Secty. Depsit: charge tenant for re-caulking tub b/c mold

In case anyone was unsure if qwerty was a cheap asshole landlord, now we know.

Tenant was supposed to caulk the bathtub? The tentant should come after you for violating habitability during the term of the lease. This is your neglect, not the tenants.

And what do you want to charge? $100, just so you get every penny, you cheap bastard.

Why are so many people so quick to respond when they clearly haven't read what was written. In this case it sounds like the tenant didn't clean the shower (clearly on regular basis)- so mold formed in the caulk.

I don't know the proper answer, but perhaps someone less biased can answer.

Tilex?

If you used latex caulk, there is absolutely nothing that could have prevented mold from appearing, weekly cleanings or not--scrubbing that stuff only causes it to peel off. Why, though, should the tenant have caulked it herself? Sounds like it wasn't properly caulked in the first place--that's not your tenant's responsibility, it's yours.

"Normal wear/tear or charge her?"

neither -- if the caulk is moldy but the tile grout isn't, your tenant cleaned properly.

I believe it should be grouted, not caulked; but if caulked there are special bathtub varieties that resist mold and mildew.

Are we even sure this is caulk we are talking about? On a typical tub/shower installation with tile surrounds there is not that much caulk used. Lots of grout though...

Caulking cost a few dollars per tube...you are sooo cheap.

From my own experience with mold and caulking --

1. I have seen many, many grouted tile bathrooms with caulk around the edges near the tub. It nearly always will mold and is impossible to get rid of. However, mold on grout will usually clean up.

2. Mold loves to live on caulk and will thrive on it even when you clean frequently or aggressively. I would be dubious that mold-resistant caulk would work that well. And if there is no ventilation fan in the bathroom correctly feeding the misty air out of the apartment that would only compound the problem.

3. Re-caulking is very cheap to fix, as well as very easy.

4. To me this is normal wear and tear.

5. The other possibility is that you have a leak and considerable mold is growing *behind* your tiles / tub and it is first appearing in the caulk. Unless it is visible/smelly/sickening your tenants could not have known about it, and since caulk will unfortunately mold pretty easily...

CAULK? You can't find anything else to nickel & dime the tenant for? Jeez, you're a peach!

seriously qwerty...don't be an @sshole landlord. suck it up..I'm sure you made enough money off of your landlord to pay for a re-caulking. If word gets out that you charge for things like that, you will have a hard time getting tenants. Remember- it's becoming a renters market.

I've seen people be really petty on Streeteasy, some of the hourly posters who will remain unnamed are among the worst. But this takes the cake. Or the caulk. Either way, what a petty little shit.

Why not just keep the whole security deposit. What's your poor, naive renter going to do? Lawyer up?
Doubtful. Go get 'em Qwerty!

small claims court is very easy to navigate. easy for the tenant to go after the landlord. on something so silly too. judges are pro-tenant in all circumstances where the tenant pays rent, didn't purposely destroy a place, or didn't do anything egregious

good job qwerty of being the biggest slumlord out there

Qwerty, I don't have an opinion on the substantive merits of your question, but from a tenant's perspective, landlords who do this kind of thing are EXACTLY why I never leave my security deposit behind, but simply tell the landlord to use it for last month's rent. I also advise anyone who will listen to do the same.

The first time I lived in NYC for a summer, while in college, I rented a slum near port authority with a friend, left $1300 security deposit and got a check for $1100 with a lovely note that said "$200 deducted for cleaning cause you", verbatim. I was 21, clueless, back on campus, and didn't even consider small claims court. Lesson learned.

And if you had reinvested that $200 taken by your landlord in certificates of deposit, today you'd have $247.73.
If you had used it as a down payment on an apartment in NYC, according to stevejhx you'd have $500, but that you should be ashamed because you _should_ only have $220 and will have that amount if you just wait 6 months while the crash continues.
If you invested it alongside stevejhx, you'd have 60% annual returns.

Just getting back to this. Sorry I missed so much! Seems at least 70% think I'm a cheap @@shole for even suggesting this. HAVE ANY OF THESE PEOPLE EVER ACTUAL RE-CAULKED A TUB? HONESTLY? or are they just renters who haven't lifted a screwdriver in 20 years and think homes just take care of themselves?
Yes, the tubes cost only a few bucks but you spend 4-5 hours of a summer weekend first removing the mold-covered stuff with razor blades and a putty knife and then applying the new caulk--a rather messy task. At my bill-rate 4-5 hours ain't cheap! or Ask what a handyman charges, also not cheap. Frustrating when the time/cost could be simply avoided if tenant had cleaned her tub at least once a month instead of living like the animal she is.

