To report or not, a small door dent?

June 6, 2011 2:22 AM

Should I mention a small dent on my bedroom door to my landlord?

Hi, everyone! Just to let all of you know, I'm new here, so go easy on me! :)

To begin: I moved in a private home, renting with six other roommates (mostly college students). The previous occupant of my current room damaged the door of the bedroom, and the door was replaced before I moved in, so it's a new door. I'm moving out in a week, and will be paying rent until August (when our lease expires), due to not finding a sublet. (I will be living somewhere else and paying double rent for the two months, something I can afford to do.) One another important thing to mention: I'm Deaf.

I'm always a gentle person and try to be careful not to damage or alter property that isn't mine in any way, I pay my rent and other bills on time promptly, every month. Of course, this probably comes across as self-serving, and has apparent basis, but I'm not intending to come across as that way. I'm just saying that I'm always a careful person and will communicate any damage immediately.

That's why I'm a bit stumped with this current situation.

Background: We had a roommate (who had moved out since then) who was a bit, how do I say it, dramatic. He would get mad over little things, talk rudely about others, and stir up drama. One time, he was upset with a situation between us that he pounded on my locked door mercilessly and insisted I come out via text. (In Deaf culture, people tend to pound on doors to get others' attention.) Despite feeling uncomfortable by his approach, I came out and dealt with the situation. We moved on, time moved on...

Until now. I was inspecting my door, and realized that there was a small dent on the door, barely noticeable (I should know; I didn't notice it until now!). This dent obviously was caused by his pounding on the door.

The dilemma: should I report it to my landlord and risk being charged for a new door/repairs (not sure how that dent can be repaired)? As it's not my fault, I feel I should not be responsible for other damage caused by other tenants, even if it's "my" door. I cannot control his behavior. He may also be suspicious that I chose to report the damage until now.

However, if I choose not to report this, if my landlord notices (he has an eagle eye - he spotted a tiny hole in the living room floor), he will most likely ask me what happened, and ask why I did not report this to him.

Adding complicated layers:

a) The landlord's girlfriend was kind of involved in the whole situation in an offhand way--without going into any details, she did nothing wrong and is a wonderful person... but she does know about the door pounding; however, she is not yet aware of the small dent. (She lives with us.)

b) The landlord is closing this house after our lease ends to do renovations, due to many college students coming in over the years and the considerable amount of wear and tear to the house overall.

So, AskMe community, what should I do? Report it to my landlord, with his girlfriend hopefully "documenting" the other tenant pounding on the door (even though she didn't see it), and risk being charged? Or just let sleeping dogs lie?

I wish I could attach a picture, but I can't/am not aware of how, so here's a link to the door and the barely noticeable dent.

Picture of the door

It's not noticeable from the picture, but there's also a small line of cracked wood under the dent in the middle, which is more obvious in person (but still hard to notice immediately).

I'm sorry if this was slightly long over such a little dent, but I'm not sure what the best thing to do would be, as I don't want any extra charges deducted from my deposit. If it makes it any more obvious to you, I'm fresh out of college and this is my first rental experience, so I'm a bit new to the whole thing.

Thanks for any advice, and if any clarification is needed, feel free to ask :)

posted by dubious_dude to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

"What dent?"
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 2:31 AM on June 6, 2011 [3 favorites]

And maybe...just maybe you can say "hey...do you think you can get a new tenant to move in, so I don't have to continue paying rent?".

Since "The landlord is closing this house after our lease ends to do renovations", the landlord would have to find a new tenant to sublet for just those two months, which could be harder.
posted by JiBB at 3:53 AM on June 6, 2011

If you think there's any chance your landlord will notice it, I'd tell him now and tell the whole story. If he calls you on it when you leave, having you say, "Oh, that wasn't me, it was my roommate, really!" will just sound weak.
posted by christinetheslp at 5:00 AM on June 6, 2011

You should have reported it when it happened. If so, it would have come out of your roommate's security deposit and not yours. Your best best now would be to just let it be and if the landlord notices it during your final walkthrough, which I would make sure to have him do as soon as you move out before your lease is up so you aren't charged for damage done after you move out.

