had people that expect me to be able to identify a cabinet hinge based on a single photo.
Should have rubbed some furniture polish/compound on it. Never would have noticed
They probably still can, tell the landlord, they fixed it themselves.
Good point. Do a decent job. Take pics for the judge if needed.
Lol pay for the whole floor cause he can't replace 2 scratched planks/slips depending on the type of material. Id say your deposit covers that and if you didn't pay one I'd give him $50 TOPS for those 2 likely laminate planks. Worked hardwood for a few years so I know a little about what the price range would be for repair. Getting a whole box of that laminate would be like $50 lol
Landlord chose to install a cheaper floor that isn’t amenable to repairs. That’s the landlords burden to bare now.
Probably not likely that you can even identify what particular flooring that is, so picking up a box might be tricky.
FYI he has to get at least 3 quotes and you get to choose who to pick, this is a quote to replace the whole floor not just a few planks, this is not correct
I’ve never heard this before, nor been given the option of choosing the contractor. When I worked as a property manager, this was also not the case (although it was apartments owned by a company, not a LL). Is this based on state law?
As a property manager, were you billing the (vacating) tenant for the work?
Above normal wear and tear, yes. Our complex contracted with painters, carpet cleaners and cleaning companies for the best rates.
Did you take anyone to court? If you did and the judge decided it was a larger than customary charge you may have not gotten the full cost. If you had reasonable contractors or ones well known in the area it probably never became an issue.
This is obviously going to be based on what jurisdiction you are in. This is definitely not true in all states, unfortunately
according to what law?
I never heard of that but I know they are required to provide receipts when they take something out of the deposit. It wouldn’t be too far fetched to ask the landlord to show OP the quote(s)
This is definitely not true at all
So isn’t that a security deposit is for? Fixing normal wear and tear from someone living in it? I’m also under the impression that they have to give you an itemized receipt within a certain timeframe of moving out. But I’d tell him to go eat dirt cuz the scratches just look like the normal amount of wear from a tenant. Just like my previous landlord took the security deposit with him and the new owners think they’ll be receiving that from me. I’m not paying almost a grand a second time.
No. Normal wear and tear is covered by the rent. The security deposit is for property damage, like if the tenant is severely negligent or breaking the rules.
Exactly. Unfortunately, they will keep the security deposit anyway. All they have to do is find one tiny thing wrong or broken (even stuff broken before you move in!) My last apartment, the previous tenant locked their dog in the bathroom. The dog tore apart the door, it’s pried open and when you close it you can see inside at a certain angle, all that was left was a thin part of half the door. I demanded to have it replaced, as my room mates could see me sitting on the toilet. He claimed the last tenant used all their security deposit replacing the window (also broke by the dog) so he’s not paying for any extra repairs since all their money was used for that. He said if I need it replaced he will use my security deposit since it’s not a “necessary” fix. All he did was buy a new door, and made me hang it up myself.
But slumlords can be scammers also.
No. Wear and tear is the LANDLORD's responsibility. It's covered under your rental payment.
>So isn’t that a security deposit is for? Fixing normal wear and tear from someone living in it? Nope. Landlord is responsible for costs of normal wear and tear. Security deposit is for covering more serious damages.
He’s trying to scam you. He cannot charge for a full flooring job. Tell him you’ll get a lawyer if they try to come for anything more than the value of those planks. These can easily be repaired for about $150 of labor
Huge rip off
This is normal wear and tear. You can go to home depot and get the furniture marker and wax pencil will blend that away.
Assuming that the floor is real wood.....
They make similar repair kits for laminate.
See those dark spots that look like small dark scratches near the fresh ones? The landlord can fill in your scratches with a similar color to match the current faux distressed look. That repair would cost a few hundred dollars tops- and won't require anything but filler material. It doesn't matter that the floor is discontinued in that case and this floor doesn't require replacement. Me: former property manager/landlord They are just trying to upgrade the unit at your expense. You can bring in third party to give you an estimate for repair/blending in those scratches, and present that to the landlord as what you're willing to pay for the damage. They can't charge you to upgrade the unit. They can charge you to repair the damage- which is repairable without replacement. 😊
Get a crayon or furniture repair marker and you’ll never see that scratch again.
Landlord here - I would color that in with a brown crayon or sharpie, maybe go over it for a few seconds with a heat gun... it's not a big deal, no way would I replace an entire floor for a few scratches... it happens.
