Is there depreciation when a subfloor needs replacement? (lease, square footage, rental)
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- I live in Mecklenburg County, NC. (Charlotte)
- I rented a house 4 1/2 years ago. I moved out last month. The relationship I have with landlord is reasonably good. But he is, as most landlords are, extremely cost conscious (ie: tight fisted)
- The carpet was new when I moved in. I don't know how many years it was rated for.
- I paid the equivalent of 1 month rent as security deposit ($1095)
- I paid $300 non-refundable pet fee for my cat.
- It was a 1500 sq. ft. 3-bedroom house.
- My old sick cat did some considerable peeing and I couldn't find it all to clean immediately. There is a bad odor. My landlord and I ripped out 2 bedrooms, and a hallway and got rid of carpet and pad. The plywood underneath the pad was also stained and smelled bad in several places. So that also needs to be taken care of.
My questions:
1. The cost will obviously be more than my pet fee alone. But am I correct in believing that those $300 do go toward part of the cost of repair? He is saying the carpet will cost $2000 to replace. Assuming that is correct, the first $300 comes from the pet fee, right? And since I've been there 4 1/2 years and the carpet is that old, I would only be liable for 55% of the $2000? Which is $800. (Because carpet is supposed to last 10 years???) And then since he has my pet fee, that would subtract $300 more, leaving me with being liable for $500? Is that how this works?
2. He says parts of the plywood floor under the padding needs replacing. I did see pet stains on the plywood. The house was built in 1991. It's 25 years old. Would I owe 100% of replacing the plywood, or is there a depreciation based on the age of the floor? Would the depreciation apply to just materials or labor also?
3. As I said, he mentioned that the carpet will cost $2000 to replace. He had told me the carpet was just standard "rental unit quality" beige carpet. Not high end. It sounds to me like he hasn't figured in any depreciation of the carpet due to the 4 1/2 years I have been there. (my lease ran out after 12 months and I've been on an unspoken month to month since then). I have heard that carpeting in rentals is expected to have a life of anywhere from 3 years to 12 years (based on what website I looked at). How can I be sure I have the right number? Because I'm certainly going to mention the depreciation aspect when I talk to him. Where can I find such specific information about renting laws in Charlotte, NC?
4. How does the depreciation work? Do you depreciate just the cost of the carpet (and possibly the plywood subfloor) and I pay full price on the labor? Or Does the depreciation apply to the entire job total, including labor?
5. Besides two bedrooms and the hallway, he says parts of the living room are also smelly. I haven't seen this, but he says he is going to replace the entire living room carpet as well. Is he justified in replacing the whole living room carpet if only the area where it merges with the hallway may have urine smell? Carpet layers can put seams in the middle of rooms, can't they? I'm just trying to keep carpet replacement square footage down.
6. So as I said, I paid $300 pet fee and $1095 security deposit. Total of $1295. If he says the total is more than that, am I supposed to pay anything he says and shows receipts for? Even beyond the $1295? I can't imagine the work he's talking about to be more than that. Are there any facts that I should know that will give me the best and cheapest outcome to all this? I want to be fair, but don't want to pay more than I should of course. What happens if I don't send him more money, if he wants more, because I don't agree with all his numbers? Does he have to take me to court?
7. In addition to him mentioning replacing some of the plywood sub-floor, he also mentioned some kind of sealer that is used to eliminate odors. Not sure if he intends to do both methods or just one or the other. Is one of those options cheaper than the other?
Thank you in advance for any expertise you can offer.
It was a $300 Non-refundable Pet Fee. It would seem like the purpose of a pet fee is to pay for pet damage that is pretty much assured no matter how well trained any pet is.
I'm not implying that any of it should be refundable, but to me it makes sense that it would be used toward pet damage. What other reason would there be to pay in advance because you have a pet, if its purpose wasn't to go toward damage the pet would probably cause?
That's my reasoning, anyway. Of course, I don't know the law, so that's one reason I'm here.
