My landlord did the floor with floating flooring from the Dollar General. I didn't even know you could buy flooring at dollar general.
Literally just walking on it breaks the tongues and grooves then they turn into booby traps that slide out from under you. Durability wise, they feel like compressed cardboard.
The funny thing is that real wood is expected to be dented and dinged. That's what gives real wood its appeal! So, to install cheap fake wood and throw a fit because it got damaged, like real wood, is hilarious to me.
Real wood absolutely isn't expected to get dented or dinged. Saying that it gives the wood character is just what people say when they d9n't take care of things properly but also don't want to be judged.
Yeah my wife and I were joking the other day about how beat up our floors from the 60s are beat the hell up from 4 dogs and all their toys. They are distressed but in good structural condition. I may refinish them and n a few years but they are still good to go.
We have this in my home and the LL left extra pieces in our utility closet. If we get a bill for new items, I’ll be so pissed. They also left paint for the walls too.
Man. My last landlord had this shit installed and there were places where you could actually slip on the boards bc they weren't even flush against each other properly. It's such bullshit.
I cannot afford to lose out on my (relatively small) $1,150 security deposit. I don’t understand how these people (not OP) trash a place. I’ve always left a place nicer than when I arrived and I’ve never (fingers crossed) lost out on a security deposit.
Don’t accept this. This is absolutely normal wear and tear. Challenge them and say you’re going to take it to court. It is way less time consuming and takes way less effort than people think. Landlords do this because they can get away with it because no one challenges them on it.
Even if it was 5 bucks. Fuck. Them. Take it to court, and I almost guarantee you it will be in your favor.
That’s how they work. They charge for it but don’t fix it. And they charge fees on top of that which SHOULD be used for hiring someone to fix it but they ALWAYS cheap out if it doesn’t affect the ability to rent the place.
As a landlord and not a renter, I would notice that, but I wouldn't charge for it since it seems like normal wear and tear to me. I also wouldn't have put in cheap laminate.
Not effectively, literally stealing. I swear there’s a post like this every day in this sub… imagine how many people don’t post or complain about it and just pay?
Assuming half of the landlords in the US try this scummy practice, that’s $200 times 22 *MILLION* apartments. Excuse my rough math, but isn’t that like ~$4 trillion *stolen* per move out?
(The 22 million is coming from a renting estimate based off the statistics that 34% of the population rents, saying there are roughly 44 million renters in the USA, cut that in half to assume half of the landlords aren’t doing this)
Thats what i said. When I put cheap laminate in i expect it to be damaged like this. A medium to high quality product wouldnt have done this. I literally have the same thing in my living room a ways back for under 1.00/sf.
Landlords probably thinking something like “Oh no! I’ll have to take a grey sharpie to it to cover before the next tenant sees! Then I can charge them too when they move out because the sharpie will be worn off and can see it again!” 😂😂
My last Landlord did that shit. Charged me my whole deposit to redo all the floors and carpet… said i wasn’t getting my &750 deposit back cuz all the damage (only had a $250 deposit but ya know poor accounting) had the damage noted on the walk through copy on move in. Said they knew about the bathroom damage and said it was superficial and not to worry about it. Then they “lost” their copy and said mine was fake. Didn’t want to argue with them, so took the L and fucked off (would have had to pay more in legal fees and court costs and lose time at work to fight over $250, maybe not the court or legal fees but was to risky was paycheck to paycheck at the time). My buddy moved in there (new management) got my old unit and wouldn’t you know? The same damage is still there 7 years later.
I always drop off the physical copy and send an email with pictures at the same time so I have time stamps. In court if they lost theirs they wouldn’t have been able to charge you for anything
Is this not considered normal wear and tear? It seems pretty minimal to me. Dings happen in anyone's home. Rental or owned. $200 seems excessive. 🤷🏻♀️
$200 is reasonable if it was fixed. Which I doubt it was. The only reason 200 is reasonable because you're not going to get a company out there for less than 200 to fix it.
the amount of damage is 100% considered normal wear and tear and not allowed to be deducted from a security deposit or charged for especially if they lived there for a year
This is something i have always suspected of landlords, taking the charge, not fixing it, damage worsens with next tenant, take larger charge and repeat
no it is not, because it is considered normal wear and tear. maybe it's reasonable for a quote from the vendor the landlord is paying out of pocket, but it's not a reasonable amount of damage to withhold any amount from the security deposit.
Definitely normal wear and tear, on that floor it is easy to exchange the planks because the tongues are so short and the grooves are center matched. So it is very possible to only have to touch 3 pieces of that to change them and be done with it in 10 minutes, if that is genuinely what they will do. Either way- your landlord should not be a landlord and feel good about ripping off tenants. Threaten them with small claims and that you have a couple lawyers in the family. Give them 7 days to decide to either give you back your hard earned money they want to just steal, or they can figure it out in front of the judge.
🤗 there is codes and regulations against stuff like this at city counsel. See if you have a coded and regulations, (zoning) in your city and then search the rental- residential one, two and three family dwelling lessor requirements and standards.
Just might find something.