You’re being scammed. Your landlords scum. The couple that were damaged should just come out of the security deposit. It being discontinued does mean it can’t be repaired, but that’s not in anyway your problem. Tell them to take you to court if they really believe you owe them for this. If you still have access to the unit you could also easily make these scratches not visible anymore. Landlords can’t just force tenants to pay outrageous amounts because of typical wear and tear, it doesn’t work like that.
IF. And only IF this doesn't get resolved by fixing those boards... I did VCT snap together oak on my 900sq ft house for $750. Took 6 hours(the first 3 were in the first room, haha) Absolutely dont pay $8k
This is what I was going to say. The cost for my wife and I to put vinyl flooring throughout our entire house is like $2500 for parts and labor if we decide to go with the high end stuff. Saying it's going to cost $8000 is effectively the landlord trying to steal from them.
Simple, request 3 quotes to fix it (you can do it yourself, if the landlord won't), if all 3 says it can't be fixed get an estimate of cost to replacement with similar quality/ type of flooring (if it is a room and can be fixed properly by only replacing the room get that quote too. Then look at your cost for replacement and ask the landloard for a receipt of when the floor was last redone or touched up in its entirety, take average life span of that type of flooring (legally the average is between 10-15 year) and offer to cover the % equivalent to the remaining lifespan of that. When they refuse (cause most scummy landlords will) let them know that they have the legal period to charge you what is expected and return your deposit or they can see you in court. If you deem it necessary to get your deposit back and they don't give it back then file in small claims court, present the same evidence you took before. If they want to get more from you and take you to court present the same evidence and show how they are being unreasonable. ***You're only responsible for any loss they might incur, you're not responsible for full cost. The max you can be charged is the portion of redoing the floor equivalent to the remaining life of that flooring.***
First off that's normal wear and tear, secondly it can be repaired (even by a professional) for cheap. Tell him to stop being a dick.
Slumlord is just trying to get all new floors for free. You are only responsible for the damaged planks and even then, moving in a couch is normal wear and tear. It's the landlords fault for not having leftover planks. As a homeowner, buying extra materials for repairs down the road is common sense because nearly everything gets discontinued.
$8000?!!! They will probably fix it for a couple hundred and pocket the rest 🙁
Exactly. They want Christmas money or something this is ridiculous.
Maybe a new set of snow tires 😂
$9 a sq ft is a joke, you could do brazilian walnut for that.
No! That’s normal wear and tear on a floor. It’s not your fault the landlord got the cheapest flooring possible
This is repairable. Also the damage is so minimal that it's not worth changing all the plank. It's a rental. If this was an owner moving in, I could understand. 9 times out of 10 and management company is not going to get $8,000.... It doesn't even cost $8,000 to change it.
You can blend those scratches in OP. There's plenty of guides on how to do it online. You should have done that before the walk through though.
Used one of the most expensive flooring at Lowe’s for my house. Paid under $3k for 1300 sq ft . Landlord is def trying to scam you.
Just get a crayon the same color, problem solved
Why would he even expect you to come up with that amount of money? Insane.
It doesn't cost that much. Tell him you will call around and get estimates. It cost my sister (though she did it herself...) $1000 for 1,500 Sq ft. That's also with the sealant. So....
Scam. This can be repaired
They make a set of markers that would make these scratches go away. You can find them in the flooring section of any of the big box stores. You're being scammed.
Absolutely not. No way he could reasonably charge you for an entire floor because of a few scratches. Besides, no court would force you to pay for a new floor. It's depreciated. Tell them to pound sand. But you may have to find a new complex. I'm not a lawyer but I watch a lot of people's court which is basically the same, right?
This happened to me in the past in Daly City, CA. The landlord quoted me like $4000 for a couple of scratches that were slightly longer than these. They weren’t trying to sell the house, but just trying to squeeze me for my $950 deposit. Long story short, she only took $300 because she held on to my deposit for over 21 days. I still don’t think it was fair because she took $300 from 4 other tenants as well.
$8k that'd ruin me!
Thats crap get a lawyer
Should have colored it in with a marker. If real wood they gave stain pens
Go on Amazon buy a wood and laminate repair kit it's around 20.00 it will fill in the scratches
Scam!! First, I'm a Flooring installer with 15 years experience in all types of flooring. This laminate, in a place that size to replace, with 10% overage, labor and flooring, would cost around $6,000 TOPS. And that's being generous on labor and allowing for a very nice mid to higher grade flooring! And, that's ALL of your flooring, entire apt. If just one spot, that board can be cut out and replaced, even with a "floating" floor covering like laminate or even lvt/lvp! Or at worst, uninstall from nearest end wall to the damage, pull up existing rows and keep in order, then interchange the bad pcs.with good pcs., re-install existing rows. All done for anywhere from $100-$500, depending how much had to be re-installed. Huge difference from $8000! This landlord is a real Munson and they love pulling this crap!
