Carpet Ruined by cat - SD questions

[Tracie Van]

I am really struggling with this one.

Elderly tenant who became ill and could not longer take are of his cat, who ultimately used the hallway by the bathroom, the linen closet by the bathroom and the closet in the bedroom as its litter box. 

Tenant has since gone to assisted living. The carpet is approx. 5-6 years old, new when he moved in. 

Its on a concrete floor.

Carpet company would not tear it out citing health regulations.. Would need to take special precautions etc etc. So we tore it out. 

Wow. Carpet and padding wet from cat pee. Smell was over-powering. Cat puke stains in various places. Just awful.

This was an inherited tenant with no pet deposit. State is WI.

If I am correct, because of the age of the carpet, I can't charge anything for the carpet replacement. AND, I do not want to charge him for the whole cost. He was a good tenant up until he got ill. The SD was $500.

We had to tear out the carpet, padding, scrap up the glued down areas of padding, even remove the tack strips in areas because they were soaked, scrub the floor, put an enzyme solution down, cover with plastic, then seal the floor with two coats of Kilz before the new carpet could go in.

Plus, the normal cleaning because obviously he could not clean the appliances, etc. 

If I break it all down time wise, it eats up his deposit and then some. 

Should I just cut my loss and return all of his SD, or itemize it out, minus the cost of the actual carpet replacement, which would essentially leave him with losing his SD..

[Cameron Tope]

@Tracie Van I know these are tough decisions but you're running a business. It doesn't matter how much you like your tenant you need to follow your lease and the local/state laws. 

We would itemize the deductions and take them from his SD then send him a bill for any repairs above and beyond the SD.

Best of luck!