As far as the subfloor, I saw a depreciation list on some "national" website that mentioned a 25 year depreciation time on subflooring. I don't know how official that website was, though.
To address the question about seaming a carpet in the middle of the room, this only works if the same carpet is still available to use as the 'patched in' section. Patching will reduce the amount of carpet to be purchased, but will increase the costs of carpet tape/glue and labor. Generally labor is the more expensive part of carpet and flooring work if using lower grade carpet.
If the underlayment is contaminated with odor, there is some risk that the baseboards are also affected. I helped with a house that had some problems like this from former residents. We were able to clean/sanitize and seal much of the underlayment but the cost was about the same as if we had pulled the boards and replaced due to the high cost of the sealer, the labor and waiting for the sealer to dry so we could return and lay padding and carpet. The areas we sealed were from human and dog though. The room where the cat contaminated had to be cut out and replaced.
Oh
Well then what is the reason for a pet fee then? The landlord gets a bonus because I own a pet? A goldfish wouldn't be charged... I assume because a goldfish doesn't cause damage. Only dogs and cats are charged... and I thought that was because they will almost certainly scratch something or pee on something eventually, that might not be noticed immediately.
But anyway... thank you for answering that particular question, flamingo.
Last edited by WunGoodGuy; 06-22-2016 at 04:28 PM..
To address the question about seaming a carpet in the middle of the room, this only works if the same carpet is still available to use as the 'patched in' section. Patching will reduce the amount of carpet to be purchased, but will increase the costs of carpet tape/glue and labor. Generally labor is the more expensive part of carpet and flooring work if using lower grade carpet.
If the underlayment is contaminated with odor, there is some risk that the baseboards are also affected. I helped with a house that had some problems like this from former residents. We were able to clean/sanitize and seal much of the underlayment but the cost was about the same as if we had pulled the boards and replaced due to the high cost of the sealer, the labor and waiting for the sealer to dry so we could return and lay padding and carpet. The areas we sealed were from human and dog though. The room where the cat contaminated had to be cut out and replaced.
I see. So replacing a few pet-stained plywood sheets sounds like it might be the cheaper option to sealing the entire floors of three rooms. Thank you.
Pet fee is not going towards the carpet. There is a little depreciation but most of the amount will be your expense as this has nothing to do with normal wear and tear but a cat peeing issue which ruined the carpet.
Pet fee is not going towards the carpet. There is a little depreciation but most of the amount will be your expense as this has nothing to do with normal wear and tear but a cat peeing issue which ruined the carpet.
Was your cat neutered or spayed?
Okay, thank you bentlebee.
It seems unanimous that the pet fee is out of the equation.
I still have to find out what % depreciation I should expect on the 4 1/2 year old carpet. That will make a considerable difference one way or the other. The most common number I'm finding online is 10 years. So that would imply I owe 55% of the cost. But it's not specific to any particular place, and I believe the laws vary from state to state.
My cat's peeing problem came about the last couple years. She was very old and was ill. Bladder control became an issue. Yes, she was neutered.
Okay, thank you bentlebee.
It seems unanimous that the pet fee is out of the equation.
I still have to find out what % depreciation I should expect on the 4 1/2 year old carpet. That will make a considerable difference one way or the other. The most common number I'm finding online is 10 years. So that would imply I owe 55% of the cost. But it's not specific to any particular place, and I believe the laws vary from state to state.
My cat's peeing problem came about the last couple years. She was very old and was ill. Bladder control became an issue. Yes, she was neutered.
As mentioned, the subfloor isn't expected to "depreciate", so that's all on you, the carpet life is whatever a judge says it is, but after 4 years, I'd expect a decent break. Maybe 40%, maybe 80%. Maybe you can work it out without a judge.. On a whole house, labor & pad included, about $1, maybe $1.25 per sq ft for carpet - so $2k might just be a guess, that could even be high, if the bathrooms, kitchen & dining area aren't carpet..
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