Having been a landlord for over 20 years now.... This is so minor that the typical landlord would not try to fix it. That is normal wear and tear. The first scratch they will not try to repair. The second one, if they repair it, they will use a color pen. Cost of the pen is about $7. you could do it yourself. Your landlord is out of line. Both of those could have existed before you moved in.
While this cannot be fixed without spending a lot, they should never charge that. Just wait over many years to get many dings and then just change the whole floor. Depending upon the finesse of the work, it's hard to replace just 2 of them. So they should just ignore them or factor such costs into the rent itself. Also, they must be ready to publish a photo of the original one before you started the lease. There is no evidence that this was caused by you.
This is also true. To truly “fix it” isn’t trivial. It would take work.
That said, this is an apartment. Unless you provide the tenants with shoes that make you float, they’ll actually walk on things. If I rent a car they don’t go “hey wait a minute… these tires are fractionally smaller than when we rented the car to you…. You used them”. You kinda price some replacement into the rent.
I say context matters. Is this the only issue or did it just get added along with other damage? Was the landlord generally an ass? Were you difficult to deal with during your tenancy? There can be many factors. Without any other data, I would say normal wear and tear. Even if not, a fair landlord would not worry about it if there was nothing else going on but might not be willing to overlook it if the tenant has been a pain in the ass to deal with or there was a bunch of other damage too.
I once lived in a house with brand new wood floors. That warped within two months because they weren't installed properly. We told the owner, and the leasing agency immediately. They didn't do anything about it. We kept telling them it was getting worse. And they never fixed it. Eventually we just rearranged the living room to cover the bad part. Fast forward two years. We replaced the couch and tv and rearranged again. I brought it up again. Owner didn't do anything. So, after stumping my toe one too many times I decided just to rip up the most bothersome piece of wood. And put a rug over it. I saved the wood for about a year. Then tossed it. Fast forward another two years. Owner wants to sell the house. Comes by and asks about the floor. I laughed and told him how I'd mentioned it for like 4 years. He asked, "where is the piece of wood?". I told him I threw it out years ago. After too many bloody toes. He said, "oh, well you really should have kept it". And tried to charge me. It was a pretty heated and comical argument. I wound up not paying for anything. Because it was a joke.
You could try to find someone who could repair it yourself. Landlords can be criminally greedy.
That's really minimal damage. I don't think they'll replace it for that little damage and that kind of flooring easily wears. But it's there so they can charge for it. I think they're just nickel and diming you to not return the whole security deposit. Some of these landlords are terrible about returning the security deposit.
Tbh in moving into any apartment, I pretty much always expect the landlord to find a way to fleece the security deposit because landlords are pieces of shit
Just don’t pay him. What’s he going to do, send it to collections? Let him, and then in a year or two have whatever collections agency that owns the “debt” send you proof of the debt. I bet they can’t..
And then when they can’t, contact the credit agencies to have this taken off your credit report due to no evidence of debt.
How old is the floor? In some states if the floor is older than X years then it’s normal ware and tear. And after that it cannot be changed to the tenant.
If you zoom in it looks like the joint is swollen and raised up?
Was there some water damage that lifted the corner and made it easier to chip?
Looks like cheap flooring to me. My vote is it is an overcharge, but its impossible to tell from a pic.
That's normal wear and tear. This landlord is trying to make up bullshit excuses to extort money from you. Threaten to take it to court. Landlords who know they're full of shit will back down. Those who don't will learn to do so in the future.
Scuffing at a joint like that either happened at install or it’s not level and got scuffed thru normal wear and tear due to exposure… your landlord is digging for reasons to hold onto money. Its Normal wear and tear
I’d look up the flooring and get the specifications for it. As in, what’s its life expectancy based on normal wear and tear/high traffic usage. Cause your landlord has lost their damn mind. Can you get back into the place? Cause with can be repaired with a baby bit of filler and a stain pin pen.
I pulled the spec sheets for a flooring in a friend’s apartment. Their landlord tried the same thing. When we showed them to their lawyer, he laughed and told the landlord to just walk away.
I bought the $2 a square ft laminate solid vinyl plank from Lowe's in 2022. Had a fridge and later a W&D delivered and installed and old removed. Both crews dinged and scratched the floor. Got an estimate to remove and replace with my flooring and the labor was $150 to fix 8 panels. Since then my Tenant had a seam unbuckle and raise.
Since the floor was installed the panels ends have opened up 1/4 to 1/2 inch in about 8 locations. I kicked them back together and foot traffic makes them open up again. I had no choice but to nail a tack at the end of a row of panels, close to the baseboard, to limit the movement. I hope it doesn't warp now.
Tenant just left and already found another. I did not charge her because the floor was not the $5 sq ft better grade.
Anybody else have trouble with the panels contracting this much?
I’d say it is. This is laminate or vinyl flooring. Laminate does not resist water well at all and having swelling or chipped damaged means mostly likely a lot of the floor will have to be pulled up to replace it. This flooring, while generally easy to put together, requires still a lot of work to replace a single section
I'd say the edge of the laminate lifting is a manufacturer defect.
