Caring for a rental home needs effort and regular maintenance. A good quality tenant knows this and would assist property owners in keeping their Ellicott City rental homes clean, maintained, and in good repair. But there are tenants, who mean well, yet unintentionally cause damage to a home’s interior surfaces.
Sometimes unintentional damage occurs for the simple reason of a tenant not knowing that what they’re doing would result in harm. Other times, the damage is caused by accidents or as the result of a tenant’s poor decision. Knowing the usual ways a rental home’s interior surfaces can sustain inadvertent damage would greatly help a property owner. They would be able to keep their tenants informed and their rental homes operating in excellent condition.
When surface damage goes beyond basic wear and tear, tenant negligence is usually the source. Countertops, floors, and even sinks and bathtubs are typically long-lasting and can withstand daily and heavy use for many years. The problem is that tenants may not know the proper way to care or protect these surfaces.
As an example, kitchen and bathroom countertops can normally withstand daily cleanings, food preparation activities, and a few spills. They can go through all that and still be fine. But countertops can be destroyed by harsh cleaning products, especially the ones containing bleach or ammonia. The cleaning product to be used on your countertops should be chosen carefully. It should be determined by the type of countertops that are installed in your rental home.
There are other ways countertops can be damaged. These include placing too much weight on a countertop, like an unusually heavy appliance or even a person standing on it. Some countertops may be damaged by placing hot pans or appliances on them, such as a toaster oven or a slow cooker.
Even a curling iron can cause burn marks on a bathroom countertop and can be difficult to remove. Cutting and chopping directly on a countertop may damage the surface too. These could cause small indentations to form that would, in turn, develop into larger problems in the future.
Floors are another interior surface that tenants often accidentally damage. There are some things that even a watchful tenant’s radar couldn’t detect. Things like small leaks under a refrigerator or a drip under the cabinet from a sink water supply line could be happening under their nose; these things could likely cause permanent water damage in a kitchen floor.
Moving furniture is one of the biggest culprits of unintentional floor damage. Dragging things, especially heavy items, across a laminate or wood floor can cause scratches, gouging, and tears. This is mainly the way most carpets get torn. Setting heavy furniture in the wrong spot can crack or chip tile floors, also dropping heavy items, such as exercise weights or even books. Just like countertops, applying the wrong cleaning products can permanently damage a floor, stripping off finishes and creating unsightly stains or bleach spots.
Bathtubs can also sustain accidental damage from harsh cleaning products. However, not cleaning often enough could also be damaging. It would allow mineral deposits from tap water to build up until it would be very difficult to remove, or worse, allow mildew to form. Just like tile, when you put something that is too heavy in a bathtub, it can cause cracks. Using a bathtub for things it was not designed for can result in a variety of problems. These problems can range from unfixable scratches in a solid-surface unit to rust or coloring dye stains.
The most useful way to help tenants avoid unintentionally damaging your rental home’s interior surfaces is by giving them all the necessary information. Help them learn how to properly clean countertops, move heavy furniture, and so on. Educating them can do so much for preventing expensive repairs. At Real Property Management Essentials, we communicate with both tenants and property owners to make sure that everyone involved would care for the rental home with more than a desire to help, but with genuine practical knowledge too.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
