moving out of apartment, moving out costs? (lease, insurance)

[mark420]

i live with a roommate and am planning on moving out. rent was $700 when i moved in. i believe overall i paid maybe $1900 upfront, this included first month rent, last month rent, and security deposit maybe(dont remember exactly). anyhow the carpet in my room is pretty dirty, there are a few stains here and there that i couldnt remove, but there is one underneath my bed that is pretty big(strawberry soda spill). i even rented a machine but i couldnt get it out.

how much should i expect to pay? will the security deposit be enough to cover it or will it be more? i keep thinking the landlord is going to recarpet the whole room which is going to cost me alot, but i have no clue.

[antialphabet]

I don't think they'll charge you more than your security deposit for a spill.

[bayarea-girl]

How long did you live there? In most cases a landlord can not charge you to replace the carpet.

[Dirk Bonner]

It depends what your lease states. Reasonable wear and tear is to be expected, but I would plan on having the owner contract with a professional carpet cleaner to bring the place back to the "reasonable" condition in which you rented the place. Be prepared to pay to have the place cleaned and if there is damage beyond wear and tear be prepared to pay for that. You must be notified within a given amount of time of what specifically you are being charged against your deposit.

In the future make sure you take out a renter's insurance policy to cover any problems you might have.

The property does belong to another person, and you must be reasonably responsible for that property.

[fatmancomics]

If the stains cannot be removed and the carpet has to be replaced, you will have to pay for it out of your deposit but, unless it's larger than a two bedroom apartment, I don't think it should cost more than your deposit.
As a general rule, a carpet in good condition (no major stains or tears), can only be kept in an apartment for up to 10 years (don't quote me on that, it might be six) and then the landlord has to change it at his expense. If they have to repaint and do any other cleaning, they will take that out of your deposit as well. Make sure to get an itemized list of everything that they expect to spend after your move-out walk through inspection and then receipts for everything taken out of your deposit after you move out. If they can't account for having spent the entire deposit then they have to return whatever is left to you.