Your religious affiliation, please.

waaaaahh waaaaaah

lol, this guy is so funny. Obviously landlords don't feel much pain right now, so I guess on my other post this isn't the time when the market has shifted away from owners to renters.

By the way qwerty, 4-5 hours of maintenance on your cash flow producing apartment and you are bitching? Cry me a fucking river. You try that shit on me, I'd take you to court like some of the other people here suggested and let you embarass yourself in front of a judge.

Patrick_Bateman: Yes I am Jewish if that's what you're getting at. Being careful with $ isn't a sin!

Update: I gave tenant her deposit back minus $300.00--NOT EVEN A PEEP BACK FROM HER YET!!! So, problem solved.

Patrick Bateman, are you an evangelical born again?

Qwerty - just out of curiosity: Why did you ask the original question? Why bother soliciting people's opinions if you're going to ignore them?

As for you and your tenant, what goes around comes around - here's hoping your next tenant completely trashes your apartment, takes a dump in your fridge, bounces checks and otherwise gets you everything you karmically deserve. Cheers.

Just wanted to make sure that stereotypes were still an efficient way to classify people. Thanks for playing.

Patrick, you must be the ultimate stereotype of yuppie greed: rich, shallow, and addicted to sex, drugs, and conspicuous consumption? Well, I guess the stupidity of identifying yourself with a fictitious serial killer from American Psycho should probably be right in line with you with you making anti-Semitic comments on a public forum that has the ability to trace your true identity.

Interesting, so just because the tenant hasn't complained, the landlord think's he's right.

Bateman, nice goading.
But we all know that qwerty isn't a thief because he is Jewish, he's a thief simply because he doesn't know any better and rationalizes his own pathologies.

dmag2020, in defense of Bateman, he asked the religious affiliation, didn't not say anything antisemitic. He was clearly goading qwerty, and if qwerty responded he was anything else, Bateman's response could have been the same.

Still, Bateman is entitled to be an anti-semite and to express his anti-semitism on the board. There's nothing wrong with a belief even if it is offensive, and nothing wrong with expressing a belief in a nonviolent way.

THis message board has no right and frankly no recourse to come after Bateman even if it objects to his comments. And anyway, don't be so sure that people on message boards are traceable.

The real story here is still that qwerty is a thief.

you spend 4-5 hours of a summer weekend first removing the mold-covered stuff with razor blades and a putty knife and then applying the new caulk.

why in the world would it take 4-5 hours to recalk? i have been manageing properties for over 30 years. it should take less than an hour unless you use your fingers to pull out the old grout. i saw my handyman regout, and it took him less than 30 minutes. it is wear and tear. don't charge the tenant who puts food on your table.

Please see update at the other thread on this issue. Thanks.

Yeah, see the other thread just for clarification of qwerty being a cheap loser scumbag.

ps - the only reason anyone knows you are Jewish is because you said you were Jewish. I'm sure most of the other Jews in NYC and on this message board are embarassed you are on of them.

Ritchi: thats fine, I'm ok with who I am. and people are entitled to their opinions about other people--I for one can't stand yuppie wasps...although they make good tenants.

People who are lazy and/or don't take money seriously don't become landlords, they become renters.

qwerty, you are a jew who hates protestants?

this is the funniest question on streeteasy

ritchi — are you christians ashamed of all the murderous pricks among you? Or do you judge individuals as individuals? Oh I see: Jews must be ashamed of any among them but you people don't have to.
Does the Inquisition come to mind?

Recaulking needs to be done every few years anyway....

Sounds like normal maintenance a landlord should take care of... And yeah, I'm a landlord AND Jewish.

Cheap latex cault takes a long time to remove because it becomes brittle. Silicone stays pliable and lifts out easily in minutes. A post like this makes Stevehx not seem so infuriating. What an ass.

Did this lawsuit proceed to court?

i believe a case was filed with the AG

Update: I gave tenant her deposit back minus $300.00--NOT EVEN A PEEP BACK FROM HER YET!!! So, problem solved.

Please move-on to another topic, I've already got another sucker---oops, I mean tenant in the place...

