The Security Deposit

Mrs. Worrier, my serial rental client, called me yesterday. You see, she had just moved out of her rental and she was, ... wait for it... worried. What if she doesn't get her security deposit back? What then?

I stupidly asked why did she think she wouldn't get her security deposit back. Didn't she leave the house in the same shape she found it in?

Well, apparently she left it in almost the same shape she found the house in. Except there were a few "very minor" teensy, tiny really, issues. First, one of her children broke off a panel of the vertical blinds. 

"I think you are on the hook for that set of blinds," I replied. 

She asked, incredulously, "Why don't they just replace the one blind I broke?" 

I didn't explain that the person who "replaces" the one blind that was broken would have to hunt down the pattern about six different stores and then hire someone to replace it. By the time that person was done, they have spent their own time and money to do so. It is easier and quicker to just replace the entire blind. It may not be "fair" (because I assure you, Mrs. Worrier did not think it was the least bit fair) but neither was it fair for Mrs. Worrier to give back the home with broken blinds. 

Biting my tongue, I wanted to desperately ask if the owner should have to shoulder the cost of his or her time because the Worriers couldn't be bothered to take care of the blinds? If they don't want to pay for new blinds because they didn't take care of the ones in the home, maybe they should have gone to different stores looking for a matching panel and reinstalled it. 

Blinds aside, Mrs. Worrier had a bigger issue. Apparently her husband spilled "a spot" of bleach on the brown carpet. I don't know how big a spot happens to be or where it was located, but I got the impression for our conversation that it was big enough and conspicuous enough that Mr. Worrier then took a magic marker and colored the carpet to make it match. Unfortunately, it didn't match. "They can't possibly charge us for a new carpet, can they?" 

Not only can they, the owner will and and should. "But it isn't really ruined, I mean it is still carpet." Mrs. Worrier said. 

I equated it to spilling bleach on a black dress. The dress is still wearable, but let's face it, the dress is ruined. No amount of magic marker is going to hide the spot. And then Mrs. Worrier said again what every renter in her situation has said before her. "Well, that's just not fair." 

For those of you who don't know me, please understand. I have tenant PTSD. It will never go away, though I manage it under most circumstances. Given they are my clients and given they have referred me to many who aren't train wrecks, I caught myself before I went off--because I really wanted to. Instead, I just told her to take it up with the owner, as I didn't really have much else to say she would want to hear. 

She said she would. Then she told me she will, "never rent another home that has carpet." Well, at this point, she isn't renting anything because there is nothing out there that meets her bat-crazy criteria.