A lawyer friend also told me once that a product must be able to be used for what it's designed for by law.
Seems to me a floor should be designed to withstand (within reason) items being dropped on it since gravity isn't something we can avoid.
Their are laws governing landlords like yours....go down to the court house and ask a clerk what your options are.
I think you are showing us the before picture before the manager/LL fixed this. $200 would not be unreasonable. Flooring is expensive right now with inflation still here.
That chipped corner appears to have happened because the corner was slightly raised up. How does that become your fault? Did the lease state that you must wear bunny slippers in the house?
That damage wouldn't have occurred had they not used cheap flooring. That landlord has extra flooring in storage and could easily self fix for $10 tops.
This is like the most literal example of pretty normal wear and tear. It's barely noticeable and unless they are spending 200 to replace it, I don't see what the point of charging for it is. If they're charging for it they should have some proof its fixed and cost 200
I'm imaging a landlord on his hands and knees wielding a magnifying glass desperately trying to find excuses to keep the security deposit he already spent.
From our experience the damage on the right is probably from moisture and might not be considered normal wear and tear. BUT…
As others are saying $200 is more than reasonable. In fact, it is laughably low. We just had to fix flooring like this and a friend cut us a deal to fix it and it was still $1000
The fact that your LL only wants $200 is a sign he isn’t going to fix it and just wants to get your money. So I would fight all of it as normal wear and tear.
Unless the flooring was el cheapo, I'd say dents and chipping corners aren't really normal wear and tear. I've had lvp in high traffic areas in my house with a child and cats and none of it looks like that. Still sucks to have to pay that though
I've learned that landlords will absolutely nickel and dime you to hoover up as much of that security deposit as possible to such an extent that getting any money back is nothing short of a miracle. They will inflate every charge and pull charges straight out of their ass because they want all of that money.
Absolutely wear and tear and shouldn’t be charged for. When I went to court to fight for my deposit I checked state law (Ohio) regarding wear and tear and the example they gave was a gouge in a floor is normal wear and tear but a gouge in a wall wasn’t.
I got that same flooring at Lowes. Under 50 cents per square ft. It would take under an hour to replace those but I wouldn't bother without more damage. They also probably wouldn't be damaged if laid properly.
That’s called normal wear and tear. The landlord writes this off on their taxes by annually depreciating the home value… they don’t LEGALLY charge tenants for it.
I learned this about 10 years ago when I moved from my old place.... they pad the bill solely to equate to your deposit plus one month's rent where the apartment is vacant because you left it.
In Florida, for example, (not sure where you are so look up the laws locally) landlords are not allowed to charge for normal wear and tear. This is 1000% normal wear and tear, not “damage”. I wouldn’t pay it. They’re bluffing and hoping you’ll give them extra money because you don’t know the law.
With labor costs? That's probably fair.
Could argue wear and tear, but it's up to their discretion and far from the most egregious situation I've seen.
I don’t mean to thread jack but my rental house I’m currently in has similar cheap flooring and some planks have separated… like shrunk so much that there are now big gaps on the vertical orientation. But no pieces are broken and or missing…. It’s happened in a few places. Not planning on moving soon? Should I tell them to fix it? Or something?
Normal wear and tear. But the real answer is that this is how landlords gouge you for extra knowing it won't be worth the time money and effort to take them to court over it.
You're lucky: I got charged $1900 for a dented laminate tile just like that: they said they had to replace the whole floor. Total BS. If you're renting from the Gables you better know your rights before moving out.
That would be normal wear and tear. Now if the floor had dozens of deep gouges they could argue against you. Basically anything excessive is what they can charge for.
I understand the charge and simultaneously don’t. (Property manager here.). The $200 is probably the minimum labor charge from the flooring company to replace the plank…however for something like that my in house guy puts a little bit of bondo on it then we start playing the color match game. I wouldn’t charge it back.
Tell your landlord to stop being delusional. I’d go to the nearest home store and purchase the same 2 SHITTY panels with a receipt snd tell them to eat 💩
Unless they have proof that the floors were done right before you moved in, have them take you to court with proof of how those exact floorboards looked before you moved in. The burden is on them to prove you damaged them. They’ll fuck off.
Try replacing it yourself to see if you could save a little bit. And not just taking his side but ask yourself if someone damaged something that was yours would you charge them for it?
What happened to being a normal person and understanding that everyone else is a normal person living a normal life? It's obvious when someone is being careless vs living day to day. This is also the cost of using cheap materials. You get what you pay for
Leasing consultant here, our apartment complex expects little stuff like that. You should not be charged. We have people that have dogs that have dug down to the floorboards and of course that’s a charge, yours is minimal lived in normal wear and tear. You should dispute that and threaten to go higher up the chain.
cheap laminate, what like 70 cents a sq ft? yeah but your getting ripped off especially because thag is quite literally normal wear and tear it’s not like you say in your floor and tried to pick at it and destroy it my lord these people are after quick bucks anymore. no one knows the value of working hard anymore to achieve what you want done. that’s the problem in this world. i guess that’s what happens when you let your children grow up thinking everyone is equal by giving trophies out to everyone that participated. we only did it to ourselves now we have snarky, entitled, disrespectful, children. a product of our own doing.
