Tenant asking carpet replacement - will pay 50%

[Michelle Elsaid]

Hi there!

I bought my first duplex and have a great potential tenant who loved the place. I think she would stay several years as she is an older woman who is only needing to move because her current landlord wants to occupy that rental. She called back the next day asking if I would consider replacing the carpet and she would pay 50% of the cost. 

The problem is I am already renovating the other side because it had needed more work so extra funds are limited. But - the carpet is possibly 20 years old, but very clean. I am on the fence about paying the upfront cost to replace it. It has only been listed a week but I have only had a few quality tenants interested.

The house is 1031 square feet. The carpet occupies about 650 sq feet. I was hoping to do tile throughout on next tenancy.

Any thoughts or experiences with this? Any lease / legal advise to incorporate?

Thank you,

Michelle (Florida)

[Justin Fox]

@Michelle Elsaid

Price out the mats + labor for getting carpet installed and show her the bid.  Take the 50% of that bid from the tenant and instead get tile installed at a discount (let her know too).  Put the mats on an interest free credit card and pay it off with the CF.

This way you're securing a tenant and getting the tile installed at a discount.  Win/win in my opinion.

Make sure you have security deposit and 50% of carpet bid in hand before proceeding.  Also have a bid and expected start/completion date in hand from a tile guy.  So you can arrange a reasonable move-in date.

OR

Pass, and find a paying tenant that doesn't mind 20 year old clean carpet.

Just my $0.02