As a landlord you want to get your property as pristine as possible but surely that would not be the case all the time. You have no choice but to accept that properties do decline and depreciate over time. That is why you want to really keep the tenants of your property to really look out and keep things the way they are. The fact is that there are some damages that may end up not compensated or there is no compensation that is coming. The question is: what to do if the tenant damages property?

 

You can't take it against the landlord for asking payment for damages incurred even if the one damaged is already old. For the landlord, age is irrelevant. The landlord is someone that expects payment for the repair of the damaged property. Under the law there are certain instances where the tenant is culpable in replacing the cost of the damaged property. It would be great if you can, as landlord, to get the advice of a Boston civil litigation lawyer before you proceed with dealing with the situation.

 

After making the call, it would be great to assess the damage. If you can ask why the damage occurred with the tenant. If the tenant can, ask for a full narrative of what happened so that it can be assessed if there is a need for the tenant to pay the damages incurred on the property. Determine if the damage is beyond repair or not and needs a replacement. Bring a digital camera so that you can have a documentation of the damage.

 

The next step is to send someone to assess the cost of the repair of the damage. Advise the tenant that you will pay the repairs and then forward the bill when the repairs are done. Relevant details on this are described at www.calalaw.com. You need to do this so that there is no way for the tenant to escape paying the damage in case the tenant does not the landlord back.

 

There are times that the tenant will not pay you back and in this case you may need to appear in a small claims courts. You may opt to give a grace period say 30 days for the tenant to comply with the payment of the damaged property.

 

When things get complicated it would be best to have an attorney specializing in real estate litigation on hand to get the case ironed out. This way you can be assured that each step you take is in accordance to law. This will also improve the chances of getting paid back.

 

There are plenty of legal services online that you can tap to give you a step-by-step procedure on how to deal with a tenant that has damaged a property. You may browsing here at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/legal+aid.