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    Default What to Do if Your Tenants' Pets Have Ruined the Carpet

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

    We bought the house as a brand new construction with brand new carpet (brand new everything bc we were first owners). After a year of living there we had to move out of state and rented that house out. The lease stated no pets. The renters lived there for only 1 year and moved out last week. We also just put the house up for sale and several potential buyers that came by this week said the house looked great but could tell a dog had lived there and that was a deal breaker.

    After doing a walk through the carpets smell like dog and there are several stains (the carpet was only 2 yrs old). The base boards are chipped and scratched in a couple places. The back yard has dead grass from dog pee. I told the tenants the feedback response of what the potential buyers stated about the condition. We are having the carpets cleaned and a cleaning service to come by. The tenants stated that Santa gave the kids a dog for christmas and have only had it for 2 months. They also claimed that the dog never went in any of the carpeted rooms.

    I looked them upon their public FB and instagram feeds and there are several pictures of the dog on our carpet and it also appears they have had the dog prior to when they moved in. They falsified claims of not having a dog when they first moved in and also falsified claims of when the dog took residents in the home. I told them before they moved in that we may have to move back some day and that I am allergic to all pets with fur and we made no pets a strict rule. We have not given them their deposit (1 full months rent) back yet because we are trying to decide what amount is fair. Any advice?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: What to Do if Your Tenants' Pets Have Ruined the Carpet

    If carpet cleaning resolves the problem, then deduct the cost of cleaning from their deposit (fully following state law on deposit deductions, notices, timing, and the refund of any remaining balance), and be grateful that they didn't have a cat.

    If it turns out that carpet is damaged to the point that it needs to be replaced, you can deduct from the security deposit the depreciated value of the carpet that you need to replace. If the security deposit is exhausted before the damage is covered, then you can consider whether or not you should sue to try to recover more money. If there is a remaining balance, refund it consistent with your state's security deposit laws.

    Keep copies of the pictures "just in case".

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    18,340

    Default Re: What to Do if Your Tenants' Pets Have Ruined the Carpet

    Quote Quoting Daveandkatie Madison
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    We have not given them their deposit (1 full months rent) back yet because we are trying to decide what amount is fair. Any advice?
    I agree with Mr K and would add a couple of things.

    1 - Study the Texas security deposit law very carefully and follow the procedures to the letter. Scroll down about half way to Subchapter C Security Deposits and start reading:

    http://law.justia.com/codes/texas/20...-8/chapter-92/

    2 - I spent many years as a property claims adjuster so I'll give you some advice about the carpet. I hope the cleaning takes care of the problem but if you have to replace it know that decent quality residential carpet in a tract home (unless you bought an upgrade) has a useful life of about 10 years so you can easily justify 20% depreciation for two years and charge 80% of the cost to replace the carpet with like kind and quality. If you bought an upgraded carpet (check your purchase contract) you can use a 15 year useful life and deduct 13% for depreciation and charge 87% of the cost to replace it.

    3 - As for the dead grass, you can charge for the cost of a gardener to resod the damaged areas (make sure you take photos).

    If your costs exceed the amount of the deposit you'll have to decide whether to sue in small claims court. Just understand that Texas doesn't allow wage garnishment so collecting could be a problem even if getting a judgment might not be.

    It's a good thing you've decided to sell the house. Having a rental goes with the almost inevitable risk that tenants will trash your house, especially when you live out of state and cannot check on the property frequently.

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