Tenant moved out and had ruined a 6-year-old laminate kitchen countertop. We are replacing it.

My former primary residence still has its original laminate countertops. We had thought about upgrading to quartz while we lived there, but decided we would rather save the money and keep living with chartreuse flowers. It's been in place for 65 years now... 6 years is nothing.

I wouldn't deprecate it, either. Mine is still like new after about 15 years.

It's known for its durability.

My dad built our family a house in 1973, the original laminate counters are still there and look great. So, over 50 years. 100 years maybe?

It is strange how collectively we view certain parts of our places differently than others.

If this were 20-year-old carpeting that was ruined, I would depreciate it as it has a clear useful life that had passed. A toilet though that had a sledgehammer in it would not.

Some countertops are easy to replace, but some aren't standard-width. I know with my current house and my previous house, I couldn't replace them with off-the-shelf countertops.

So I'd probably be looking at $50-$75-$100/sf to replace them.

Which is why I don't.

I agree that you should charge for replacement, material and labor.

I'd charge full cost.

But...

If the countertop is "off the shelf" particle board with laminate, it will fail if the sink is not properly caulked and sealed to it.

I stopped using laminate because of these issues. Your are may differ but if a tenant was to press the issue in front of a judge I would not get 100% here.

How long things last in my home is not a good indicator as even my carpet will look great after 20 years. My blinds don’t get broken even after 10 years.

I do not agree with the service life idea.

If I put the same carpet in my house and it lasts 20 years but the tenant destroys it in 2 how does that make it right?

The laminate tops at my old place were probably put into service in the 70's. Were they trendy? No. Were they still in good shape? Yes, thus the reason I never changed them out.

I am working on an apartment right now with cuts and scrapes in the laminate top. I have other apartments built same time by the same company using the same tops that are fine.

Just because someone rents a place shouldn't mean they can put additional wear and tear on the items within.

Had one tenant say that he had kids so I should expect the crayon and markers all over the walls. My kids NEVER did that. They lived with us for a couple decades and never damaged the walls like that.

But since it is a tenant I am supposed to forgive it?

It’s not so much a should or could issue. I agree with most of you I’m just saying if a tenant pressed the issue I would lose for sure. Everything is considered to have a service life. For a carpet I would be asking for trouble if I went over 10 years. Most probably I would lose if I went over 7.