Legal Q&A:

Legal Q&A: Tenant painted apartment dark purple

July 11, 2017

Question: We have a tenant who has been in the unit for one year and has painted it dark purple. Can I charge the resident for returning the paint color to white when he vacates the unit?

Answer: Yes, if you have a lease provision against making alterations without your consent. You can only charge the actual cost of turning the paint from purple back to white.

Question: After sending a tenant an itemized disposition of security deposit, (there is a balance due to us), how long must I wait before taking her to court? Should I contact her one more time before doing so?

Ted Kimball
Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP

Answer: You can take the tenant to court immediately, and if your lease was written, the time within which you must bring an action is four years. It is always a good idea to attempt to resolve the issue first before seeking court action.

Question: One of our tenants claims we owe him for the loss of his food stored in his refrigerator. The refrigerator broke down, and we had it fixed within two days. Do we have to pay for his food?

Answer: Not unless your tenant could prove that you were negligent in the maintenance of the refrigerator or knew or should have known it would break down. Landlords are not the insurers of their tenants’ property loss. Smart tenants purchase renter’s insurance to cover these types of losses.

Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP is a full service real estate law firm representing residential and commercial property owners and managers. This article is for general information purposes only. Laws may have changed since this article was published. Before acting, be sure to receive legal advice from our office. If you have questions, please contact your local KTS office. For contact information, please visit our website: www.kts-law.com. For past Legal Alerts, Questions & Answers, and Legal Articles, please consult the resource library section of our website.

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