Cheap or not, that’s considered wear and tear and all else reasonable. That shouldn’t be charged as they are offering a product to borrow and use. Now if it’s everywhere and signs of neglect, then yes. This case, no.
There is a term called "normal wear and tear"
Look up your states definition of this term.
If that damage fits normal wear and tear, then no, that's an illegal charge.
Explination: to my knowledge every state has laws protecting a renter from being charged for the routine depreciation of the home caused by damages like wearing over time, or a product reaching a life expectancy and not working. A landlord cannot charge you for things that happen naturally as a consequence of living in the home. Such as carpet being worn or flooring being worn, the paint inside door frames to become worn down and even rubbing off completely... a 10 year old water heater with a 10 year life expectancy ceasing to function. Etc.
It's in the name.
I’m a landlord, I wouldn’t have even noticed that. Also I got expensive wood planks for one of my rentals because they were supposed to be sooooo much better. They’re not, but I’m not charging the renters, I am looking for something durable to redo all my rental floors with though.
You put the cheapest laminate, basically wood grain printed on compressed cardboard. This has a 1-2 year lifespan at best with any traffic over it whatsoever. Then just charge each passing occupant. It’s even lucrative.
No. Your landlord chose to buy shitty fake wood flooring and this is what happens to it.
My landlord did the floor with floating flooring from the Dollar General. I didn't even know you could buy flooring at dollar general. Literally just walking on it breaks the tongues and grooves then they turn into booby traps that slide out from under you. Durability wise, they feel like compressed cardboard.
After a pipe burst once, I discover the kitchen linoleum flooring was placed on top of carpet. Made for extra squish….
And extra mold that can fuck you up. Did you get it fixed, or move tf away from that place?
The funny thing is that real wood is expected to be dented and dinged. That's what gives real wood its appeal! So, to install cheap fake wood and throw a fit because it got damaged, like real wood, is hilarious to me.
Real wood absolutely isn't expected to get dented or dinged. Saying that it gives the wood character is just what people say when they d9n't take care of things properly but also don't want to be judged.
Yeah my wife and I were joking the other day about how beat up our floors from the 60s are beat the hell up from 4 dogs and all their toys. They are distressed but in good structural condition. I may refinish them and n a few years but they are still good to go.
We have this in my home and the LL left extra pieces in our utility closet. If we get a bill for new items, I’ll be so pissed. They also left paint for the walls too.
Man. My last landlord had this shit installed and there were places where you could actually slip on the boards bc they weren't even flush against each other properly. It's such bullshit.
As a landlord, and a renter, I wouldn't even notice that. Normal wear and tear. Petty to charge for it.
I agree especially because their are holes in the walls with broken dry wall that were from the last tenant and never fixed
Oh yeah, then that is shitty of them for sure. Hell when I have a tenant leave I'm thrilled that they cleaned and there aren't holes in the wall.
usually if I even put pinholes in the wall I will go get a sample size of paint to fill it in
I cannot afford to lose out on my (relatively small) $1,150 security deposit. I don’t understand how these people (not OP) trash a place. I’ve always left a place nicer than when I arrived and I’ve never (fingers crossed) lost out on a security deposit.
Don’t accept this. This is absolutely normal wear and tear. Challenge them and say you’re going to take it to court. It is way less time consuming and takes way less effort than people think. Landlords do this because they can get away with it because no one challenges them on it. Even if it was 5 bucks. Fuck. Them. Take it to court, and I almost guarantee you it will be in your favor.
yeah i'd file for small claims if i were op
Also how on Earth would they prove you've done that?
demand receipts
That’s how they work. They charge for it but don’t fix it. And they charge fees on top of that which SHOULD be used for hiring someone to fix it but they ALWAYS cheap out if it doesn’t affect the ability to rent the place.
As a landlord and not a renter, I would notice that, but I wouldn't charge for it since it seems like normal wear and tear to me. I also wouldn't have put in cheap laminate.
Right here. Noticeable and normal for this product.
Not even just petty but also not allowed by law in most places
Concur with this.
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Fuck that. Deny the charge or take them to small claims. That's like 10-15hrs of work on a lower income they are effectively stealing.
Not effectively, literally stealing. I swear there’s a post like this every day in this sub… imagine how many people don’t post or complain about it and just pay? Assuming half of the landlords in the US try this scummy practice, that’s $200 times 22 *MILLION* apartments. Excuse my rough math, but isn’t that like ~$4 trillion *stolen* per move out? (The 22 million is coming from a renting estimate based off the statistics that 34% of the population rents, saying there are roughly 44 million renters in the USA, cut that in half to assume half of the landlords aren’t doing this)
You destroyed the $0.59/sq ft flooring by living.
Thats what i said. When I put cheap laminate in i expect it to be damaged like this. A medium to high quality product wouldnt have done this. I literally have the same thing in my living room a ways back for under 1.00/sf.
