carpet stains

Account Closed

San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes

Originally posted by @Brandon McCombs:

Hello,

I just had a tenant move out after being in my rental unit for about 9 months. The day they had moved in last October was the same day we had new carpet installed in the living room of the house. Carpet upstairs in the bedrooms was quite old but still usable. Upon move out I find that that there is blue paint (about 2"x12" long) on the carpet of the master bedroom and 2 large stains (about 3"x6" each) of unknown origin on the carpet of another bedroom. On the carpet of that 2nd bedroom I also discovered syrup. There were also stains on the *new* carpet in the living room.

The tenants didn't have time to have the carpet cleaners clean before move-out and asked if I could order the carpets cleaned and just take it out of the deposit so I said I could. I hoped all the stains would com out but wasn't holding my breath. In the end, none of the stains came out.

So the question is, in your situation, what would you do as far as penalizing the tenants such as by deducting something from the deposit for the stains (seems to be located in heavy traffic area where kids would be sitting where the couch used to be) on the new carpet and the stains on the old carpet?

I didn't have any intention of buying carpet right now for the bedrooms because it was obviously still functional and, for the most part, still in good condition, but doesn't look good with paint, syrup and other unknown stains now on it. I plan to try using scissors to cut the fibers infused with blue paint in the hopes I can make that area look better. And for the syrup my plan is to use detergent or something on that to help it. The other stains though I suspect just won't get any better. If I can't make any of those look any better then I feel the tenant should be penalized for being irresponsible and damaging my property. Do I have to actually go to the point of buying new carpet in order to legally justify deducting something from their deposit or do you think it would fly to just say "damaged carpet" as a line item and try to calculate some value to it (and if so then how would I calculate it since I wouldn't be replacing it?)

As for the new carpet in the living room, it's Stainmaster carpet and was *new*. Having this type of behavior from the tenants is just unacceptable in my opinion.

Has anyone encountered similar situations and, if so, how did you handle it?

This is in Ohio by the way. No specific law covers this type of situation.

thank you

Normally, you can't charge a tenant for something, if you don't have actual out-of-pocket expenses. So, you couldn't say the carpet has been damaged by $500 worth of damage, without having actually spent $500 in reasonable hourly rates for your labor and materials or hiring a cleaner, etc.

I agree that you should hire a professional carpet cleaner. It's amazing what they can do. Look for one with good reviews.

If you were to put in new carpeting, you'd have to justify that there was no other option (for instance, you hired a professional and nothing worked), and then, you could only charge them the prorated amount of life left in the carpet. For instance, if it's carpet with a 6 year usable life, and the carpet was 6 years old - you couldn't charge them anything for replacing that carpet.

Sam Shueh

Real Estate Agent · Cupertino, CA · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes

I have given up shampooing the carpet and go with contractor grade replacement. I know tenants prefer new carpet or flooring and are pickier than home buyers.

I have been able to pay $3/sf with installation with padding for these apt darker carpet.

Sam Shueh

Real Estate Agent · Cupertino, CA · Member since 2016 · 4k+ posts · 1k+ votes

If you get tired of carpet replacement or cleaning. Go for tiles more durable.

Brandon McCombs

OP

Homeowner · Fairmont, WV · Member since 2014 · 95 posts · 19 votes

Originally posted by @Rob Witt:

If your attorney has no advice, then here is what I would do: sounds like your cleaned the carpet yourself with a wet/dry vacuum for carpets. I would use the rest of the money for a professional to come. They will be able to take out pant and syrup, no problem.

The second paragraph where I mentioned having carpet cleaners come in to clean was referring to professionals. And no, the paint and syrup didn't come out without any problems.

Brandon McCombs

OP

Homeowner · Fairmont, WV · Member since 2014 · 95 posts · 19 votes

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Normally, you can't charge a tenant for something, if you don't have actual out-of-pocket expenses. So, you couldn't say the carpet has been damaged by $500 worth of damage, without having actually spent $500 in reasonable hourly rates for your labor and materials or hiring a cleaner, etc.

I agree that you should hire a professional carpet cleaner. It's amazing what they can do. Look for one with good reviews.

If you were to put in new carpeting, you'd have to justify that there was no other option (for instance, you hired a professional and nothing worked), and then, you could only charge them the prorated amount of life left in the carpet. For instance, if it's carpet with a 6 year usable life, and the carpet was 6 years old - you couldn't charge them anything for replacing that carpet.

Yeah I'm aware I can only charge the pro-rated life of the old carpet. I already hired professional carpet cleaners (mentioned in my 2nd paragraph). The new carpet we installed is Stainmaster and is supposed to have a 10 year life and now within 9 months of that these idiot tenants have already stained it. So it sounds like, unless I want to actually pay for new carpet, then I can't bill them for anything except for time trying to clean the existing carpets, which is what I figured but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't forgetting something.

Account Closed

San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes

Originally posted by @Brandon McCombs:

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Normally, you can't charge a tenant for something, if you don't have actual out-of-pocket expenses. So, you couldn't say the carpet has been damaged by $500 worth of damage, without having actually spent $500 in reasonable hourly rates for your labor and materials or hiring a cleaner, etc.

I agree that you should hire a professional carpet cleaner. It's amazing what they can do. Look for one with good reviews.

If you were to put in new carpeting, you'd have to justify that there was no other option (for instance, you hired a professional and nothing worked), and then, you could only charge them the prorated amount of life left in the carpet. For instance, if it's carpet with a 6 year usable life, and the carpet was 6 years old - you couldn't charge them anything for replacing that carpet.

Yeah I'm aware I can only charge the pro-rated life of the old carpet. I already hired professional carpet cleaners (mentioned in my 2nd paragraph). The new carpet we installed is Stainmaster and is supposed to have a 10 year life and now within 9 months of that these idiot tenants have already stained it. So it sounds like, unless I want to actually pay for new carpet, then I can't bill them for anything except for time trying to clean the existing carpets, which is what I figured but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't forgetting something.

Well, you could hire someone to put a patch in, or replace part of it, or if you think you can justify it - then replace the whole thing. But, you have to spend some money or your own labor and materials. I know it's irritating, but this is the kind of thing you really need to expect. Especially with kids. Wish I had better news for you.

Brandon McCombs

OP

Homeowner · Fairmont, WV · Member since 2014 · 95 posts · 19 votes

Yesterday I trimmed the carpet where the blue paint was spilled. Some of the fibers were blue through and through but a lot of fibers just had the paint on the surface so it's looks a little better despite the carpet also now being shorter in that area. I think the brown spots might be chocolate syrup but just a guess since I've never seen chocoate syrup stains before. I'm going to work on cleaning up the spots and charge whatever the time is to the tenants and hope that the time and effort also improves the look of the carpet, if even just a little bit.

The existing carpet brand and type is not known. It was already there when we bought the house so I doubt it can be matched. The new carpet stain area is fairly large and would be difficult to patch (3x5' probably).