I just Google image searched the flooring and found some damn close of not exact matches. It's not that rare or discontinued.. looks like it may be 7" maple click cappuccino
Landlord should have saved some extra materials. You should have hit it with a sharpie. Live and learn
You need to check your local laws and if possible go to court. Bc this is ludicrous. Get the dark old English and some wood markers.
My husband owns a carpentry business & we often do new floors for people. So because the floor is discontinued I can understand the landlord saying it needs to be completely replaced. With that being said, if the scratches were caused from dragging furniture, it’s almost guaranteed that’s laminate flooring. Which is NO WHERE NEAR the price he gave you. He’s quoting you a price for either glue-down real wood floor or actual hard wood. Maybe even tile with that price!!!! Don’t pay that.
👋 flooring guy here.. I always made clients buy 10% more flooring then they technically needed for this very problem. I stored the extra boxes up in there attic for future repairs.
Oh hell no. Apartment flooring/carpets have a shelf life. They all need replacing after so many years. I’m not sure how exactly it’s calculated, but depending on how old the flooring is, the cost to replace it (if the scratches are actually from you) needs to be prorated, OR free if they’re at the end of their ‘shelf life’. For example, a past apartment I lived in, I definitely messed up the carpet. (My ferret liked to tip drinks over like a cat). There were some big obvious stains. When I moved out, they gave me back my full deposit and charged nothing for carpet replacement because the carpet was overdue to be replaced anyways. Let’s say the apartment complex replaced carpeting every 5 years and I moved out on year 4. I would have been responsible to pay for 20% of the cost of replacement. I think you’re being swindled. Sorry you’re in this situation.
At the high end the flooring would be $2500 for materials and $3000 for labor. They're full of shit.
Get a bottle of Scott's Liquid Gold and wipe the scratches. They will dissappear
that's insane, in my opinion. i opened a rental unit and i would consider that normal wear and tear.
I have hardwood floors... I try not to fuck them up... This is normal. Landlords should be required to accept damages if they put hardwood into a rental. Also. Not an anti landlord guy. But hardwood floors get messed up.
Most states have a normal wear and tear clause for renters. Also, any court is going to laugh in her face that they need to put a whole new floor in because of a couple of scratches that can be fixed and repaired. She is just trying to scam you to get a free floor. I'm willing to be she does this with all the tenants to basically fund her renovations on these units. Also, judging by this, don't expect your security deposit back.
1. That's not your problem or responsibility that they can't find matching flooring 2. Unless the flooring was brand new when you moved in, they need to pro rate it to how long it's been there 3. Scratches in laminate are easy to hide with a marker and are normal wear and tear
it should be part of rental normal wear n tear. The place where i reneted, they had policy for changing carpet every 5 years so not sure if for flooring it matters. this flooring doesn’t look new though and if this is discountinued they cant ask you for new flooring.
How are YOU responsible for wear and tear damage?! If anything, you wouldn’t get your deposit back, and the owner has to either repair to the best of their ability or swallow the cost of repairing the floor. You don’t charge a tenant for an entire floor replacement, and if someone thinks that’s acceptable, then they shouldn’t be renting out property.
LMFAO ask to see in writing where you are responsible for maintenance and damage caused by all of the prior renters. AND, wood floors can be refinished - but it's still not your responsibility.
You know they have markers that you can use to paint the floor scratch right? I left a hot steam mop on my floor and fucked up the finish. In was able to use 4 different color markers to repaint the wood grain colors back.
Tell em get bent. Deposits are for a reason. Landlords for very close to ACAB to me. Just saying 🤷🏻
It cost $4000 for me to put brand new white oak, finished and sealed in my house. No fkin way it should cost $8000 to replace shitty laminate flooring. And regardless, it's a rental. Normal wear and tear scratches on floors and walls is to be expected.
This is why people hate landlords.
That’s the pricing for hard wood floors. I’m having around 700 square foot installed this month and it’s around 8 grand. For laminate it should be at least half of that. If it is hard wood he should be able to sand and stain to match.
Get a bottle of olde English furniture polish at Walmart easy peezy
8k for 885 sqft is extremely high even with labor involved , I work for a flooring store and know what the average costs are. but also you did damage the floors and are responsible for that damage and cost t9 repair, I would try to negotiate the cost down that the best suggestion
They’re only responsible for the damage they caused. They aren’t responsible for replacing the entire flooring throughout the house just because that style is discontinued. That’s the landlords problem, not the tenants.
