Small Business Newsletter

Sign up for our free email newsletter

Question

Should a tenant be responsible for a tub needing to be reglazed?

If the tub is peeling, that is. The office said the tenant should only use Soft Scrub to clean the tub. Anything else is not allowed and will damage the paint. Tenant mostly used pine sol and lysol- products that can be purchased off the shelf. Landlord claims they will call an independent contractor at a cost of $189 to the tenant. Tenant has been in the apt for nearly 2 years. What are your thoughts on this? I'm getting ready to take some type of formal action againt them and then I'm going to try to move out in a few months.

3 months ago - 5 answers

Best Answer

Chosen by Asker

If Softscrub is OK, there's no reason why Lysol or PineSol wouldn't be OK as well. Now, if the tenant used something like Comet or some other scouring powder, then he would be liable for the damage to the tub. But that wouldn't cause peeling. Even then, you as the landlord would have to be able to prove that the damage to the tub was directly caused by some misuse on the part of the tenant.

by PoohBearPenguin

3 months ago

Asker's Rating: 

Other Answers

This sort of thing should be covered in the lease, but in general I'd say that it's not the tenant's responsibility.

by cynara- 3 months ago

If that cleaning instruction is in your rental agreement, you violated it and would be responsible. However, it sounds like the tub was given a shoddy job of reglazing a while ago, and the landlord knew it; thus the "Soft Scrub" only caveat. A tub's porcelain should be able to stand up to any number of products, including cleansers.

by tonalc2- 3 months ago

It really comes down to if the cleaning method of the tub is in the rental agreement. Otherwise it is just the landlord's word vs the tenant's word. Are you the tenant? why do you speak in 3rd person sometimes then switch to 1st? It was confusing.

by ClarkWorld- 3 months ago

Only if it is spelled out in the lease, or posted in the tub area would the tenant be responsible. Check with the re-glazing company to find out about cleaning procedures.

by Mark C- 3 months ago