No doubt, the most used item in your apartment is your carpet. It is one of those things that needs constant attention, and no doubt receives the most abuse in your apartment. This is natural and is the same way for everyone no matter where they live.
Carpet can be an important point for tenants, especially when they are just moving into a new apartment. They want it to look, feel, and smell as new as possible when they move in.
In fact, the condition of the carpet can be one of the most important selling points to a prospective tenant when they come to do a walkthrough of a unit.
You can always ask your landlord to replace the carpet if it is old or in disrepair. If there are potential health hazards in the carpet such as tears or mold or bugs, the landlord is required to replace it. However, if the carpet is simply ugly or old but still functional, it is up to the discretion of the landlord on whether to replace it or not.
There is a big difference in whether the carpet NEEDS to be replaced or not. Many times, the difference is going to vary greatly between the landlord and tenant. Of course, the tenant is going to want fresh, new carpet when they move in, if possible.
The landlord, on the other hand, is going to want to be as cost-effective as possible, and carpet and installation isn’t cheap. Disagreement on what is acceptable and what isn’t is probably going to vary.
Now, if the carpet has a ton of holes in it and is ripped in many places, this presents a safety hazard, and the landlord is required to change the carpet out at that point.
They may not choose to re-carpet the entire apartment, only the rooms that have a problem, but that is better than nothing, and it fulfills the landlord’s obligation to the tenant to provide them with a safe and functional apartment to live in.
If the carpet is worn or simply is old doesn’t mean that the carpet still isn’t useable and functional. If there are simply wear marks in the carpet where the highest traffic goes back and forth in the apartment, the landlord may choose not to replace the carpet until the entire unit needs it or it rips completely.
This is up to the discretion of the landlord, and all landlords are going to have their own standard they are going to keep their apartment at.
When Must A Landlord Replace The Carpet?
The landlord must replace the carpet in the unit if the carpet poses a health or safety concern in any manner.
Say for instance that the last people living in the unit you are looking at not only didn’t take care of the carpet but the entire apartment as a whole. Maybe they were messy, unclean tenants, who had a bit of a hoarding problem.
A simple carpet cleaning probably isn’t going to solve all the issues that may be present, but unseen with the carpet.
Any rips and tears in the carpet, no matter how old or new the carpet is, MUST be replaced or fixed so it gives the tenant a safe place to live free of safety and health hazards.
Additionally, if the people before this were hoarders or exceptionally unclean tenants, there could be mold and other pests living in and under the carpet that may be hard to see.
You are not paying to put up with, or deal with, these issues. It is up to the landlord to replace the carpet for the good of the tenants who are going to be living there.
How Do I Know Who Lived In My Apartment Before Me?
This is a GREAT question to ask!! How Do you find out who lived in your apartment before you and what they were like as tenants?
Talking to the neighbors in the apartment adjacent to you is going to be the best way to figure out who lived in your apartment before you, what they were like as tenants, and if there is anything the neighbors think you should be worried about before you move in.
The easiest way to do this is to simply knock on the doors of the neighbors closest to your apartment, introduce yourself and ask a few simple questions about what it is like living at the complex, what the people were like who lived in your unit before you, and why they decided to leave.
These simple, quick questions are going to give you all the information you need to determine if you need to grill the landlord or manager more on the ACTUAL condition of the apartment and what they did to get it ready for you to move in.
If the previous tenants move out because their job transferred them, you are going to have less to worry about than if the neighbors said they were evicted and they were problem tenants.
You can also ask your landlord directly what they did after the last tenants moved out. Did they shampoo the carpets? Did they paint the walls? What sort of cleaning did they do? These are all good questions to ask to fulfill your basic due diligence as a perspective tenant anyways.
But if you are raising your eyebrows at the carpet from the second you walked into the apartment for the first time, these questions are going to help you determine what course of action to take.
What If The Carpet Goes Bad While I Am Renting?
If the tenant is responsible for the carpet going bad, outside of normal wear and tear, they are responsible for replacing it. If the carpet simply wore out naturally, the landlord should cover the costs of replacing the carpet.
There are basically two scenarios if the carpet goes bad and needs to be replaced during the middle of the lease……
- The tenant themselves damaged the carpet and caused the rips, tears, mold, or other issues to the carpet.
If this is the case, then the tenant is directly responsible for replacing the carpet, just like anything else that has been damaged by a tenant in the apartment. The carpet is the property of the landlord, and must be “returned” to them in the same condition, outside of normal wear and tear, to the landlord at the end of the lease.
Now, I can tell you, that every single time that I have had to replace the carpet during the middle of the lease, the tenant will swear up and down that they didn’t do that, or it “was like that when they moved in.” Every. Single. Time.