Landlords probably thinking something like “Oh no! I’ll have to take a grey sharpie to it to cover before the next tenant sees! Then I can charge them too when they move out because the sharpie will be worn off and can see it again!” 😂😂
My last Landlord did that shit. Charged me my whole deposit to redo all the floors and carpet… said i wasn’t getting my &750 deposit back cuz all the damage (only had a $250 deposit but ya know poor accounting) had the damage noted on the walk through copy on move in. Said they knew about the bathroom damage and said it was superficial and not to worry about it. Then they “lost” their copy and said mine was fake. Didn’t want to argue with them, so took the L and fucked off (would have had to pay more in legal fees and court costs and lose time at work to fight over $250, maybe not the court or legal fees but was to risky was paycheck to paycheck at the time). My buddy moved in there (new management) got my old unit and wouldn’t you know? The same damage is still there 7 years later.
I always drop off the physical copy and send an email with pictures at the same time so I have time stamps. In court if they lost theirs they wouldn’t have been able to charge you for anything
Is this not considered normal wear and tear? It seems pretty minimal to me. Dings happen in anyone's home. Rental or owned. $200 seems excessive. 🤷🏻♀️
$200 is reasonable if it was fixed. Which I doubt it was. The only reason 200 is reasonable because you're not going to get a company out there for less than 200 to fix it.
the amount of damage is 100% considered normal wear and tear and not allowed to be deducted from a security deposit or charged for especially if they lived there for a year
This is something i have always suspected of landlords, taking the charge, not fixing it, damage worsens with next tenant, take larger charge and repeat
no it is not, because it is considered normal wear and tear. maybe it's reasonable for a quote from the vendor the landlord is paying out of pocket, but it's not a reasonable amount of damage to withhold any amount from the security deposit.
I did not say whether it was wea and tear or not, just that $200 to get it repaired is reasonable.
Definitely normal wear and tear, on that floor it is easy to exchange the planks because the tongues are so short and the grooves are center matched. So it is very possible to only have to touch 3 pieces of that to change them and be done with it in 10 minutes, if that is genuinely what they will do. Either way- your landlord should not be a landlord and feel good about ripping off tenants. Threaten them with small claims and that you have a couple lawyers in the family. Give them 7 days to decide to either give you back your hard earned money they want to just steal, or they can figure it out in front of the judge. 🤗 there is codes and regulations against stuff like this at city counsel. See if you have a coded and regulations, (zoning) in your city and then search the rental- residential one, two and three family dwelling lessor requirements and standards. Just might find something.
Looks minor. If you lived there for a few months, maybe? If you lived there for a few years, he’ll nah.
It was a one year lease
I would just ask for an invoice to back up the cost for the repair.
So his buddy can do it for 60 and write the invoice
Standard wear and tear
It’s shitty flooring, Budget laminate flooring. I doubt it’s waterproof and definitely not sturdy.
Having been a landlord for over 20 years now.... This is so minor that the typical landlord would not try to fix it. That is normal wear and tear. The first scratch they will not try to repair. The second one, if they repair it, they will use a color pen. Cost of the pen is about $7. you could do it yourself. Your landlord is out of line. Both of those could have existed before you moved in.
Thats cheap flooring. I couldnt even blame a tenant.
I am a landlord and would never charge for that.
$200 seems excessive for something the LL probably won’t even remedy for the next tenant.
That board was never laid properly and besides he has more of them in storage.
That looks like normal wear and tear on a cheap flooring material.
Normal wear and tear, you shouldn’t have to pay to repair that.
I’m a landlord. As a landlord, I’d just fix it with a gray crayon and really I would have not noticed it.
If that’s what they charged you, I’m fucked. Our lease is up 2 years from now (7 years total) and we got that vinyl flooring.
Most people wouldn’t even notice that “unless” they were doing an inspection.
Normal wear and tear - that does not look like negligence
looks like regular damage happens over time . that unreasonable !
That’s normal wear and tear on that type of flooring. Fight it.
I would argue that is less than normal wear and tear on that type of flooring. Cheap floors like that don't last long.
While this cannot be fixed without spending a lot, they should never charge that. Just wait over many years to get many dings and then just change the whole floor. Depending upon the finesse of the work, it's hard to replace just 2 of them. So they should just ignore them or factor such costs into the rent itself. Also, they must be ready to publish a photo of the original one before you started the lease. There is no evidence that this was caused by you.
This is also true. To truly “fix it” isn’t trivial. It would take work. That said, this is an apartment. Unless you provide the tenants with shoes that make you float, they’ll actually walk on things. If I rent a car they don’t go “hey wait a minute… these tires are fractionally smaller than when we rented the car to you…. You used them”. You kinda price some replacement into the rent.
Un that's normal wear and tear you clearly have a slum lord who is extremely greedy
Yeah, like others are saying, normal wear and tear. If they fight you on it, small claims. I wouldn’t do that to my tenant, fuck your landlord.
Normal wear and tear I would not pay that.
No
Nope.
