@AmeliesUncle Thanks for the help. Some of the damage happened before I bought the property, and some happened after, as a result of the tenant's shoddy repairs on their way out. I understand your point. And yet, if I had continued to rent it out, I *would* be able to deduct the costs to improve it to a better condition than it was in when I bought it. As an aside, because the property came with a tenant (and was never inspected empty), I think the purchase price reflected an assumption that it was in rentable condition. But when the tenant moved out, we found that it wasn't. I could never have re-rented it in the state that it was in. All the repairs were made to simply make it habitable again.
I'm not planning to deduct the costs. But personally, I still think it's unreasonable. There's a difference between repairs made to return a rental to the baseline condition it was in when a tenant moved in (which I think should be rental expenses) vs. repairs made to improve a rental for personal use (which should be personal expenses).