If this is you, know that you aren’t the first, and won’t be the last tenant to claim that this was the case. This is why my manager takes pictures of the apartment when the tenants move in, so they know EXACTLY what it was like when they moved in. This prevents arguments like this from taking place in the first place.
Kind of tough for a tenant to argue with the rips, stains, and tears in the carpet when you have photo evidence of what every room looked like when they moved in.
Just like if you owned your own place and treated the carpet the same way, you would be responsible to fix it. If you just move out and hope nobody will notice, that will more than likely irk the landlord off enough to come after you for the carpet replacement. It IS the landlord’s property after all.
The best thing to do if you DID damage the carpet, is to tell the landlord and to ask how to fix it. If you yourself go out and find the replacement, or have a buddy come and help install it, you can probably save a ton of money this way, and as long as it looks fairly similar to the other carpet, most landlords are going to be ok with you doing this.
- The Carpet simply wore out due to normal wear and tear.
If the carpet just wore out, then it wore out, and is the landlord’s responsibility to replace.
I have had tenants who have stayed in my complex for more than 10 years. Some more than 20. At some point, the carpet just needs to be replaced. And if a tenant IS there for a number of years, I am usually happy to replace it because I know if the tenant is good enough to be there for that long, that they are well worth keeping happy in order to keep them as tenants in my complex. These are the tenants that all landlords want.
If the carpet is old to the point of needing replaced and my tenant comes to be and asks for new flooring, I take all of this into consideration, including the actual condition of the carpet, how long the tenants have been there, and how long the carpet has been there.
Any legit complaint or concern about the carpet I always make it a point to fix. Yes, there is a significant cost to it up front, but it DOES help keep the value of my complex up, and in good competition with the other complexes around the area. The more units I have looking nice and keeping updated, the more value it commands.
In these cases, it is in MY interest to replace the carpet with little pushback from me on the matter.
Can I Ask My Landlord To Remove The Carpet?
At any time, you can always request that your landlord replace your carpet. Being a good, longstanding tenant that doesn’t cause problems and always pays their rent on time is going to increase the chances that the landlord simply replace the carpet with little fuss.
Regardless of how the carpet gets replaced, in the end, you are going to have to talk to your landlord about this. The best way to do this is to get all the positives on your side to begin with and show them how replacing the carpet can benefit them.
For instance, I mentioned how new carpet helps increase the overall value of the complex for the landlord. Make sure to mention that. You may also offer to extend your lease for another year or two if the landlord agrees to replace the carpet. This can be a good incentive for them to replace it with little argument if you are willing to make a longer commitment to staying in your apartment.
Additionally, take some pictures of the problem areas of the carpet, bring up the age of the carpet, why you are having problems with it and want it replaced, and present all of this to them at the same time.
Simply calling up and complaining about the carpet probably isn’t going to get the job done. You need to show a genuine problem and why the landlord should fix it.
Get the landlord to see the benefit of replacing the carpet, and most of all GET THE LANDLORD ON YOUR SIDE. Being a Great Tenant is the easiest way to do that.
Will The Complex Charge Me To Replace The Carpet?
A landlord will charge you to replace the carpet only if you have damaged the carpet in some way that causes it to need replacement. If the carpet simply wore out due to normal wear and tear, it is the landlord that should shoulder the cost for replacement.
As I mentioned above, the onus of responsibility falls on who damaged the carpet.
If Father Time is the culprit, then the landlord needs to be the one to replace it. If YOU are the cause of the damage, then you are going to be responsible for replacing it. The equation is pretty simply when you boil it down.
Landlords can also come after you after you have already left the complex if they find out you have damaged the carpet beyond repair. If they replaced the carpet only a couple years ago, they are not going to be impressed to know they have to spend all that money again just to make the apartment whole again.
However, if the wear and tear is normal, then you have nothing to worry about, and you shouldn’t fear that the landlord is going to charge you for the new carpet.
If the carpet in your apartment poses some kind of safety hazard or health hazard because of the condition it is in, the carpet MUST be replaced. Who ends up paying for the replacement cost is going to come down to who did the damage.
If it was just due to normal wear and tear and the carpet is legitimately old and in disrepair, then the landlord should replace it without much hassle.
Don’t be afraid to ask your landlord to replace your carpet if normal wear and tear have caused the carpet to be unusable. Help them see how replacing the carpet benefits them and show them how good of a tenant you really are.
You should never be charged for normal wear and tear in carpet, only if it is caused by direct action by the tenant that shortens the life of the carpet prematurely.
Otherwise, don’t feel shy to talk to your landlord about replacing your carpet for the benefit of both parties involved!
