My tenant would like the carpet replaced...What should I do?

[Michelle Thomas]

Hello BP family,

Okay, Here's the situation ...My tenant of moved into my townhouse in January of 2017. Since then she has had a long laundry list of replacement request. To make a long story short...The carpet in the house is about 15 years old however, it's decent, not perfect. The tenant is complaining that it has been cleaned three times and still seem to need attention. She is advising that it is old and some of the stains have not been removed...Therefore, she is requesting that I replace it. Since her arrival January I have replaced blinds for the whole house, replace a master bathroom sink that was leaking and rewired the garage door. Her lease ends in January 2018...Should I advise her that I will replace the carpet at the end of her lease if she renews or just say no if she renews or not?? HELP!  P.S. Should her rent be raised if I replace the carpet?

[Thomas S.]

Your answer is a resounding NO. Tell her you will replace the carpet at renewal, if you choose, but not with carpet. That will also come with the annual rent increase to maintain market and recover your flooring costs...........Never put carpet in a rental. Replace with laminate flooring.

Never cater to tenants requests or you will be nickel and dimed out of business. If they do not like what they have they can move and pay more elsewhere. The idea that because a landlord has a good tenant they must continually appease their needs is a hobby landlord mentality. Keeping the unit safe and clean is all that is necessary. Upgrading is a cost that should always be passed along to the tenant in their rent.

Hopefully she will choose to not renew and you can get a tenant that  appreciates what they have. If she does choose to renew do yourself a big favour and put her on a M2M lease.