Brandon Fincke and Ethan Nash rented a home from us in Titusville, Florida from late 2015 through late 2016.
Shortly after moving in, a notice from the city was received for a code violation. The city indicated that the grass/lawn was not being kept up. This was remedied after the notice was received.
Initially, the lease was written for Brandon Fincke and Kaylie Benedict. Both resided together until February 2016 until a domestic violence charge was brought against Brandon Fincke. At that point, Florida law requires that one of the parties move out and have a ‘no contact’ order with one another. Because Kaylie Benedict was unable to afford the rent on her own, she voluntarily moved out and left the house to Brandon Fincke.
Shortly after, Brandon requested that a friend move in with him – Ethan Nash. They filled out the application process and we approved them for tenancy. However, we have a very high belief that Ethan J Nash moved in before the application was completed and approved.
The tenants failed to move water services over to their name during the entire tenancy, so they were reimbursing us monthly. However, there was significant water usage on a monthly basis (7,000 – 8,000 gallons a month). We questioned Brandon and Ethan and they would never reply with a reason.
As a positive note, the rent was always paid on time. There were no issues with collecting rent.
However, upon the time of the lease termination, we provided 45 days notice to both Brandon and Ethan asking if they intended to renew. Ethan Nash did respond and let us know he planned to move out, but many attempts to ask Brandon failed – even by certified mail.
They vacated the house a few days after the lease expired on November 12, 2016 with no notice. Because of this, they were charged for one additional month of rent per our lease that stipulates a 30 day notice must be given as a minimum.
Our contractor visited the house and provided a list of damages and repairs that were needed to restore the house back to move-in ready condition. Below are the photos taken of the rooms although most of the damages cannot be seen in the pictures.
Here is a list of repairs that needed to be made:
- Pet damage to the carpeting in the two bedrooms. Therefore, new flooring was required in two bedrooms
- Over-powering dog smell throughout the house
- Baseboard in two bedrooms were damaged and required replacement
- Three interior doors required replacement due to holes in the doors
- Master bedroom was painted a very dark charcoal color without consent or approval
- Several holes in the walls
- Entire house required re-painting
- Tenants placed three locksets on each of the three bedroom doors
- Outside trim required re-painting. Brandon Fincke began painting the trim outside to a very light green color but never finished. Therefore, all of the trim needed re-painted
- Parts of the laminate flooring in the main living area were separated
- Thermostat needed installed (originally agreed with Brandon that he would install it because there were a few days late on rent one month)
Below is a list of materials required to make the home move-in ready:
- Grout, thinset, and 260 floor tiles to remedy the two bedrooms
- New deadbolt for the door (keys were not returned)
- Thermostat and AC filter
- Ten gallons of interior wall paint
- One gallon exterior paint
- Two gallons interior primer
- Two gallons of semi-gloss paint for trim, baseboard, and doors
- Three interior 32″ doors
- Three new door knobs for the bedrooms
- 120 feet of new baseboard
The total cost of materials was $810.43.
Two water bills were left for us to pay which totaled $128.38.
The total cost of labor was $1,750 making a complete total of $2,688.81 in costs.
The security deposit on file was attributed to one additional month of rent since a notice was not given upon move-out.
We would not recommend renting to Brandon T Fincke or Ethan J Nash based on the following:
- Brandon Fincke had very poor communication and would not respond to messages
- Very high water consumption for two single adults
- Large cost of damages that were left for us to pay out of pocket.
