Worried about landlord and damage

[SampsonF]

I live in Washington State and I've been renting a house for the past 6 years. When I moved in, the carpet was in poor condition (stains), three of the windows did not open, the oil furnace is smelly, and there is bad ventilation in the bathroom that encourages mold growth (I'm always cleaning it). The ventilation in the kitchen is bad so there is some rust now on the refrigerator. They have not checked in with me for over 3 years and I have not contacted them out of fear.

When I moved in, the landlord made notations of the problems, but she never provided me with a copy. I am worried that when I move out, they will try and make me pay for the preexisting damage and the general wear and tear.

My question is, will renters insurance protect me from any damage claims that the landlord makes against me? If I have lived in the residence for over 6 years, is general wear and tear prorated (carpet/oven/fridge/paint) if they do try and get me to pay?

 

[LdiJ]

I live in Washington State and I've been renting a house for the past 6 years. When I moved in, the carpet was in poor condition (stains), three of the windows did not open, the oil furnace is smelly, and there is bad ventilation in the bathroom that encourages mold growth (I'm always cleaning it). The ventilation in the kitchen is bad so there is some rust now on the refrigerator. They have not checked in with me for over 3 years and I have not contacted them out of fear.

When I moved in, the landlord made notations of the problems, but she never provided me with a copy. I am worried that when I move out, they will try and make me pay for the preexisting damage and the general wear and tear.

My question is, will renters insurance protect me from any damage claims that the landlord makes against me? If I have lived in the residence for over 6 years, is general wear and tear prorated (carpet/oven/fridge/paint) if they do try and get me to pay?

You can only be charged the depreciated value of a carpet. A carpet has a useful life of 5-7 in a rental unit. Since the carpet was already old when you moved in, and you have lived there six years, the landlord cannot legally charge you for the carpet.

I also cannot think of any circumstance where you could be held responsible for rust or for windows that do not open.

 

[FarmerJ]

Are you thinking of moving soon ?

 

[SampsonF]

Are you thinking of moving soon ?

I would like to move, but I feel like I'm a prisoner here since I am worried about dealing with the landlord and what they might come up with. I am wondering if renters insurance would protect me from any damage claims the landlord may have?

 

[LdiJ]

I would like to move, but I feel like I'm a prisoner here since I am worried about dealing with the landlord and what they might come up with. I am wondering if renters insurance would protect me from any damage claims the landlord may have?

No, renters insurance would not protect you from that. Again, however, while your landlord might attempt to keep your security deposit for those items, you really should prevail in court if push came to shove.

 

[FarmerJ]

Ok so if you do not have pictures to back up what you recall of the houses condition & pre existing wear and tear when you moved in then what you may well want to do is use a note pad and write down what you can about things that were wrong when you did move in and then take pics / have the pics printed out. You want to note things like ` by doorway to kitchen from living room the carpet was worn looking / showing traffic pattern wear when I moved in and now the carpet appears to slowly becoming threadbare. Take pics of things like kitchen floor tiles that appear to have become slowly scratched away in heavy traffic area and try to get enough detail as to the pattern in a picture because if you had to show a court a approximate age of the flooring if a landlord claimed in a damage list that you damaged her /his nice floor ` you can offer pics to the court as you say ` your honor these pics are the floor in the kitchen which was not new when I moved in but appears to be a pattern that was common 15 years ago or so. You do not need to be afraid of what the LL might come up with even after six years you can still sort of plan for possible disputes over damage and your deposit funds. Ideally pics from your move in would be great but in the end here if your LL say charged you to replace something that was worn out but maybe 20 yrs old now that item may not have any so called useful life left in it. paint jobs for example have a short life 2 to maybe 3 years at the most other wise most LLs just repaint a unit to let it show better.