Home Renters Don’t Care About Your Cabinets-Precautionary Measures

Is it any wonder that people who rent your houses really don’t care about taking care of anything? I have had to repair so many cabinets that renters have neglected to take care of. Not just that, but at times they will act out their anger by destroying kitchen cupboards. Landlords throughout the years have shared countless stories with me about how the vanity bathroom and kitchen cabinetry in their rental houses have been destroyed.

Kitchen and Bathroom Cabinet and Countertop Damage to Expect When Renting Out Your House

1) Countertop Damage-Small and sometimes large surfaces scratches in countertops are made due to the renters laziness. Oftentimes, tenants will actually use the counters as cutting boards. It’s the “I don’t own the house, so why should I care” attitude. .. I have even witnessed areas where the home abusers have used the stainless steel or even cast iron sinks to cut their meats, fruits and vegetables on.

2) Drawers-Hot heads will slam drawers until the decorative faces fly off. Hopefully, you won’t have any angry tenants to deal with when you are renting out your houses. I’ve even witnessed huge holes in the kitchen area walls where someone shoved something or someone so hard that it crushed the drywall.

3) Melted Thermofoil Doors-Replacements for thermofoil doors are sometimes hard to find. It might be a good idea to post a sign in the kitchen or put a care list on the inside of an upper cupboard door which instructs your renters about how to take care of your thermofoil plastic MDF doors. Things like toaster ovens, deep fryers and even coffee pot steam can cause the plastic to shrink away from the board underneath.

4) Water Damaged Cabinets-I know this is going to come as a shock, but I have actually been into a rental house where the former renters plugged the sinks in the bathrooms and turned the water on. Needless to say, the damage extended far beyond just the sink cabinet. It’s a good idea to let them know that you want a call any time something breaks or is not working properly, especially if it has to do with plumbing issues.

There’s really not much that you can do to stop tenants from destroying a rental house once they are inside and living there. The best thing to do is screen your possible renters before they have a chance to destroy your kitchen or bathroom cabinetry. I recently had a client that said they do thorough background checks on people who are perspective renters interested in their houses. If you do a background check it may just save you a lot of money in kitchen and bathroom repairs.