Potential Tenant Issue

[Bart K.]

Hi, this is my first post.  Long story short... My wife and I moved into a new home and are renting out our condo that we lived in for 7 years.  It's older, but I did a lot of work to it before we rented it out.  Got the carpets professionally cleaned 2 months ago to start showing it.  Tenants just moved in this past weekend.  They called to say there is a terrible ammonia smell and they think it's the carpet.  Literally in our 7 years there, there was never an ammonia smell.  They are keeping the temp at 78 and we kept it at 72, not sure if that makes a difference.  Anyway, to start out on the right foot I explained we got the carpets cleaned about 2 months ago and that I would pay to get them cleaned again ($150).  I really think that they are exaggerating but I want to get off on the right foot.

I did some spot cleaning on the carpet right before we moved out and I'm really hoping the smell is just from the products I used or maybe I stirred up an old pet pee spot.  Hopefully getting the carpets cleaned will be the end of it.  The reason for my post (sorry, finally getting to it) is I wanted to ask ahead of time what should I do/say if they aren't happy with the cleaning and demand new carpet or want to terminate the lease?  Hopefully it won't happen, but want to know ahead of time.

Thanks for any advice!

[Ursula B.]

@Bart K. You mentioned a potential 'old pet pee spot'.  This makes me wonder if there's really not a smell that you may have been immune to since you lived there for 7 years.  I once had a prospective tenant that was allergic to cats. He walked through the front door of my unit and immediately knew that the former tenant had a cat.  I couldn't smell a thing.

I'm assuming they viewed the unit prior to move-in and knew what they were getting.  I'd give them two options:

1) Offer to let them out of the lease at the end of the month; OR

2) Offer to professionally clean and deodorize the carpet with the understanding that it will be the final remedy. This may cost a little more than just a surface cleaning but you need to show a good faith effort.  If they decide to move after that, they will be in breach of the lease agreement.

It is very possible that a pet stain has soiled through to the pad.  If that's the case, no amount of carpet cleaning will help.  You'll have to replace the carpet and the pad.

Good luck to you!

Ursula