Wow, what an argument for not paying the last month if I eve rsaw one.

qwerty you are scum--you ripped off your tenant and never heard back

why don't you properly grout around your tub? caulk is a cheap flimsy stopgap way to deal with old grout in need of replacement--but then you are obviously a cheap flimsy stopgap human---

you're also a dirty thief

1rcollins2: If you're my old tenant, how's you basement studio in Weehawken treating you? Sorry you couldn't hack it in the big apple (but thanks for all your $$$ over the year of your lease). If you're not my old tenant, r...e...l...a...x.....

you are scum--congrats--you stole 300$ from your tenant

and worry not re my quarters---my tub is properly grouted---not cheesed up with caulk installed by a cheapskate DIY LL

karma will rule your pathetic world--relax until then

"Karma..." The old trustee of my trust fund said the same thing to me (more or less) when I had her replaced and then sued her for violating the terms of my trust. See she had given me money whenever I'd asked for it over my 6 years at college (instead of limiting distributions to those needed for "health, education, maintenance and support"--I, of course, wasted the $$ on coke/partying). Her malpractice carrier made me whole. Turned out for the best really b/c I avoided the recent market slide.
I win. Go grout your tub.

"Trustee" my ass! You're a poor boy from Brooklyn if ever there was one. You probably think you're sophisticated because you don't put vinyl slipcovers on your furniture the way your parents did.

Not "Broke-lyn", please.
Westport, UES and West Palm (winters) and the family place on Martha's Vineyard (summers)
Closest thing to vinyl--grand daddy owned a plastics company that we sold to DuPont back in the early 80's....

sorry but i think you ripped off your tenant - caulking a tub is normal wear and tear. if the tenant informed you of the situation and you didn't repair it - really bad. it's your responsiblity as a landlord to maintain the apartment. you should be ashamed not proud that you got your $300 and the former tenant didn't complain. karma baby karma

qwerty...you should be grateful for your success rather than gleeful for getting $300.oo from your former tenant.

No qwerty, just ghetto WPB. And your daddy was the bookkeeper at the plastics company until he was replaced in the early 80s with Lotus 123. And you chomp stogies.

Qwerty: being in the middle of a beef with my landlord, I am totally biased. Hence my response: That's on you chief.
There is a downside to "being the man" so to speak. How often did you take care of requests? All of them? Some of them?
Did you consult the contract first? You should think that over.
I'm not judging you...there have to be some "ok" landlords out there...but mine sucks...I hate him...he's a jerk.
So I am biased...once again.

But I think you have to suck it up and if you want your tenants to clean the tub daily, put it in the contract.
That's the safest bet

What a surprise!!! upperwestrenter, not only is he nasty on streeteasy he also has can't get along with his landlord.

there there, do you need a hug because your parents neglected you?

normal wear and tear.

No -- not normal wear and tear, not cleaning the tub or failing to. This is a simple case of the wrong material being installed. If qwerty filled the tile gaps with rolled-up white bread, it would also get moldy.

Caulk is not grout. The former is incredibly cheap, and altogether the wrong material. The latter is cheap, and the correct material.

Unfortunately this is exactly the type of thing that happens in a rental because you are dealing with low class landlords. The professional buildings like Rose and Related are better but they are unforgiving if you are trying to move out. Coop buildings are built for the people who live there and are much better communities for family and of course you don't have moldy baths.

Can anyone provide an update on this?

I just think that rentals in NYC, unless they are owned by the big companies, tall buildings, not much rent control, are all badly maintained. These walkups and cheap properties owned by the small companies are so badly maintaned. That's why you have these situations.

hey querty--the story about your "trust" lawyer is consistent with al we know:
you are a piece of shit
you steal what you can get away with from your tenants
you are insecure about your financial situation, such that we have to hear about your "trust fund"
you are in a weak financial situation such that you rent out apartments with bathrooms that are all caulked up and thus become moldy
you conned your lawyer into giving you money which you squandered on drugs--and then sued your lawyer
you are a piece of shit

karma does rule...relax....be patient

Patrick_Bateman
about 10 months ago
ignore this person

Your religious affiliation, please.

Where is w67thstreet to add to this discussion? It is about a woman in a bathroom, mold, putty, discussion about religion, upperwestrenter is on here, what more could you ask for?

Ubottom: LOL, At least you have a personality! and maybe you're on to something with your psycho-anaylsis. I'm reading this right now at the Charlotte Inn, MVY and laughing my a@@ off as I enjoy an after dinner drink with a natural-10, we're both coked-up and ready to hit town to party. Then rock-star sex till the wee hours. You work too hard...

I hate people like qwerty. Can't speak English properly. No idea how to conjugate a verb.
My grandfather came here at the age of 22 with no knowledge of English, couldn't afford a college education and had to go right to work. Yet he speaks and writes perfectly seven decades later. None of this "ready to hit town" dumbass crap trying to impress us all while we just laugh at him.

gyellen: just getting-up now, what a night, what a beautiful day on the Vineyard (although a little humid to be honest). Thanks for sharing about your grandfather and your pet-peeve about verb congugation.

lol congugation!