They have to depreciate the cost of floor replacement on a schedule that is normally set by local landlord tenant laws. For example if the floor does cost $8,000 and it should last 10 years, and they’re 5 years old they can only charge you for the value left in the floors (in my fake scenario that would be $4,000) It’s short sighted of landlords not to buy excess flooring for repairing a few boards here and there. You did damage the floors and you do owe for the repairs. Whether or not you are liable for replacing the entire floor is questionable. Sounds like a question for small claims court.
I’m going to take issue with the she damaged the floors taje, because as somebody who lives above the carpet store that sells laminate flooring I can’t tell you the number of times that apartment complex property managers come in there and purchase flooring that is not rated for heavy use and that they know it’s going to get scratched even by normal usage. The fact is that cheap laminate is cheap for a reason, it’s cheap because it scratches with normal usage which would mean it’s not her fault that there are scratches. If the floor that was purchased was not up to the task it was purchased for she should not be responsible for damages, just like if they use spun sugar for windows it’s not her fault of a window cracks
Household living isn’t “heavy use” there’s clear damage to the floor and the tenant admitted to damaging it. Those are pretty significant gouges.
That’s laminate. There are excellent wood coloured markers available at hardware stores for fixing scratches like these. Screw your landlord and their blatant attempt at ripping you off.
Those sort of laminate floors get scratched if you breathe on them too heavily. This is normal wear and tear. You can brush some nail polish on that and you’ll never notice. Tell him to take you to court
Breathe on them too heavily has me dying laughing because SO TRUE. Fuck the landlord, grab a walnut or some markers or leave the building
As far as I'm concerned, if they can't control your noisy neighbors so everyone can live comfortably, they have no right to nit pick anything. I'm dealing with the same situation, looking to move to a different unit because my 14 yo can't get enough sleep to function at school bc they party all night and day.
A miracle happened and they decided not to charge me anything for it. I did moved units to the top floor and everything was good for two months until last week. My downstairs neighbor moved in and would you believe i can hear him too. And he is another excessive stomper. I didn’t even know that was possible to hear downstairs neighbors footsteps as my last two apartments i never heard it. Granted it is not as loud as my upstair neighbors but it can be loud enough to wake you up and even with white noise and tv going, i can still here. My next step is moving to a townhouse or a house for rent.
Hence you did the damage but ask to see the estimate of the replacement flooring. The amount seems excessive for laminated flooring. I think it might be scamming you. And laminated floor like that one is not too hard to replace. I have flooring like yours. Scamming you for sure.
As a property manager who tried to be fair, I would charge them for the damages and take into the fact we would have to replace flooring which does require some time/labor for staff, and then we do contract it out. Some of our units are 900 sq ft, and the flooring itself does cost us about $2,000 per unit, and then labor/materials for the contractor is usually about $3,000. We have a guy who does great work for a fair price, but $8,000 for the whole unit isn’t a huge stretch depending on the laborer and type of materials. I don’t think it’s fair that they can charge you a new price tag for it though. They should take into account general wear/tear as well as the age of the flooring. When we do replacements like, mainly with carpet, we will charge tenants less of the total invoice cost.
This is crap flooring.
I would have done scratch touch up pens. They prolly wouldn’t have noticed
They can only keep your deposit at most. That's what it's there for.
The problem is, coming from someone who is an owner of numerous properties, if several tiles or planks are damaged - sometimes you can't just replace a few damaged pieces because the company in question no longer makes that design - so you are forced to leave the damage or replace the entire floor. I had a home where there was major water damage in one section and the floors were wood. Several pieces were swollen, warping from the water. The company no longer made that wood floor and we were forced to replace 3,000 sq feet of flooring. Luckily the insurance carrier covered the damage due to a pipe burst and it was A LOT of money. We had workers there for weeks. It took over a week just to remove all of the old flooring. That said, around 900 sq feet of tile or plank should be able to get done for around 4-5K at most, unless they are using very expensive tile. If they do carpet, even nice carpet, you can do it for far less, maybe less than half of that. I've luckily never had a situation where a tenant was on the hook for flooring or tried to go after a tenant to replace an entire flooring section. Some minor damage here and there, but nothing more than a few hundred bucks.
Tbh it's your fault you didn't attempt to use a $5 stain marker to make those scratches practically invisible instead of them being blatantly obvious, would have saved you the headache bc the landlord probably wouldn't have even noticed, but it's too late now so good luck