We have in our lease that, at move-out, tenants are required to clean the carpets as part of returning the unit to move-in condition, and, depending on the type of carpet, applying a stain resistance coating such as scotch guard.

Talk to the carpet guys but stain resistant is the best bet.

As you mentioned, for some reason people are resistant to that sort of change up here.  

If that’s the case, and you have an enemy in that small a group, your path of least resistance may be to reset and try to get some empathy flowing your way.

Like Ann, I resisted getting one for years.

Use a speckled carpet with an 8 pound pet resistant pad it’s not that much more expensive for the higher quality pad and makes the carpet last longer.

Most will try to get you to sell those and invest in high fee mutual funds but PLEASE resist.

Quartz is more stain resistant than granite, won't scratch or scorch, and IMHO, has a more modern (yet classic!)

I received some resistance from 1 of the tenants and they gave me a long story about their financial misfortunes.

Ultimately there is going to be resistance to change because you are asking agents to go from a known payout (their commission) to an unknown based on the number of hours.