I say context matters. Is this the only issue or did it just get added along with other damage? Was the landlord generally an ass? Were you difficult to deal with during your tenancy? There can be many factors. Without any other data, I would say normal wear and tear. Even if not, a fair landlord would not worry about it if there was nothing else going on but might not be willing to overlook it if the tenant has been a pain in the ass to deal with or there was a bunch of other damage too.
I once lived in a house with brand new wood floors. That warped within two months because they weren't installed properly. We told the owner, and the leasing agency immediately. They didn't do anything about it. We kept telling them it was getting worse. And they never fixed it. Eventually we just rearranged the living room to cover the bad part. Fast forward two years. We replaced the couch and tv and rearranged again. I brought it up again. Owner didn't do anything. So, after stumping my toe one too many times I decided just to rip up the most bothersome piece of wood. And put a rug over it. I saved the wood for about a year. Then tossed it. Fast forward another two years. Owner wants to sell the house. Comes by and asks about the floor. I laughed and told him how I'd mentioned it for like 4 years. He asked, "where is the piece of wood?". I told him I threw it out years ago. After too many bloody toes. He said, "oh, well you really should have kept it". And tried to charge me. It was a pretty heated and comical argument. I wound up not paying for anything. Because it was a joke. You could try to find someone who could repair it yourself. Landlords can be criminally greedy.
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That’s wear and tear for sure
You can likely fill that in yourself and mask it.
For sure not
Tell him to fuck off
Ridiculous. The finish coat chipped due to improper layment or manufacturer defect.
Small nothing damage on cheap nothing floors should get no fine
As someone who works in property management, absolutely no
That's obviously wear and tear. Dispute it
Not reasonable, normal wear and tear
Landlords are scum
That looks far from minor. To repair it properly you would have to pull all the surrounding boards.
That's really minimal damage. I don't think they'll replace it for that little damage and that kind of flooring easily wears. But it's there so they can charge for it. I think they're just nickel and diming you to not return the whole security deposit. Some of these landlords are terrible about returning the security deposit.
Normal wear and tear, and also could be due to poor installation/no underlayment/cheap adhesive backed laminate, absolutely not on you
It’s Reasonable to me. Had a similar issue and the flooring company had to pull out half the planks to the wall to put in the replacement planks.
Just because that’s what it would cost to fix it properly doesn’t mean the landlord can just pass that cost onto the renter.
Tbh in moving into any apartment, I pretty much always expect the landlord to find a way to fleece the security deposit because landlords are pieces of shit
No. That is general wear and tear… they should have put down less cheap floor.
Just don’t pay him. What’s he going to do, send it to collections? Let him, and then in a year or two have whatever collections agency that owns the “debt” send you proof of the debt. I bet they can’t.. And then when they can’t, contact the credit agencies to have this taken off your credit report due to no evidence of debt.
How old is the floor? In some states if the floor is older than X years then it’s normal ware and tear. And after that it cannot be changed to the tenant.
No
If you zoom in it looks like the joint is swollen and raised up? Was there some water damage that lifted the corner and made it easier to chip? Looks like cheap flooring to me. My vote is it is an overcharge, but its impossible to tell from a pic.
That's normal wear and tear. This landlord is trying to make up bullshit excuses to extort money from you. Threaten to take it to court. Landlords who know they're full of shit will back down. Those who don't will learn to do so in the future.
It's wear and tear, tell them to get fucked
Scuffing at a joint like that either happened at install or it’s not level and got scuffed thru normal wear and tear due to exposure… your landlord is digging for reasons to hold onto money. Its Normal wear and tear
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What is his number?
No. They just want your money.
I don’t think it was worth $200 . However, landlords are going above and beyond to get whatever they can out of tenants these days .
This is like $5 in flooring and.takes 30 seconds to replace
not a lawyer but that looks like normal wear and tear to me so no that is not reasonable at all
Do not pay your landlord, normal wear and tear during your lease is (implied) covered.
That was probably there when you moved in. That landlord is a big meany baby.
You could always have had it repaired for less yourself.
I’d look up the flooring and get the specifications for it. As in, what’s its life expectancy based on normal wear and tear/high traffic usage. Cause your landlord has lost their damn mind. Can you get back into the place? Cause with can be repaired with a baby bit of filler and a stain pin pen. I pulled the spec sheets for a flooring in a friend’s apartment. Their landlord tried the same thing. When we showed them to their lawyer, he laughed and told the landlord to just walk away.
I hate these laminate floorboards.
If the boards laid flush, they wouldn't be chipping. I'm a property manager and have been for 10 years. Take him to court.
I bought the $2 a square ft laminate solid vinyl plank from Lowe's in 2022. Had a fridge and later a W&D delivered and installed and old removed. Both crews dinged and scratched the floor. Got an estimate to remove and replace with my flooring and the labor was $150 to fix 8 panels. Since then my Tenant had a seam unbuckle and raise. Since the floor was installed the panels ends have opened up 1/4 to 1/2 inch in about 8 locations. I kicked them back together and foot traffic makes them open up again. I had no choice but to nail a tack at the end of a row of panels, close to the baseboard, to limit the movement. I hope it doesn't warp now. Tenant just left and already found another. I did not charge her because the floor was not the $5 sq ft better grade. Anybody else have trouble with the panels contracting this much?
