Caring for a rental home requires our effort and regular maintenance. A good quality tenant knows this and would assist property owners in keeping their Chester rental homes clean, maintained, and in good repair. But there are times where tenants– even the ones with the best of intentions– damage a home’s interior surfaces, albeit accidentally.
Sometimes unintentional damage occurs for the simple reason of a tenant not knowing that what they’re doing would result in harm. Other times, damage happens because of accidents or as the result of a tenant’s poor decision. Property owners would greatly benefit if they knew the common ways a rental home’s interior surfaces can sustain inadvertent damage. Knowing this would aid them in keeping their tenants informed and their rental homes 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 constantly being used yet they hold up well 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 ruined by harsh cleaning products, notably 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 when there’s an unusually heavy appliance or even a person standing on it. Too much weight on a countertop can break 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 likewise damage the surface, forming small indentations that can eventually lead to worse problems.
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. Pushing heavy items to move them across a laminate or wood floor can cause scratches, gouging, and tears. This is generally the way many carpets get torn. Setting heavy furniture in the wrong spot can crack or chip tile floors, likewise would dropping heavy items, such as exercise weights or even books. Comparable to countertops, using 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. On the flip side, a usual mistake is not cleaning often enough. When you don’t clean a surface, you allow mineral deposits from tap water to build up and, eventually, they will be almost impossible to remove, or worse, allow mildew to form. Similar to tile, when you place anything too heavy in a bathtub, it can cause cracks. You should use the bathtub for what it was designed for. Improper use could bring about problems from unfixable scratches in a solid-surface unit to rust or coloring dye stains.
The best method to help tenants avoid unintentionally damaging your rental home’s interior surfaces is by informing them. 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 NJ Elite, we talk with both tenants and property owners so we can make sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to taking care of the rental home. That they would have more than just a desire to help, but actual technical knowledge as well.
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