include carpet cleaning in rental property

[Cherie Egbert]

We have our first rental property and our tenants have been in there almost 3 years which is longer than we expected.  The question is how to inform our tenant that we would like the carpet cleaned?  We want to preserve the quality of the carpet as it is a high end residentural quality which should last at least 12-15 years.    Next time we rent out this unit with a new tenant we will include a requirement to clean the carpet once a year, but what should we do in the mean time?  Tenants had a 2 year lease and are now month to month.  

[Brian Ploszay]

Here is what I would do:   If the property is accessible to where you live (Ventura CA),  then go to Home Depot, rent a carpet cleaner and volunteer to do this yourself.  It is not much harder than vacuuming a carpet.  

or you can ask them to do this.   No guarantees.

I find that carpets are the worst for rentals.  I don't use them often.  High end carpet is great, but if people walk over the carpets on a daily basis for 3 years, they show irreversible wear and tear.  No carpet cleaner can do much for this.   I tried so commercial carpets, like they have in restaurants, and they still performed poorly.  I prefer to spend the extra to install hardwood floors or even pergo.