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Kitchen Counter / Bathroom Cabinet *water damage/swelling*
Reverend_Chaos
Suit Up!Spokane WARegistered User regular
Suit Up!Spokane WARegistered User regular
So I have a few issues in my kitchen and bathroom. I am moving out this month and I am getting all my ducks in a row and would like at least some of my deposit back if possible. I live in WA state.
Kitchen: The back splash has warped away from the wall, immediately behind the sink, now there is about an inch gap for nearly a foot or so. Worse, is the edge of the counter along the front of the sink and next to the sink, directly above the diswasher. There is a cheap plastic'ish' or composite counter top, beneath which is a wood composite. The edge where the top and the front face of this material meets has swolen and is very noticeable.
Bathroom: Similiar problem to the kitchen but the side of the cabinet near the floor next to the toilet, close to the shower the wood is swolen from repeated water on the floor. There is a super cheap wood "sticker" that is on the cabinet that is bubbled up and peeled away in spots.
I have a feeling that my landlord is going to try and nail me with these, and I am wondering why he would put a wood that cannot get wet in areas where they are certain to get wet. Would this possibly constitute 'Normal wear and tear' which cannot be charged to the tenant?
Kitchen: The back splash has warped away from the wall, immediately behind the sink, now there is about an inch gap for nearly a foot or so. Worse, is the edge of the counter along the front of the sink and next to the sink, directly above the diswasher. There is a cheap plastic'ish' or composite counter top, beneath which is a wood composite. The edge where the top and the front face of this material meets has swolen and is very noticeable.
Bathroom: Similiar problem to the kitchen but the side of the cabinet near the floor next to the toilet, close to the shower the wood is swolen from repeated water on the floor. There is a super cheap wood "sticker" that is on the cabinet that is bubbled up and peeled away in spots.
I have a feeling that my landlord is going to try and nail me with these, and I am wondering why he would put a wood that cannot get wet in areas where they are certain to get wet. Would this possibly constitute 'Normal wear and tear' which cannot be charged to the tenant?
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Honestly, when I pay a deposit I assume they will take it all from me unless I viciously document every single interaction. I moved into my current place 5 months ago and have taken pictures and stuff of several things I noticed after the walk through, like the spots on the counter-top the previous tenant obviously tried to hide the fact they didn't use a cutting board and patched it with what looks like nail polish.
Also, depending on the size of deposit and what's in the lease they will probably keep like 140$ right off the top for a cleaning fee. It's sort of bullshit, but the sooner you can get down to the office and talk to someone about it the better off you may be.
And he is already trying to screw me. I gave him more than the required 20 day notice based on state law, and I talked to him on the phone today and he is trying to tell me that our rental agreement states that I have to give him a calandar month's notice, so I am going to have to pay for February too. This is actually illegal based on WA state law, so I know we are going to clash about it, so I expect him to be extra Goosey when we move out.
hopefully you documented everything when you moved in. he needs to provide itemeized receipts for everything he does and charges you for
Take pictures of EVERYTHING, good high resolution ones that show the type of wood used and the shortcuts on the construction. I'd even go so far as to do a video walkthrough showing the state of each wall and such once you've got everything out of the way. He will threaten you, tell him to fuck off and provide an itemized list of what he believes you are responsible for, then probably tell him to fuck off again when he doesn't do that because he knows he's full of shit.
Edit: Don't actually say fuck off out loud. You can think it in your head, but be polite.
Fortunately I took extensive notes about the condition of the house when we moved in, as there was a lot damage left by the previous tenant that he did not fix, mostly in the basement. I am considering having a contractor come over and take a look at some of the things that I think he skimped on and see if I can get some kind of statement from a professional that I can take to court if need be.
look don't fix anything until you need to. what you want to do is schedule a walk through before your final walkthrough so that you can see the issues you need to address. then compare his estimates to what you can pay yourself. never do any repairs on a rental other than minor stuff unless you need to since it will ultimately end up out of your pocket without reimbursement
Make it very clear you will drag his ass through the ringer in small claims court if he withholds your deposit and it might be worth reminding him since WA is a tenant friendly state, he will likely be on the hook for the court costs (small claims filing), your time off work (your per hour rate for the time in court, minimum 1 hr), and the deposit.
Start documenting the fuck out of everything.
To everyone else:
Document the fuck out of everything on move in day. Every blemish on a carpet, every dent in a molding, ever patched mark on a wall. Make copies, get them to sign it, keep it for when you move out.
I took pictures when we moved in, unfortunately the camera we had the pictures on was stolen before I had uploaded the photos, and now they are gone forever.
A cheaper counter top is press board with a plastic coating. Along the edges (like in between the back splash and counter and where the sink was installed) the press board is exposed. If water gets in there, it will almost definitely buckle and warp over time. Is there not any caulking along the sink and where the back splash meets the counter top? There should be. Either way, the buckling/warping is due to water getting in there over and over again--wet counters. There's no faulty plumbing that would leak water here unless it was just spraying along the counter all the time. Sure it sucks, but it's a cheap counter and that's what happens. You have to be more careful with less durable counter tops.
For your bathroom, the cabinet sides are basically the same thing. It's not a sticker, that's a veneer and is very, very common. Water on the floor will cause the bottoms of the wood, where it meets the floor, to buckle. If water was left on the floor this would happen. It could also have been from taking showers without a vent fan running, over time. No plumping problem would cause this, again, unless water was continually leaking out from the base of the toilet. If that was happening you'd probably know.
I'm afraid that just because your landlord used cheap materials, that doesn't mean damage is going to be ignored. You're likely going to lose your deposit here.
Since this would be small claims, you'll have to do a lot of the leg work yourself, but it's very unlikely the landlord would win if you got a contractor to sign off that the damages were from shitty construction and shitty materials.
For instance, if a carpet is all matted because it's 15 years old, it's not on you, as the tenant moving out, to cover the cost of the carpet because it happened to just coincide on your move out date, no that's from normal wear and tear and the landlord is expected to cover that at their own cost. Same thing with if you aren't following code when installing sinks and plumbing and it causes damage to your property.
If a person puts a wet plate down and the veneer had peeled, that's still not their fault, it was cheap construction and this fell under a normal wear and tear situation.
You ever clean cheap particle board desks from walmart? A random sneeze makes that shit bubble.
OP just needs to do his due diligence and make sure. Unless the landlord has proof this guy lives like a slob, he's going to have a really hard time getting sympathy from a judge. Unless they live in a very landlord friendly state. WA isn't one of those, afaik.
Water damage itself is not wear and tear. Wear and tear would be faded counter tops. Cracking due to age. That sort of thing. Warping because water was allowed into the particle board is not wear and tear, it's damage.
Sorry to be the devil's advocate here. I guess it's worth trying to fight, but my two cents is that you're going to be on the hook for not taking better care.
Water against a surface will cause bubbling.
It's really hard to tell without pictures, but bathrooms are one of those "gets a free pass because of all the water in the air and area".
Just FYI, there was no caulk, anywhere in the kitchen or in the bathroom (except the tub) and the damage was not done overnight. I have lived in this house for 8 years and it has just accumulated.
I for one, would consider it unreasonable to have a counter in the kitchen that cannot get wet. Most of the water damage in the kitchen comes from steam that vents out the front of the dishwasher.
Do you have pictures?