We have a single family three bedroom rental. One of the bedrooms is in a finished basement. The basement had white, organic wool wall-to-wall carpet in the finished portion (bedroom + living area). Our tenants called last Sunday to tell us the basement had "flooded". Since it has not rained in over three months, we came to the conclusion that the washing machine must have backed up and overflowed. The laundry room (unfinished cement floor) is adjacent to the bedroom where the majority of the water damage occurred.
Our tenants were apparently away for the weekend when the damage occurred and "think" they started a load of laundry before leaving, they also had a friend staying at the house who "might have" done more laundry. They refused to elaborate on how many loads the "friend' could have done.
The carpet in the bedroom was completely destroyed. There was so much water that all the baseboards in the bedroom were destroyed. But the water went only partially into the living area - we may have been able to salvage that part of carpet if not for the tenant's significant damage to it (pet stains and ground in dirt stains.) Salvaging that area was questionable due to the musty smell, but would have been considered if not for the damage.
The tenants have given their 30-day notice. Due to the musty smell, we had no choice but to pull up all the carpet. We have left a clean cement floor for the remainder of their tenancy.
Our question is - how much of their security deposit can be used for the carpet damage? We are feeling like we shouldn't hold the tenants at fault for one load of the washing machine backing up. Accidents happen. However, we are less forgiving about several loads (as it appears to have been but we have no way of proving) run by someone not permitted to live there. And how do we handle the damage they did prior to the flooding?