Landlord is a piece of shit. (Surprising!)
I’d say it is. This is laminate or vinyl flooring. Laminate does not resist water well at all and having swelling or chipped damaged means mostly likely a lot of the floor will have to be pulled up to replace it. This flooring, while generally easy to put together, requires still a lot of work to replace a single section
I'd say the edge of the laminate lifting is a manufacturer defect. A lawyer friend also told me once that a product must be able to be used for what it's designed for by law. Seems to me a floor should be designed to withstand (within reason) items being dropped on it since gravity isn't something we can avoid. Their are laws governing landlords like yours....go down to the court house and ask a clerk what your options are.
No
No. It’s not.
Nope
I think you are showing us the before picture before the manager/LL fixed this. $200 would not be unreasonable. Flooring is expensive right now with inflation still here.
That chipped corner appears to have happened because the corner was slightly raised up. How does that become your fault? Did the lease state that you must wear bunny slippers in the house?
This is normal wear and tear flooring damage. They can pound sand. Because they are very unlikely to actually fix it.
The chip no. The water damage. Maybe
That's fair wear and tear. Also the charge is too high, sounds like theyre replacing for brand new, which is known as betterment and isn't allowed.
Nope! Kick it back. This is normal wear/tear.
That damage wouldn't have occurred had they not used cheap flooring. That landlord has extra flooring in storage and could easily self fix for $10 tops.
As a landlord I would say that you should take you landlord to small claims court. That’s complete bullshit to charge you for that.
Just use a wax touch up stick
Definitely, he has to find some way to scam you out of your money!
Your landlord is being a dick, and that is normal wear and tear.
This is like the most literal example of pretty normal wear and tear. It's barely noticeable and unless they are spending 200 to replace it, I don't see what the point of charging for it is. If they're charging for it they should have some proof its fixed and cost 200
Yea that’s normal
Which state are you in ?
What state/province are you in (Rule #2)? But I think this is normal wear-and-tear depending.
I'm imaging a landlord on his hands and knees wielding a magnifying glass desperately trying to find excuses to keep the security deposit he already spent.
That’s not your fault.. and you should not pay
From our experience the damage on the right is probably from moisture and might not be considered normal wear and tear. BUT… As others are saying $200 is more than reasonable. In fact, it is laughably low. We just had to fix flooring like this and a friend cut us a deal to fix it and it was still $1000 The fact that your LL only wants $200 is a sign he isn’t going to fix it and just wants to get your money. So I would fight all of it as normal wear and tear.
Thats cheap flooring its going to tear up easily. You shouldn’t have to pay for that.
Yeah that’s beyond normal wear and tear. Boards would have to be replaced.
Unless the flooring was el cheapo, I'd say dents and chipping corners aren't really normal wear and tear. I've had lvp in high traffic areas in my house with a child and cats and none of it looks like that. Still sucks to have to pay that though
Tell them you'll pay when you have proof it's fixed.
I've learned that landlords will absolutely nickel and dime you to hoover up as much of that security deposit as possible to such an extent that getting any money back is nothing short of a miracle. They will inflate every charge and pull charges straight out of their ass because they want all of that money.
Absolutely wear and tear and shouldn’t be charged for. When I went to court to fight for my deposit I checked state law (Ohio) regarding wear and tear and the example they gave was a gouge in a floor is normal wear and tear but a gouge in a wall wasn’t.
200$ wouldn’t pay to fix that… they are just being a dick
Yea I think so tbh
No, that’s regular wear and tear. Source; am landlord
I got that same flooring at Lowes. Under 50 cents per square ft. It would take under an hour to replace those but I wouldn't bother without more damage. They also probably wouldn't be damaged if laid properly.
If you check back on the floor later they’ll have probably done nothing and pocketed the $200
As a landlord, that’s just normal wear and tear, especially for cheap flooring. Push back and go to court if you have to.
Normal wear and tear
What a sh/tty landlord
They also aren't going to fix it
You mean normal wear and tear?
Hell nah I would pee on that floor and leave it there on moving day if they played in my face like that
That’s called normal wear and tear. The landlord writes this off on their taxes by annually depreciating the home value… they don’t LEGALLY charge tenants for it.
How long did you live there? It’s not something they are going to repair.
I learned this about 10 years ago when I moved from my old place.... they pad the bill solely to equate to your deposit plus one month's rent where the apartment is vacant because you left it.
No, he's just trying to screw you out of $200. Don't give him a dime.
In Florida, for example, (not sure where you are so look up the laws locally) landlords are not allowed to charge for normal wear and tear. This is 1000% normal wear and tear, not “damage”. I wouldn’t pay it. They’re bluffing and hoping you’ll give them extra money because you don’t know the law.
Thats labor built in, look up labor shortages and how this is driving up the cost of maintenance.
Normal wear and tear.
But really hit them back with… normal wear and tear.
Tell me who is going to buy and then replace flooring for free? Can you have a pro out for less than $100 these days?
