Carpet Depreciation - Landlord Forum thread 352842

Carpet Depreciation by Tahira (NC) on June 19, 2017 @10:20

I lived @ an apartment that accepts section 8 that turned out to be a slumlord. They failed to send pest control for two years & even failed a section 8 inspection last July & stayed in abatement until I moved out this April (9 months) because they REFUSED to repair the place. No repairs, no carpet cleaning, no pest control even though I constantly requested, came in & called for help.

Reason for post. I moved in this place August 2012 & moved out April 2017, can they still charge me $1k for carpet, at least, 4 years 8 months old? How does carpet depreciation work. I don't want to mention the walk thru they flagged off when I requested it. Then I believe they added stuff to the apartment, took pics & said it was mine to collect extra from me. Is there a way to handle this without paying $1.5k for this game, especially $1k for carpet? What depreciation % am I supposed to be on? Please help! The creditor is being extremely rude!

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Re: Carpet Depreciation by Garry on June 19, 2017 @11:05	[ Reply ]

No matter what happened while you were there, the fact is, you are out now, and for the moment, that's all that matters. Now it becomes simply a money situation, and who can prove what, in a court of law. Have they sent you the security deposit statement yet, and what does it say? When you moved out, how clean did you leave the place, did you repair all the damages that you caused, and did you take pics of the whole apartment? If they kept your whole deposit, and maybe you still owe them money, the LL must decide if he is going to take you to court for the amount they claim you still owe. For now, do not pay the LL any money, and let them file a case against you, if they truly believe you owe them money. And if they don't take you to court in the next few months, you must decide if you have enough proof of how you left the place, to take the LL to court.

Re: Carpet Depreciation by AnonymousFL on June 20, 2017 @13:20	[ Reply ]

In my experience, the life of a carpet is usually considered to be 7 years, but I have also heard 9 years for other areas. So, if you were in the home for 4.5 years, that would be approximately 50% of the value of the carpet if no excessive wear and damage was caused. I don't agree with G on letting the landlord sue. I would rather take action by trying to settle things. At least then if you do go to court, it shows you made an attempt to to resolve it. Hopefully when you moved in you did a check-in form or took videos/pictures of the place. Taking pictures when you moved out is also a very good idea (but my guess is that you did not do this). Without proof on your side, it comes down to his word against yours. Otherwise, the only leverage you have is that the place failed the section 8 inspection which gives an indiaction of the type of landlord he might be (but that is not rock-solid proof by any means). I would wait to see what the final accounting is first. If you can live with it, then let it go. If you think the charges are excessive, see if Section 8 will advocate for you (not sure if they do that sort of thing) or try to negotiate him down.