I rent, so tired of my damn landlord and all the games. This type crap makes me mad. Landlords are cheapasses. And fuck all of you who think rent stabilization should go. This is exactly the reason it should stay. Otherwise these jerks get MORE money, why do you want that?????

MOEMENTUM: none of my places are subject to rent stabilization/control, they're all condos. However, rental control/stabilization is exactly why so many landlords have to be so cheap---their profit margins are capped by the gov't. How would you like it if the govt. made a law limiting how much you could make at your job (solely to help your customers). Renting would be so easy if tenants just held-up there end of the bargain (and cleaned their bathrooms occasionally).

Seriously ... the Vineyard? In 2009? Sometimes retro can be carried too far.

Ubottom kiss MYbottom.

Pucker-up, Ubottom...

qwerty, use grout.

alanhart: Grout is used b/n tiles. Caulk is used (and must be used) at the larger "seams" b/n tub and tile and at corners.

to reiterate

hey querty--the story about your "trust" lawyer is consistent with all we know:
you are a piece of garbage
you steal what you can get away with from your tenants
you are insecure about your financial situation, such that we have to hear about your "trust fund" and now that youre on the vineyard in a hotel
you are in a weak financial situation such that you rent out apartments with bathrooms that are all caulked up and thus become moldy
you conned your lawyer into giving you money which you squandered on drugs--and then sued your lawyer
you are a piece of garbage

karma does rule...relax....be patient

the pucker up etc dont change nuttin

karma is looming in the weeds
and guys like you have so many enemies, when karma hits, you cant know from whence it came...brace yourself

caulk =cheesebag stopgap slumlord mat'l--consistent with th rest we know of you

In defense of qwerty, he was not bragging. Martha's Vineyard is a played-out, overbuilt destination. He took his natural-tenth friend to a cut-rate youth hostel (Charlotte Inn, the cheapest on the island, out of character for qwerty). He does crack, in the 21st century. Who would brag about such things? Cut him some flack.

Ubottom and alanfart are poop.

And that's the thanks I get for sticking up for you!

from/for qwerty, that is.

alanhart: it took you an hour to clarify your post? This is just a silly blog, don't over-think it. Truth be told I love both you and Ubottom and there isn't a thing either of you can do about it! Peace.

alanhart your defense has been a complete success....and your points are all quite well taken....so compelling, in fact, that i will cut querty not just some flack, but i'm going to cut him loose.....

bye bye qwerty

Wow what a sleeze

Not slack, Ubottom. He clearly has too much of that. I wrote "flack". Cut him some flack.

If they charge you for chalking the tub, are they going to charge you for painting too?

qwerty

1-you spend 4-5 hours of a summer weekend first removing the mold-covered stuff with razor blades and a putty knife and then applying the new caulk--a rather messy task.

2-Westport, UES and West Palm (winters) and the family place on Martha's Vineyard (summers)
Closest thing to vinyl--grand daddy owned a plastics company that we sold to DuPont back in the early 80's....

Anyone read about the Chinese drywall giving off fumes?

qwerty: note that non-sleazy landlords are advised to use grout, not caulk:
http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/articles/2007/07/29/caulk_no_grout_yes_between_tub_and_tile/

You are to return your former tenant's security deposit, with treble damages.

Consider this before listening to advice.

VegasBruehl: money is money. Its all good.

"money is money. Its all good."
-Bernie Madoff, early December 2008

You are to return your former tenant's security deposit, with treble damages.

Alanhart, I simply don't/can't follow your "logic"

Tenant took the place as she found it. If it had grout b/n tub and tile and no mold grew, fine. Unfortunately for her, the place had chaulk b/n tub and tile (as do 75%+ of bathrooms). Therefore, she bore the risk of loss by letting mold grow instead of acting like a civilized person and cleaning once in a while. Maybe now she's in a place with grout b/n the tub and tile....that or maybe she's started cleaning her rented bathroom once in a while.

caulk btwn the bathroom tile and tub is like asking the impossible. The caulk will always keep mold due to the material makeup. Grout however is much more durable and non-porous as caulk.

return the deposit less 1 cheap tube of caulking material, which is 2.99 last time I checked home depot.

wrong. i have caulk in my bath at home and its been there 4+ years with zero mold.
How? BECAUSE I CLEAN MY BATHROOM ONCE IN A WHILE.