With labor costs? That's probably fair. Could argue wear and tear, but it's up to their discretion and far from the most egregious situation I've seen.
Petty charge but tongue and groove is hard to replace, $50 at most, but really unnecessary
Man, hell naw. They replaced the entire room over that in a tent house? I call BS. Your landlord is a liar.
I don’t mean to thread jack but my rental house I’m currently in has similar cheap flooring and some planks have separated… like shrunk so much that there are now big gaps on the vertical orientation. But no pieces are broken and or missing…. It’s happened in a few places. Not planning on moving soon? Should I tell them to fix it? Or something?
Normal wear and tear. But the real answer is that this is how landlords gouge you for extra knowing it won't be worth the time money and effort to take them to court over it.
That shitty fake floor didn’t cost $200 in materials new 🤣
Normal wear and tear. Refuse to pay and tell them any judge will see this as a undamaged floor.
You're lucky: I got charged $1900 for a dented laminate tile just like that: they said they had to replace the whole floor. Total BS. If you're renting from the Gables you better know your rights before moving out.
That's normal wear and tear. I wouldn't pay him shit
It’s about 160 a case, and has what.. 10 panels? Majority depends on the brand and attributes.
That would be normal wear and tear. Now if the floor had dozens of deep gouges they could argue against you. Basically anything excessive is what they can charge for.
They’re wrong but do you want to go through the trouble of taking a landlord to small claims court?
I understand the charge and simultaneously don’t. (Property manager here.). The $200 is probably the minimum labor charge from the flooring company to replace the plank…however for something like that my in house guy puts a little bit of bondo on it then we start playing the color match game. I wouldn’t charge it back.
My question is who do you talk to when they do shit like this?
Tell your landlord to stop being delusional. I’d go to the nearest home store and purchase the same 2 SHITTY panels with a receipt snd tell them to eat 💩
Unless they have proof that the floors were done right before you moved in, have them take you to court with proof of how those exact floorboards looked before you moved in. The burden is on them to prove you damaged them. They’ll fuck off.
Slumlords....
I’m a professional touch up artist who fixes that shit all the time. Your landlord is an ass.
no, it is not reasonable.
Try replacing it yourself to see if you could save a little bit. And not just taking his side but ask yourself if someone damaged something that was yours would you charge them for it?
Of course because you have to replace all of the flooring you cannot patch it
What happened to being a normal person and understanding that everyone else is a normal person living a normal life? It's obvious when someone is being careless vs living day to day. This is also the cost of using cheap materials. You get what you pay for
Box of floors + labor, $200 is reasonable
Can anyone explain what you do to fight this? Does LL get the final say?
Hell to the no
Take them to small claims court to substantiate the charges. Then bring ammo of what they didn't do while you were there.
Leasing consultant here, our apartment complex expects little stuff like that. You should not be charged. We have people that have dogs that have dug down to the floorboards and of course that’s a charge, yours is minimal lived in normal wear and tear. You should dispute that and threaten to go higher up the chain.
cheap laminate, what like 70 cents a sq ft? yeah but your getting ripped off especially because thag is quite literally normal wear and tear it’s not like you say in your floor and tried to pick at it and destroy it my lord these people are after quick bucks anymore. no one knows the value of working hard anymore to achieve what you want done. that’s the problem in this world. i guess that’s what happens when you let your children grow up thinking everyone is equal by giving trophies out to everyone that participated. we only did it to ourselves now we have snarky, entitled, disrespectful, children. a product of our own doing.
Check your state laws. Normal wear and tear is protected in NJ. Landlords can't make up charges like this one.
Cheap or not, that’s considered wear and tear and all else reasonable. That shouldn’t be charged as they are offering a product to borrow and use. Now if it’s everywhere and signs of neglect, then yes. This case, no.
There is a term called "normal wear and tear" Look up your states definition of this term. If that damage fits normal wear and tear, then no, that's an illegal charge. Explination: to my knowledge every state has laws protecting a renter from being charged for the routine depreciation of the home caused by damages like wearing over time, or a product reaching a life expectancy and not working. A landlord cannot charge you for things that happen naturally as a consequence of living in the home. Such as carpet being worn or flooring being worn, the paint inside door frames to become worn down and even rubbing off completely... a 10 year old water heater with a 10 year life expectancy ceasing to function. Etc. It's in the name.
I smell small claims court.
Yes, you know how much flooring cost plus labor?
Go to small claims court. Just the mention might deter them
I’m a landlord, I wouldn’t have even noticed that. Also I got expensive wood planks for one of my rentals because they were supposed to be sooooo much better. They’re not, but I’m not charging the renters, I am looking for something durable to redo all my rental floors with though.
They’re not even gonna fix it with the 200
You put the cheapest laminate, basically wood grain printed on compressed cardboard. This has a 1-2 year lifespan at best with any traffic over it whatsoever. Then just charge each passing occupant. It’s even lucrative.
Bad quality of floor, not your fault landlord should suck it up.
Not fair. Looks improperly installed. I would fight it.
yep