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Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets

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  • 08-21-2011, 08:57 AM
    greasemog
    Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: pennsylvania

    We leased a rental property to a family of 4 for 3 years. They were allowed one dog but soon after their grandmother moved in and she had a cat. I said that was fine. Sometime in the 2nd year a 2nd dog showed up without anyone saying anything to me. They moved out abruptly before thier lease was up and agreed to pay the rent until a new tenant could be found. I allowed them to use their two month security deposit for the last two months rent, a mistake in retrospect. They did not want to have the property shown until they were out but my realtor got them to agree to one showing. He called me right after and said the place smelled real bad. They used a cleaning company that they used to clean the place and it smelled fine, almost perfumed, when they moved out but the kitchen was a mess, food still in the fridge, food on the walls and bathrooms were untouched. Cleaning people apparently accidentally turned the gas on one of the burners and it was on for three days before my wife noticed it, apparently I don't smell very well anymore. I cleaned the property and we began showing it, about 20 showings all started with people seeing the garage full of their stuff they refused to move and ended up with people smelling the bedroom the grandma lived in with her cat. The smell had been covered up and was coming back as summer approached and it got hotter. I informed the tenants of the problem renting it due to the smell and they had their cleaning company come out and steamclean and they finally moved out their stuff. The place smelled OK after that but while painting the trim in the bedroom in question I found one corner that smelled horrible. I peeled back the carpets and found the bottom of the carpets were stained dark yellow with cat urine. I sniffed all the carpets and found another bedrrom and the hallway had bad smelling corners. Peeling them back gave the same results. We finally rented it by replacing those carpets and sealing the floor with Kilz. We informed them of this and gave them three estimates sent by certified mail. They finally signed for it and emailed us a formula they found online to prorate them because they didn't like ours. The carpets were one year old when they moved in so we used their formula and sent it back to them. They stopped all communication with us so we took them to small claims court for about $1400, total replacment cost being about $1900. They are now countersuing us for the cost of their cleaning company services (they own the company), about $1100, and the cost of pest control over 3 years, about $1000. They never approached us about any pest problem and we never agreed to have the services done. We signed no contract for any of these services and we also feel the cleaning services were done poorly and would not have paid $1100 for someone to vaccuum for us and perfume the rugs. I can't speak to the quality of the pest control service but I have a friend who does that for me and would have had it done much cheaper had I been approached. Sorry for the long post just wanted to get all the details I could think of in and get any input form you guys. We go to court next week and just want to be prepared as possible.
  • 08-21-2011, 09:19 AM
    aaron
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    You did not share the formula that you used, but if you made your calculations as if they carpets were one year old (based on when they moved in) as opposed to four years old (based on when they moved out) then you miscalculated. Your figures imply that carpets in a rental unit can last 15 - 20 years, and that's not realistic.

    It should not be a surprise to anybody who knows about cats, and even less to a professional carpet cleaner, that unless promptly, fully and properly cleaned up (e.g, with a product like OdorMute) cat urine penetrating a carpet into the pad is likely to necessitate replacement of both the carpet and pad.

    At this point you have not shared any facts that would support their counter-claim for cleaning services, nor for pest control they obtained on their own initiative without any indication of either need or notice to you.
  • 08-21-2011, 02:52 PM
    greasemog
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    Our calculation was based on a 10 year life expectancy of the carpet and we didn't factor in depreciation of the labor.
  • 08-21-2011, 03:54 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    Even when it wears out over time, carpet doesn't replace itself.

    Ten years for carpet in a rental is on the long side. I wouldn't be surprised if the court shortens that figure.
  • 08-24-2011, 03:22 AM
    greasemog
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    Thanks for your input guys. Is there a standard time frame used for calculating carpet damage? They are depreciated over 6 years on taxes so I was going to use that but the ex tenants found this formula on a tenants rights website hoping the carpets were as old as the house (built in 2001) so we used it since it is obviously more beneficial to us.
  • 08-24-2011, 07:22 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    There's no standard time. If you're using a six year depreciation schedule for your taxes, it's reasonable to use that schedule in court (and if you want you can offer a copy of the depreciation schedule from your tax return to help document that it is, in fact, the schedule you use).
  • 08-24-2011, 11:16 AM
    SChinFChin
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    I owned a number of small multi-unit properties, and my rentals had been replaced from as little as 2-3 years to 10-12 years. I've been in the business 30 years, and had never charged for carpet replacement, even the 3 year one. The 3 year carpet was with a tenant under eviction, and he also filed bankruptcy. At my rentals, at around 12 years, the carpets are totally shot and in need of replacement to do a quick turnover.

    I spoke with tenants looking at my rentals, other owners renting them out, and following rental ads in the papers. Owners who do not paint, do not replace carpets, rent houses out at market takes 2 or more months. I rent it slightly below market, paint and recarpet where necessary, so generally, I got one guy moving out, and another moving in, even with painting and re-carpeting. With houses renting over $2,000/month, being ablle to coordinate painting, re-carpeting, and having less than a 7 day vacancy in between takes a bit of effort, and I just don't have the time to chase after prior tenants because I feel my carpets should last longer.

    Good carpeting even pays for itself.

    One of my tenants was a property manager for a major local LL who owned thousands of units, and I rented him a unit where the carpet was there for only 4 years, and I thought was in decent shape. He asked if he can replace it using his employer's carpet as they keep a warehouse full. He explained that his employer changes carpeting at least every 3 years, so if they had a tenant there for 4 years, moved, the carpeting would be automatically replaced, no question. The key is quick turnover, and they just don't have time arguing with prior tenants the carpets should last 10 years, and how dare you.

    I told him that was my policy as well, and my experience had been I get better tenants more quickly with good carpeting rather than trying to horse around trying to make carpeting last 10 or more years.

    BTW, my carpeting is depreciated over 3 years, as based on my experience, and that of the major local LL, that is the optimal time frame for replacement, and anything over 3 years is extra, above and beyond, which I am grateful. So you will not find me suing a tenant if carpeting only lasted 3 years.
  • 09-10-2011, 04:42 AM
    greasemog
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    I had my court date last week and won a $1200 judgement against the tenants when I wanted $1433, plus court costs for a total of $1324. I don't know exactly how the judge came up with the figure, he wanted to take a couple of days to research PA caselaw and a notice was sent in the mail. The issue was not wear and tear and the fact that the cat had ruined the carpets and not worn them out was the main factor in the case even though the carpets were 4 years old. All tenants counter claims were dismissed without prejudice. Theres something to be said about not chasing tenants down for carpets that should have lasted longer but cat urine in a carpet in the state of PA is a compensatable damage claim. I'm glad I had the time to file in small claims court.
  • 09-10-2011, 09:46 AM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Suing After Tenants Ruined Carpets
    Cat urine is not only damage, if not cleaned up properly in a timely manner (something most people don't even know how to do) it's likely to both ruin the carpet and create a lingering odor that will continue to return until the carpet and pad are replaced.
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