Do nail holes count as damage in a rental?
You hung four frames and a shelf bracket, and now you are looking at the holes wondering what they will cost you. For most renters, in an apartment or a house, the answer turns on three things: what the lease says, how big the hole is, and what the wall looked like when you moved in.
Updated October 19, 2026. General information, not legal advice. Rules about rentals differ by state, province and city, so check yours.
Start with the lease, not the wall
Read the hanging or alterations clause before you do anything else, because it decides the whole question. Leases generally fall into three groups.
- Small nails allowed, fill them on the way out. The most common wording. It treats a picture hook as ordinary use.
- Written permission for anything in the wall. Ask by email so the answer is dated and keep it with your records.
- Nothing in the wall at all. Then the question is not how to patch, it is which no-drill method to use instead.
If the lease says nothing, ask in writing before you hang anything and keep the reply. A dated yes is worth more later than a remembered conversation.
Where the line usually falls
Size and number are what people argue about. Roughly how it tends to be read:
- Usually ordinary wear: pin holes, small nail holes and tack holes from hanging pictures, in reasonable numbers, where the lease allows hanging.
- Often a grey area: a lot of holes in one wall, holes from a mounting plate or bracket, or holes left unfilled when the lease asked you to fill them.
- Usually damage: holes from wall anchors that leave a wide crater, a shelf or TV mount torn out of the drywall, and anything that broke the paper surface of the board.
Our guide on normal wear and tear vs damage in a rental covers the same line across floors, carpet and fixtures.
How long you lived there changes the answer
Walls get repainted on a cycle. Four small holes after three years sit against paint that was due for refreshing anyway; the same four holes after two months sit against paint that was new when you arrived. Nobody states this in the lease, but it is behind a lot of decisions about what gets charged, which is another reason your move-in photos matter.
Filling a nail hole without making it worse
A small hole is straightforward. Lightweight spackle or a patching compound, pressed in with a putty knife or a fingertip, wiped flush, left to dry, then sanded lightly with fine paper until it is level with the wall.
The part people get wrong is paint. Touching up with a colour that does not match turns one small hole into a visible patch, and a patch is harder to argue is ordinary wear than the hole was. If you cannot match the paint, fill and sand but leave the painting alone, and say in your move-out message that you filled the holes and did not touch up. Some landlords would rather do the touch-up themselves with the right can.
Check the lease before you patch anything at all. A few explicitly ask tenants not to.
Photograph the wall at both ends of the lease
Photograph each wall at move-in before you hang anything, including any holes the last tenant left. Then photograph the same walls after you fill and before your walkthrough: a wide shot showing which wall it is, and a close shot with a coin or a pen beside the spot for scale. Two dated sets side by side make the difference obvious without anyone having to take your word for it.
See security deposit photos for what to take at each stage, and the move-out checklist for the order to do it in.
If you would rather not make a hole at all
Plenty of things hang with nothing entering the wall: adhesive strips within their weight limit, tension rods inside a window recess for curtains, over-door hooks, and leaning a large frame instead of mounting it. Weight is the deciding factor, and heavier items are where walls actually get damaged. How to hang things in a rental without drilling goes through what holds and what does not.
Dingkeep: Renter Photo Record. iPhone, United States and Canada.
Questions renters ask
Are nail holes normal wear and tear?
Small nail or pin holes from hanging pictures are often treated as ordinary wear, but your lease and your local rules decide, and no app or photo can promise how a landlord will treat them.
Should I fill nail holes before moving out?
Read the lease first. Many ask you to fill small holes. A few would rather you left the wall alone than patched it badly. Ask in writing if it is not clear, and photograph the wall either way.
Can a landlord charge me for nail holes?
Some do and some do not. What may be charged, and how it has to be itemized, varies by state, province and city. Ask for an itemized statement and compare it with your dated photos.