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We vacated a rental property recently in Texas, and have just received the breakdown of penalties to our security deposit. The property was owned and previously occupied by the homeowner who rented it out when her job took her out of town. We found out the lease wouldn't be renewed as the homeowner was moving back at the end of our lease term.
I feel we took pretty good care of the property, but one thing I was expecting to get hit on was the carpet in one of the bedrooms which got irreparably stained by our daughter after what appeared to have been too much red food coloring at a friends birthday party.
The carpet was fairly no frills, and was by no means new upon our moving in. In fact other rooms in high traffic areas already showed stains in high traffic areas that would fade after a cleaning but inevitably return some weeks later. When getting the carpet cleaned prior to moving out I asked one of the cleaners how old he thought the carpet was and he reckoned at least 8 years, but this is obviously a guesstimate - it was by no means new though. It was that fairly generic grey carpet you see laid en-masse in new homes these days but heavily used prior to us moving in.
On the form for moving out we have been hit for over $400 which upon a casual inspection online seems to be more or less the full cost of carpet replacement (estimate 10x12 ft rectangular room). The detail from the management agency just includes the "cost of replacement" for a single room, and doesn't show any factoring in of depreciation of the existing carpet.
My question here is; given that this was NOT new carpet, and in other areas shows it's approaching end of life are we allowed to be hit with the full cost of replacement? I was expecting to take a knock on the security deposit for this but I expected it to be more proportional to the age of the carpet. Is this worth pursuing? Should I at least ask for a further breakdown of that particular cost? Am I grossly underestimating the cost of a new carpet? I appreciate any insight here.
Dispute the charge. Simply write a letter to the property management company saying essentially what you've said here, advising that you think the deduction is too high and that "it seems" they've failed to properly pro-rate the carpeting based on its age. If you google "carpet lifespan" or something similar you'll find a bunch of sites which will help you determine what the approximate pro-rated replacement cost should be. Good luck!
I exchanged an email with the property management company, requesting a further breakdown of that particular cost including any depreciation factored in. The brief response was that I was charged for the replacement of flooring in that room.
It looks like the next step as STT Resident indicates is to write a formal letter disputing this - I don't intend to follow up further by email - and I'll request that the cost be revised to include appropriate depreciation.
What I am reading it is normal wear and tear and you should not be charged under Texas law. I just read one insert though.
A section of carpet that is "irreparably stained by our daughter ..." is not normal wear and tear. If the carpet can't be cleaned or patched to restore it to the condition that it was when the tenant moved in, then it has to be replaced.
A section of carpet that is "irreparably stained by our daughter ..." is not normal wear and tear. If the carpet can't be cleaned or patched to restore it to the condition that it was when the tenant moved in, then it has to be replaced.
That would be true if the carpet is not old enough for replacement. However, if the carpet is old (most states consider anywhere from 5 - 10 years as time for replacement so check your states tenant/landlord security deposit laws) then no matter how much damage is done by the tenant to the carpet, the courts are not going to allow a LL to deduct any of it from the security deposit because the carpet has aged out anyway and time to be replaced.
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