Caring for a rental home requires our effort and regular maintenance. A good quality tenant sees this and would help the property owners in keeping their Mineola 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.
Often, unintentional damage happens simply because a tenant did not know that their actions would bring about that result. Other times, the damage is dealt because of accidents or as the result of a tenant’s poor decision. The knowledge of the most common ways a rental home’s interior surfaces can sustain inadvertent damage is a tool that property owners shouldn’t be without. This would allow them to keep their tenants informed and maintain the condition of their rental homes.
When surface damage goes beyond basic wear and tear, tenant negligence is usually the source. Countertops, floors, and even sinks and bathtubs are usually very durable that they can go through constant heavy use for many years. The problem is that tenants may not know the proper way to care or protect these surfaces.
To illustrate, kitchen and bathroom countertops can typically handle daily cleanings, food preparation activities, and a few spills with no issue. But countertops can be tarnished by harsh cleaning products, particularly those 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.
Countertops can be damaged in other ways, such as placing too much weight on a countertop. They could be damaged when there is 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 plenty of issues that could go unseen even under a watchful tenant’s radar. There could be small leaks under a refrigerator or a drip under the cabinet from a sink water supply line that, when not repaired, could lead to permanent water damage in a kitchen floor.
Moving furniture is one of the biggest culprits of unintentional floor damage. Moving heavy items across a laminate or wood floor can cause scratches, gouging, and tears. This is the way most carpets get torn. Putting heavy furniture in the wrong spot can crack or chip tile floors, so too would dropping heavy items, such as exercise weights or even books. Just like countertops, cleaning with 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. The same with tile, you shouldn’t place anything too heavy in a bathtub as it can cause cracks. The bathtub should be used for what it was made for or else a whole variety of problems may come up, from unfixable scratches in a solid-surface unit to rust or coloring dye stains.
The most effective way to help tenants avoid unintentionally damaging your rental home’s interior surfaces is by giving them all the relevant information they need. Teach them to understand how to properly clean countertops, move heavy furniture, and so on. Doing this can greatly help prevent expensive repairs. At Real Property Management Landmark, we interact with both tenants and property owners to make certain that all the people involved would take care of the rental home with more than just wanting to be helpful, but with the proper know-how as well.
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
