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We moved into this house 6.5 years ago after the LL had tried unsuccessfully to sell. We were told when moving in that she had not replaced the carpeting so the new buyers could put down what they wanted (told to us by her then-fiance, now ex-husband). The carpet was professionally cleaned when we moved in, but was clearly not anywhere near new, and it was inferred that the carpet really needed replacing anyway.
Over the years, we have been hard on the carpet for various reasons. About 3 years ago we replaced the carpet in one bedroom with hardwood, with the LL's permission of course, and replaced the carpet in the master and another bedroom in the past few months, all to the tune of about $4500.
We are leaving soon, and when the LL came by with a realtor to look at the place, she stated she hoped that the stains upstairs would come out with cleaning. We will have it cleaned professionally before we move, but it is not going to make the carpet acceptable to a buyer or new renter. The upstairs is the only area we did not replace the flooring in.
I haven't looked up Maine law to see the standard life of carpet for rental situations. I would venture to say the carpet is well over 10 years old.
There is some other damage as well, everything we have/will fix with the exception of floorboard heating covers that have rusted -- no flipping idea how that happened in some rooms but not others, I've never had that happen anywhere else. I have no clue how to replace them.
So, for security deposit purposes, is it fair that we agree on how old the carpet was that was here when we moved in, figure out any prorated replacement cost, if any (again, I am pretty sure the carpet was over 10 years old) and come up with some sort of compromise toward a credit for the heating covers?
I don't want to be unfair or unreasonable when discussing this with her, but also can use as much of the security deposit back that we are entitled to.
It really doesn't matter what the life of the carpet is. It sounds pretty well established that you didn't do anything beyond normal wear and tear, so you shouldn't be on the hook for anything.
If anything, you should bring up that you put in $4,500 of your own money into increasing her equity in the home, and that more than outweighs ANY damages you may have caused (including the baseboard heat covers). If she isn't happy to just say thank you and let you move on with your FULL security deposit refunded, I would push really hard over the floors you replaced. That's not a normal thing for a renter to have to do, and for her to turn around and sell the house for a higher price because so many of the floors have been upgraded at no cost to her, you should at least expect a full refund.
Many buyers will want to put in their own flooring, as was originally planned. If she wants the whole house to have new floors, you already did most of the work, and she can pay for the rest.
You shouldn't owe a penny for carpet stains. The carpet is long past its usable lifespan. Most courts would consider 5 years as the lifespan of carpet in a rental, and the longest I've ever heard of is ten years.
Did you use humidifiers in some rooms? Could that be why the floorboard heating covers rusted? Did you get them wet somehow? In any event, the rust is likely not due to your negligence. It could be that they are old iron covers that had some kind of a rust proof cover that has simply worn away over the years. I would call this normal wear and tear.
Since the carpets were cleaned for you, I think you should offer to clean them before you leave. And that's it.
You rented the house for over 6 years! LL had no turnover, no reconditioning costs to deal with during that time. You deserve your entire deposit back, unless there is gross damage from some negligent behavior on your part.
We didn't use a humidifier anywhere. The kids' bathroom issue was likely due to my son's poor aim. Other areas I'm not sure.
The LL has never rented before, and really doesn't know how this works in some regards. And she doesn't have the money to fix things either.
Other issues -- we do need to do a lot of weeding before we leave. That we will do for sure. Some bricks in the front walkway have crumbled over time, and perhaps more diligent weeding by us would have prevented some of that, but I don't think we're responsible for the most part. It had started when we moved in.
There is water damage outside to some of the wood -- that is nothing we did of course, the wood is rotting on the front steps, and some trim. We told her about it years ago, as an FYI bit she never did anything about upkeep or maintenance. There was some sort of leak in the furnace and we paid about $1000k to fix that. Some tiles in the pool broke off too, but that was nothing we did -- a lot of things are just the aging process.
We replaced appliances that bit the dust shortly after moving in; I am selling those though, since they're ours.
The lease is up in April, so we will have to pay until then unless she finds a replacement tenant. Her argument is she can't show it with the carpet like that -- my thought is whether it is April or now -- it needs a new carpet and we are not responsible for that.
