Normal Wear and Tear vs Damage: Examples Room by Room

Normal wear and tear is the decline that happens when someone lives in a home carefully: paint fades, carpet wears in walking paths, grout darkens, door handles loosen. Damage is harm beyond that, caused by accident, abuse or neglect: holes in walls, pet-chewed trim, burns in the countertop, a carpet soaked with pet urine. Deposit statutes across the country draw this same line. You can deduct for damage, but not for wear and tear. New Mexico, Delaware, Oregon and Texas, for example, all bar deductions for normal wear and tear in their deposit laws.

The hard part is applying the line to a real unit. This guide gives room-by-room examples, a way to price partial damage fairly, the move-in records some states require, and how to write it all up at move-out.

The test: time and use, or something that happened?

Ask two questions about each item:

1. Would this happen to any careful tenant over this length of time? If yes, it's wear and tear. Five years of daily foot traffic wears carpet no matter who lives there.
2. Did a specific event or failure to take care cause it? If yes, it's likely damage. A wine spill, a dragged dresser, a dog left alone all day, a leak the tenant never reported.

Length of tenancy matters. A few scuffs after six months may be more than normal; the same scuffs after six years are expected. Severity matters too. One small nail hole for a picture is ordinary living; dozens of anchors and a TV-mount crater are not.

Wear and tear vs damage: examples by area

Walls and paint

Floors and carpet

Kitchen

Bathrooms

Doors, windows and fixtures

Outside and yard

Dirt and clutter are a separate question from wear and tear. If the unit is just dirty, you're looking at a cleaning charge, which has its own rules; see can a landlord charge for cleaning.

Pricing partial damage fairly

Even when something is damaged, you usually can't charge the tenant for a brand-new replacement if the old item was already near the end of its life. The fair approach is to charge for the useful life the tenant's damage took away.

A simple method:

1. Estimate the item's expected life and its age at move-out. Use your purchase records; for typical lifespans, many landlords use the same estimates they use for budgeting replacements.
2. Work out the remaining life as a share of the total.
3. Multiply the replacement cost by that share.

For example, a carpet you expect to last eight years is replaced at age six because of pet stains. Two of eight years remained, so the tenant's share of a $2,400 replacement is 2/8 × $2,400 = $600, not $2,400. If the carpet was already past its expected life, the tenant's share is close to nothing.

The same logic applies to paint. If you'd repaint every few years anyway and the walls are at the end of that cycle, charging a full repaint for a few scuffs is hard to defend. Charge for the extra work the damage causes, such as patching large holes and extra coats over dark colors.

Records that make the call easy

The fight over wear and tear is usually a fight over evidence. A dated record of the unit at move-in is what lets you prove something changed. Several states require one:

• Arizona: give the tenant a signed copy of the lease, a move-in form for noting existing damage, and written notice that they may be present at the move-out inspection (A.R.S. § 33-1321(C)).
• Georgia: give the tenant a signed list of existing damage before accepting the security deposit, unless you qualify for the small-landlord exemption (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-33(a)).
• Virginia: a move-in inspection report of existing damages, including any visible mold, within five days after occupancy (Va. Code § 55.1-1214).
• Washington: a written lease stating the deposit-withholding terms and a signed, dated move-in condition checklist before you collect any deposit (RCW 59.18.260).
• Minnesota: notice of the tenant's right to request a move-in inspection, and later a move-out inspection (Minn. Stat. § 504B.182).
• California: dated photos at move-in for tenancies starting from July 1, 2025, and at move-out, sent with the itemized statement (Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5).

Even where it isn't required, use a move-in/move-out checklist with photos for every tenancy. The move-in inspection guide walks through how to run one.

Writing up deductions at move-out

When you itemize, make every line answer three questions: what was damaged, why it's beyond wear and tear, and how you got the number.

• Weak: "Carpet replacement: $2,400."
• Strong: "Living room carpet: pet urine stains through pad in 3 areas (photos 12–15; move-in checklist notes no stains). Carpet installed 2020, 8-year expected life, 2 years remaining. Replacement invoice $2,400 × 2/8 = $600."

Some states tighten this further. California requires copies of invoices or receipts with repair deductions over $125 in total, unless the tenant signed a valid waiver. Illinois lets a landlord withhold amounts a written lease specifies for cleaning, repair or replacement of components beyond normal wear and tear only if the itemized statement references the lease amount and attaches that part of the lease (765 ILCS 710/1). Rhode Island's statute lists unpaid rent, reasonable cleaning and trash removal, and damage beyond ordinary wear and tear as deductions that must be itemized (R.I. Gen. Laws § 34-18-19).

Then send the statement and refund within your state's deadline. Look up yours under security deposit laws by state, fill in a security deposit return letter, and see the full process in how to return a security deposit.

A hypothetical example

A hypothetical example: a Texas tenant moves out after three years. The landlord finds faded paint, worn carpet in the hallway, two small nail holes in each bedroom, a cracked bathroom sink and a large burn in the kitchen laminate.

The paint, hallway carpet and nail holes are wear and tear after three years; no deduction. The cracked sink and the countertop burn are damage. The landlord photographs both, gets a plumber's invoice for the sink, and prices the countertop repair. Because Texas bars deductions for normal wear and tear (Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.101–92.113), the itemized list shows only the two damaged items, with photos and invoices. The deadline and penalties are covered in Texas security deposit return rules.

Sources

Official sources cited above (checked 2026-10-27):

• Arizona Revised Statutes § 33-1321
• California Civil Code § 1950.5
• Delaware Code title 25, chapter 55 (§ 5514)
• Georgia DCA Landlord-Tenant Handbook (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-33)
• Illinois Security Deposit Return Act, 765 ILCS 710
• Minnesota Statutes § 504B.182
• New Mexico Statutes § 47-8-18
• Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 90 (ORS 90.300)
• Rhode Island General Laws § 34-18-19
• Texas Property Code §§ 92.101–92.113
• Code of Virginia § 55.1-1214
• Revised Code of Washington § 59.18.260