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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Posts
    1

    Default Can You Be Charged for Damage to an Older Carpet

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of North Carolina:

    I was told by another property manager within the state that it was her belief that if a carpet in a rental unit was older than five years that the tenant couldn't be charged for any damage to it because it had lost it's value. I'm wondering if this is true for North Carolina. The carpet is a minimum six years old.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    OH10
    Posts
    17,019

    Default Re: Life of Carpet

    Most landlords will go with a 10 year life. The trick is finding out the age upon move in. You should also document any damages to the carpet on the move in form, keeping a copy and a video. You should do the same upon moving out. These reports should be done with management. If an older carpet is damaged beyond redemption, one can usually calculate the tenants portion by taking the original cost, dividing by 10 and multiplying by the remaining years of useful life in the 10 years. This is not a law or hard fast rule.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Life of Carpet

    Even a carpet that is 10 years old has some residual value if it's still in reasonably serviceable condition.

    For insurance purposes we never depreciated anything below 20% and I think it's safe to apply that to carpeting as well.

    If the carpet would still be usable after 6 years were it not for you damaging it, you could be hit with 40% of the bill for replacing the carpet.

    In an upscale rental with a higher grade of carpet the useful life could be as much as 15 years.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Can You Be Charged for Damage to an Older Carpet

    When we speak of damages, we could be speaking of anything from ordinary wear and tear (not chargeable to the tenant) to more significant wear and tear (e.g., spills and stains resulting from the tenant's failure to clean up after making a mess on the carpet) to physical damages (e.g., cigarette burns, pets sharpening their claws) to damage that can extend to the subfloor (e.g., cat urine that was not properly cleaned and neutralized).

    For damage to only the carpet and pad, the tenant can be held responsible for a portion of the replacement cost based on the expected life of the carpet. For carpet in a rental unit, absent some compelling evidence about the quality and long expected life-span of the carpet, the residual value at ten years is not likely to be significant and it would likely be difficult to convince a court that a depreciation schedule longer than ten years was reasonable. However, assuming we're not talking about builder's grade carpet, it ordinarily would be much less difficult to convince a court that a ten year depreciation period should apply.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    California
    Posts
    14

    Default Re: Can You Be Charged for Damage to an Older Carpet

    According to IRS Publication 527, carpets fall under the MACRS depreciation schedule of 5 years. There is a less used deprecation scheduel of 9 years. The court generally uses the IRS depreciation schedule to determine how much the tenant must pay to repair/replace damaged carpet.

    This means that the full cost of the carpet has been fully deducted by the landlord after 5 years and there is no more value to the carpet for the judge to award the landlord. And I am a landlord and I do the taxes.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Can You Be Charged for Damage to an Older Carpet

    the IRS deals with tax law and regulation, not landlord-tenant law. Its rules on carpet depreciation don't automatically mean that a landlord cannot claim a longer depreciation period when a tenant has caused property damage.

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