You can certainly sell a house with nasty carpet. You won't get quite as much, but you can certainly sell it. Many buyers prefer it because they won't like what you pick anyway and will feel bad tearing out new carpet to put in the color they like.
We bought our house with 35-year old carpet in it (in surprisingly good condition, just horrendous to look at). The new carpet was in before we were.
The carpet is so far from a roadblock it's a joke, it's arguably preferable over new floors unless you go all out and install new wood floors.
Do you have records of all things that you have notified her of that you ended up fixing on your Own dime, such as the furnace?
All of the things you describe is what happens over time to a property, especially when someone like the LL isn’t interested in general maintenance and upkeep.
If she is silly enough to challenge you on the rugs, you have plenty of proof to come out ahead, if not better
I sure hope you were paying a below market rate for your rent. The floors, you put in for your own enjoyment. You can't expect her to pay for that, and you don't seem to. But the tenant does NOT pay to fix the furnace!
Also, did you sign a new lease last April? All of our leases go to month to month leases after the first year. Having to pay for an extra 6 months after having rented for over 6 years does seem a bit much. You should negotiate your departure. It seems to me that she should let you out of the lease, with proper notice (30 - 60 days), and refund your entire deposit.
We moved into this house 6.5 years ago after the LL had tried unsuccessfully to sell. We were told when moving in that she had not replaced the carpeting so the new buyers could put down what they wanted (told to us by her then-fiance, now ex-husband). The carpet was professionally cleaned when we moved in, but was clearly not anywhere near new, and it was inferred that the carpet really needed replacing anyway.
Over the years, we have been hard on the carpet for various reasons. About 3 years ago we replaced the carpet in one bedroom with hardwood, with the LL's permission of course, and replaced the carpet in the master and another bedroom in the past few months, all to the tune of about $4500.
We are leaving soon, and when the LL came by with a realtor to look at the place, she stated she hoped that the stains upstairs would come out with cleaning. We will have it cleaned professionally before we move, but it is not going to make the carpet acceptable to a buyer or new renter. The upstairs is the only area we did not replace the flooring in.
I haven't looked up Maine law to see the standard life of carpet for rental situations. I would venture to say the carpet is well over 10 years old.
There is some other damage as well, everything we have/will fix with the exception of floorboard heating covers that have rusted -- no flipping idea how that happened in some rooms but not others, I've never had that happen anywhere else. I have no clue how to replace them.
So, for security deposit purposes, is it fair that we agree on how old the carpet was that was here when we moved in, figure out any prorated replacement cost, if any (again, I am pretty sure the carpet was over 10 years old) and come up with some sort of compromise toward a credit for the heating covers?
I don't want to be unfair or unreasonable when discussing this with her, but also can use as much of the security deposit back that we are entitled to.
I wouldn’t charge you for the carpet if it was my rental. After all those years if I was selling I would throw some carpet in there anyway. If the new buyers don’t like it they can tear it out on their own. It’s not hard to get some basic neutral carpet that’s acceptable. And being new carpet it probably gets rid of a lot of smells from the old carpet.
About the only time I get torqued in carpet is brand new and the tenant f’s it up. Anything past 6 years I see it as it’s gonna have to be replaced anyway especially if the same tenant has been there. At 10 years it’s more than due for replacement.
we signed a new one year lease in April. We gave her 60 days notice but she said she can't let us out of the lease without a replacement tenant or a buyer. I think we've been paying probably slightly under market the whole time, perhaps by $100 a month.
The issue for her is she has no money to pay the mortgage herself, or replace the carpet upstairs to rent it to someone else. She would also really need to paint the master bedroom, it needed a fresh coat of paint when we moved in, so it's just dingier now. We painted the other 3 bedrooms, both baths and the mudroom ourselves, though we had to do 2 of those rooms due to something falling against the walls and making a hole. I think she has some health issues. I feel bad for her, but at the same time, while we're trying to be fair, we don't have an extra $3000 a month to pay this rent while paying 2 other places (divorce situation.)
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