SHOULD I MAKE MY TENANT PAY FOR THIS? NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFORE!

[Account Closed]

Hello folks,

First of all, thank you reading this post, I value everyone's feedback and I would like to see what you think about an issue my tenant called me with last night.

STORY: I rent out a single family home to wonderful tenants who pay me above average rent for the past 2 years. Their son occupies a bedroom on the first floor, and in the middle of that room, they put down this 8x8 Transformer carpet/rug/mat. It has been there for over a year. My tenant called me last night and said as she was vacuuming and she pulled up the rug and noticed there was mold on the bottom of the rug and on the carpet under the rug. The carpet was also damp, not drenched, just wet to the touch. The bottom side of the rug is smooth sealed plasticy feeling material - not sure how to describe it.

I talked to my uncle who is a home inspector and has inspected the property in the past and he said that what most likely happened was the slab, which is largely made up of water, sweat and the rug sat on top of the carpet and trapped moisture between the slab and the rug b/c the carpet could not breathe. This is why the carpet felt wet to the touch and caused the carpet and under side of the rug to mold. We have ruled out moisture from any other sources - no rain in New Orleans, Louisiana recently, carpet is only wet in the center of the room so it couldn't have come from another area/pipe that was leaking, the child did not spill anything(so they say), the ceiling was not dripping anything.

• Has anyone every heard of this, I believe my uncle, but I have never heard of such a thing? I live in New Orleans, where the humidity is high, that is the only reason this somewhat makes sense.
• Would you pay to have the carpet cleaned or replaced or make the tenant pay for this since they caused the damage? I know every lease varies, but just generally speaking, what you do as a landlord.

Thanks folks! Please let me know if you have any questions!

SCOTT