A little known fact is that rental assets depreciate in the eyes of the government. This is why you can deduct depreciation from rental property on tax returns. The corollary to this is that damage to those assets happen against the depreciated value. For instance, if there is a bathtub in the unit and it hasn't been replaced in many years, then the effective value of that tub is 0. It doesn't matter if you actually damaged it or not, the landlord cannot come after you for the full cost of a new tub.