Tenant moved out and stole appliances!!!

[BK911]

Pretty good long term tenants of about 7 years.
Couple of years ago asked if they could replace the appliances.
I said no, unless you reinstall the old ones when you move out, or keep the new ones there.
Well, they are moving out and taking the new appliances and they sold the old ones long ago.
Should I just eat it and move on?

[Baz]

Yes.

[wilnj]

How much of a security deposit do you have on them? Was the agreement on appliances in writing?


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[drcoastline]

It depends on how much the appliances are worth and how much your time is worth. Because even if you represent yourself in court it will be costly from the standpoint of time. Plus filing fees, etc. A good move in move out in your lease would help your case if it identifies the appliances.

You can get good condition used appliances for a few hundred dollars.

[dad911]

Do you have security, and do you have it in writing? If so, will your laws allow you to withhold security?...... If you have to go to court, both lose.

Since they are new(er) appliances, fair thing to do might be to throw them a few hundred to leave them?

Do a move-out walk through with them, and document removed appliances, along with any other damage. Get them to sign walk through.

Our last tenants dented new appliances, removed fencing and a flagstone patio. Stopped paying rent, and it cost us legal fees to evict.

[wdfifteen]

Unless you have it all in writing and can go to small claims court you should eat it and move on.

[BK911]

Move on it is.
Thanks guys.

[fastfredracing]

Ours just did that too! Also gave the neighbors a key, and said that they could have the water heater . Next door neighbor sees 2 strange guys in the back yard, and asks them what they are doing, and this is what they told her. They had a key, so they were probably not lying .
Tenants are amazing creatures capable of feats of ignorance and classlessness on a scale that I could have never imagined .

[fastfredracing]

We just moved on also. It will be far easier than beating that dead horse

[Dantilla]

In my experience, it's always better to chase tomorrow's money than yesterday's.
Do whatever it takes to get the place re-rented quickly.

Worst thing is to have the place sit empty while arguing over used appliances.

Actually, no- Worst thing is to rent to marginal tenants- Keep your screening standards high.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

In my experience, it's always better to chase tomorrow's money than yesterday's.
Do whatever it takes to get the place re-rented quickly.
Worst thing is to rent to marginal tenants- Keep your screening standards high.

Just going to re post so that it sinks in for me, or anyone else that thinks about renting to the first person who tries to hand me 2 grand..

Id far rather them sit empty than getting hammered by bad tenants with 2 pit bulls, a drug dealing boyfriend, and no rents coming in, all the while piling up a 4k dollar water bill ..

[Sooner or later]

Look at the bright side. You can raise rents due to all new appliances!

[Baz]

Sage advice here, for sure.

This forum is great, isn't it?

Good time to be thankful.

The other advantage to you, BK is now you will have all new appliances and thus (in theory) less possibility for mechanical failures.

There's (almost) always a silver lining, isn't there?

[BK911]

Things worked out pretty good.
New tenant is bringing their own appliances.
Probably got them from their current rental!!
I get keys Sunday, new tenant gets them Monday.
They will do all cleaning and repairs.

[KFC911]

A good long term tennant....you wanna use my awesome appliance dolly/mover?

A bad one....I'll even load them for ya....just go ...

You won!

[T77911S]

you could still file in small claims court.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Sooner or later

Look at the bright side. You can raise rents due to all new appliances!

They purchased the appliances so they own them on paper. Technically. Unless there is an otherwise signed agreement.

The old ones should have been stored and/or craiglisted if you cared at the time.
There is no way to claim to someone today that they were in perfectly good condition and worth $omething.

Clean it all up fast and add $100 bucks to the rent. That's $1,200 for the year. Done. Next.

[Nickshu]

It sucks but the old appliances probably weren't worth much anyway.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by wilnj

How much of a security deposit do you have on them?

Not sure what the deposit specifics are/were in the OP's case, but this is a good example of why you should always collect the maximum (legally-allowable) security deposit possible, and include non-refundable "fees" (cleaning, pet, re-key, etc.), that are allowable, over and above the deposit limit. Also, never let a tenant use any deposit as "last month's rent" at the end of the lease term. Any/all refunds afterwards should only be issued after a final move-out walk-thru.


Agree with others though...in these situations it's best just to eat it and move on.
Even if you go through all of the hassle of small claims and win, your chances of actually collecting on a judgement are usually slim anyway.
If nothing else, just add it to the expense/loss column for tax time.

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

Also, never let a tenant use any deposit as "last month's rent" at the end of the lease term. Any/all refunds afterwards should only be issued after a final move-out walk-thru.

This is clearly spelled out in my rental agreement.