My section 8 tenant is out. She was a good tenant that usually paid on time. If she was late she always included the late payment penalty, no questions. The good thing was that I received most of the rent from the government, who always paid on time.

I was unable to meet her for the final walk through of the unit, but I asked her to leave the keys on the counter. Usually when a tenant leaves I meet with them to inspect the unit together. At the start of the lease period I have my tenants fill out an inventory form. This form allows the tenant to make notations on the condition of the unit. But I am able to comment as well, I will usually note things like if an appliance is new, recently installed carpet or other aspects of the unit that I want to state at the start of the lease. I also usually have pictures of the unit that I used for advertising, so am able to visually document the condition of the unit.

I use this form to then note the condition of the unit and the end of the lease.

My rental agreements state that the unit shall be returned to the landlord in the same condition as when originally leased, allowing for ” normal wear and tear”.

I just did my walk through without the tenant today. I have two weeks to return her security deposit. During these two weeks, I must determine if I will withhold any part of the deposit for repairs. If I decide to withhold any part of the deposit, I must document the work done through receipts for work done or product purchased, or show written estimates of work to be done.

After my walk though I determined that the carpet needed to be cleaned (it was installed just before the tenant moved in and was now dirty), and the curtains that came with the unit (also installed just before the tenant moved in) was now gone and replaced with sheer nylon type drapes.

I will now have to hustle to get some estimates in the next few days.

As the tenant will be paying for these expenses out of their deposit, I do not feel too bad. Just part of being a landlord.