If it's a rental good luck charging the tenet. You sure it's the tenets fault? Your in there with them at the end of the shower? Suck it up brother to the pains of a small business. Thank the gods that caulking is the 'big fix-it' at hand. For the time and money and for the protection of your asset caulk it up to experience.

qwerty, it's also possible that you made sure in your own apt that no cracks would occur. However with a tenant, it's very likely the job done is exactly that, a job done for a tenant.

oh no its qwerty the scummy LL

back for more

interesting you pulled this shit on a young woman--when you play dirty like this (arbitrarily witholding deposit dollars for complete bullshit reasons) often the counterparty plays dirty in response--in this case it wwas ayoung woman who had more important things to worry about than the few hundred bux you stole from her--she didnt' jump into the filthy arena you play in--some day some one really good at playing dirty will jump in with you, and you will lose badly--maybe then youll respect playing fair, and not taking advantage of people--

I just wanted to revive this one as a contrast between qwerty the cheap landlord, and aboutready the woman whose family won't replace a toilet seat.

your toilet seat insults place you in the same camp as qwerty--broken fixtures are the responsibility of the landlord, including toilet seats...yes, renters are ENTITLED to repair, by the LL at LL's expense, of fixtures that break under normal wear and tear circumstances...there's nothing cheap about a renter who requests that broken fixtures be replaced--go back in your sad stinky hole!! say hi to qwerty!!

Ubottom: I love you and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it.

Need advice - my tenant just moved out and trying to estimate what is reasonable to deduct from the security deposit.

They drilled a hole in the side of the bathroom vanity cabinet, which was new when they moved in. They neither removed the screw nor tried to conceal/repair the damage. It's visible as soon as you walk in the bathroom. But for this 1/8" hole now there, the vanity would be fine. What's the fairest way to access this damage?

Also, they replaced the Kohler showerhead with a generic, 90% plastic large showerhead with a faux chrome peeling extension hose which is caked with mold. Is it fair to charge them for labor and materials to restore to how it was when they moved in? They never asked if they could or notified me that the the showerhead was/needed to be replaced.

The tub needs recaulking, but that is definitely normal wear and tear for which I would never charge them.

Is it fair to charge for cleaning FILTHY stove top, oven, surrounding grease-caked walls, and animal hair and dust around appliances and in corners throughout condo?

Fair to charge for cleaning of wall-to-wall/floor-to-ceiling drapes which had been new, but are now badly stained (at the level where windows would have been left open during rain)?

Want to be fair, which is hard to do since I'm peeved that they left some large, cheap mirror on the wall with four very large bolts. Even if the mirror were nice, it's the principle that they said nothing and made no attempt to repair/clean anything. Any objective advice would be welcome.

Meant 'ASSESS' damage (not access).

qwerty at it again?

I've come here looking for a discussion forum, so far I am amazed at the discourse between adults are I might assume (I Know, I know - ass u me)others are looking for some fair ground for legitimate answers and do feel frustrated as I do at this nonsense!!! Even as a ground for venting, why the personal attacks? What the heck happened here???? ...and why? I am going to keep reading and hope that this becomes what it was intended to be, an informative discussion of adults landlord/tenants with real situations and potential resolutions. I have my own concerns and it would be nice to have a clearing arena for just that........
RosalieMB

I'm a tenant. I don't care to live in mold so I definitly clean and wipe down regularly. That caulk just gets grubby no matter what kind of regular cleaning I do. The moisture seeps under and around it and even spraying bleach on it regularly doesn't seem to mitigate the moldy cracks where I cannot seem to wipe it out. Plus it starts peeling and coming off after a year anyway. If a landlord tried to make me pay for it I might throw a fit. It is really just part of regular maintenance. Although if the tub is grubby and nasty and beyond normal and takes extra cleaning I think that should be an issue.

LOOK being a Landlord is tough sometimes but re-caulking a tub so that it is nice to a new tenant and taking pride in your rental is part of being a property owner. To hold back rent does not promote a good reputation for yourself. You cannot dictate how people live or their cleanliness. I am both a Landlord and Tenant. My tenant experience has been awful with regards to bathrooms and mold. The day I signed my lease I noted on my lease and mold addendum that I would deep clean my apartment because of the horrible job that was done by their cleaning crew. I went without a dishwasher for 2 months and in the first week five tiles fell out of the wall because the landlord didnt care for the property. The removal of two rows of tiles by the landlords "professional" exposed black mold from not properly maintain a wet environment. They refused to test it and fix it correctly which lead me to becoming very ill and going to an ER for treatment. It has been 15 days without a tub or a shower all because the landlord never caulked or grouted correctly. Now I am suing the landlord for an uninhabitable environment and also for a violation of my civil rights. Being a landlord costs money to make repairs that you are required under the law to make and maintain. By not doing so it will cost you alot more in the end as with this place will cost around $100,000 when i am done with them!