If the other guy who did the damage has already gotten his security deposit back, there is no way in hell that the landlord is going to get money for the door unless it comes from you or one of the other current tenants.

Also, I would ask him if he would be willing to let you buy out the rest of your contract for a discounted rate. Hey, people move out early and it happens. If he is a decent landlord, he will most likely be amenable to this.
posted by TheBones at 5:42 AM on June 6, 2011

I'd be upfront about it and say straight away that it was the other dude who did it. That way you don't look like a jerk making lame excuses later if/when he asks you about it or tries to deduct it from your deposit.
posted by Sara C. at 6:06 AM on June 6, 2011

Right now the landlord is your vendor, and you're the customer. He has an interest in pleasing you and ensuring a smooth relationship with you, because he wants you to keep renewing (i.e. keep being a customer for his product). Be honest with the door, and negotiate with him now. He has incentive to be fair with you.

When you move out, he has zero interest in pleasing you, because you are no longer a customer. He has incentive to screw you for as much as he possibly can.
posted by Quisp Lover at 6:06 AM on June 6, 2011

Seriously, "What dent?" You presumably walked past your door every day and didn't notice. Other roommates have seen your door and not noticed. It doesn't impact (haha) the functionality of the door or the aesthetics of the door. It is, in fact, a non-dent.
posted by anaelith at 6:22 AM on June 6, 2011

Do you have any photographic evidence from when you moved in that the dent was there before you arrived? If you've got that, then you could be okay. Otherwise, I'd be all "what dent?"

I think if you tell him or if he notices, he has plenty of reason/incentive NOT to believe "it wasn't me, it was the other guy!" Other guy has moved out. You are still on the hook for getting money out of, and short of an eyewitness actually seeing the guy make the dent, nobody can prove it wasn't you who did it. (I don't think girlfriend is going to be that much help here.)

Keep in mind that in general, college landlords are kinda sleazy and uh... I wouldn't trust 'em.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:58 AM on June 6, 2011

can you fix it with a little wood putty. It might be the right color that it could blend right in - or make it more obvious... I put dozens of screw holes in an apartment I rented once that specifically said in the lease - no holes in the walls and I spackled up all the holes before I left and was not charged. Sometimes a little efort is appreciated.

whatever you decide make sure to take pictures of the entire house regardless of damage just in case the landlord's bookie decides it's time to pay up the month you move out. A good practice is to check any damage present when you move in and confirm it in the lease so they cannot charge you for it when you move out. I had a landlord do that when I was in college and found out that small claims court judges in small college towns can be somewhat corrupt when it comes to landlord/tenant issues.
posted by any major dude at 7:32 AM on June 6, 2011

Don't worry about it. You didn't make the dent, and it seems like something that should be covered under "normal wear and tear." Plus, you'll be paying rent without even occupying the place.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:55 AM on June 6, 2011

If that's not normal wear and tear on a rental property I don't know what is. We've moved into places that had much more significant damage than that and it wasn't an issue. Another vote for "What dent?"
posted by Kimberly at 9:14 AM on June 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice, everyone. I bit the bullet and talked to my landlord about it. Unfortunately, he was kind of vague, and said he would be here in August to do an inspection, and would then let me know of the outcome (if the door would be considered damaged or not), as the picture did not serve as sufficient enough to determine if the door was damaged or not. He did say he would talk to the other roommate who caused the damage.

I hate being "in the dark", but at least I did my part to be honest, and hopefully karma will be kind to me.
posted by dubious_dude at 7:17 PM on June 6, 2011

Response by poster: Sorry for the bump, but I just discovered I cannot make a new post.

If anyone can offer me help on fixing the door myself, that would be great.

Here's a close-up to the damage.

Would there be any advice on how to "smooth" this out? I really don't want to have to deal with a replaced/repaired door and all the drama that comes with that.

Thanks!
posted by dubious_dude at 3:22 AM on June 7, 2011