My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Georgia
I am utilizing the early termination option of my lease, about 8 months in, because I'm having to move for school. The contract clearly states that upon terminating early, the security deposit ($200) won't be refunded, and that I will have to pay liquidated damages of 2 months' rent ($1100) and a $200 repainting fee. I don't dispute those. But, they're charging me $270 for supposed damage to the carpet, namely pet odor and bleach stains. The manager says that due to 8 small bleach stains in 1 room, the entire unit's carpet will have to be replaced, as that type of carpet is no longer manufactured and they cannot replace just parts of it. She says they're giving me a break by only charging $270 instead of the entire $800 to replace it. I would hardly consider a few small bleach stains to be more than normal wear and tear. Furthermore, the only reason I used bleach was to get rid of recurring mold that was occuring in the window sill. The manager herself had told me to do this to treat the mold in the window sill. Aside from that, though, I still think they should at least be taking this $270 out of my security deposit and/or the $200 pet fee (which was non-refundable from the start) I paid several months ago. I understand that both of these are non-refundable now, but isn't the very purpose of them to cover potential damage? I think the money they're charging me for carpet damage should still first come out of my deposit money. Any options for me to dispute this? or am i better off just sucking it up? It wouldn't be that big of a deal for me, but it's eating into my student loan money, and since I'm already paying $1100 in liquidated damages for early termination, this additional charge is adding insult to injury, it seems.

