What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California.
I need a little advice on a situation, not for a court fight, but just for my piece of mind.
My wife and I have lived in this rental house for the last nine years. When we moved in, we were charged one month's rent plus a pet deposit ($500.00 I believe) to cover our four cats.
Our relationship with the Landlord has been casual and relaxed. She has always received rent with no troubles. She never had a complaint if the rent showed up a day or two late. She always knew she'd get it. She would always handled the big problems (water heater, etc.) within a day or two of our calling. However, since she lived an hour and a half away, I tried to fix as many small problems as I could. All in all, it was a decent relationship.
This year, my wife and I finally purchased a home. Once everything had been nailed down on our purchase, we gave our 30-day notice at the rental house. On July 15, she received her written notice that we would be out of the house on August 15 (Our rent was always due in the middle of the month). With the notice, we included our final rent check.
Our landlord called us a week later to discuss a walk through and the possibility of showing the place. We informed her that it would be somewhat messy during our move. She agreed and told me to call her when we were out to arrange the walk through. As promised, we were out by the 15th (but not before investing in a $320.00 house cleaning). A walk through was scheduled for the 20th.
During the inspection, she noticed many little fix-it items. However, her only real concerns were the carpets. They were stained by our cats (and other smaller accidents over the years) To see if the damage went through to the wood floors beneath, we pulled up the carpet in several stained areas of the master bedroom. The padding appeared to absorb the stains in all of the areas. Everything appeared rosy.
Happily, she told us she'd check under the other carpets later. That was her only concern. Everything else was minor. We naively figured that would be it, shook hands, said goodbye, and left the house. No pictures were taken (I know..STUPID!) As we left, prospective tenants were filing in to check out the place.
A few hours later, we received an ANGRY e-mail from our landlord. Apparently, many of the interested parties left once they got a look at, and a whiff of, the pet stains. Suddenly, all of the minor concerns were major, especially the carpet. She demanded that we come back and pull up and dispose of all the carpet ourselves.
We sent a reply addressing all of the "minor" issues one by one. When it came to the carpet (which I believe was the one true concern she had. All of the other charges seemed trumped up) we hit an impasse. Knowing that she would never budge from her position without going to court, and seeing as how we didn't snap photos, we just told her to deduct removal costs from our deposit. Basically, we're too busy to go back and do free work for her. Since a long fight was in no one's interests, we thought this was the best course of action.
Unfortunately this is a problem as well. She claims no one wants to handle the job. The cat urine is a big problem. Now, since we won't just take care of the problem ourselves, she wants us to track someone down for her. We just want this problem to end which is why we made the offer of deducting from our deposit. Instead she is complaining about the "hardship" of getting quotes for the work and bugging us about taking care of it ourselves.
Sorry for the long preamble. I have just been perusing the forums, and I wanted to make sure I answered many of the questions I saw being asked elsewhere. Now, onto my question.
Her position is that we need to be responsible for the carpets since our cats stained them. Granted. Our position is that the usefull life was already close to, if not actually over. We had been there for nine years. She told us that the newest carpeting in the living room had been put in before the last tenant moved in. That was at least one year prior to us. So we are looking at 10 + year old carpets. With California law is there a time limit on carpets? I have been scanning the web and information, even from State sites, is confusing at best. She claims that she is insistent on us doing the work because it would be cheaper for us in the end as opposed to getting a professional. (She's doing us a favor) My question is why should we do it if depreciation requires that she replace the carpet anyway?
Since we already offered up the deposit this point is probably moot. However, for curiousity sake, can some of you knowledgable folks tell us, based on the above info, if we had a leg to stand on here?
Many thanks!
I need a little advice on a situation, not for a court fight, but just for my piece of mind.
My wife and I have lived in this rental house for the last nine years. When we moved in, we were charged one month's rent plus a pet deposit ($500.00 I believe) to cover our four cats.
Our relationship with the Landlord has been casual and relaxed. She has always received rent with no troubles. She never had a complaint if the rent showed up a day or two late. She always knew she'd get it. She would always handled the big problems (water heater, etc.) within a day or two of our calling. However, since she lived an hour and a half away, I tried to fix as many small problems as I could. All in all, it was a decent relationship.
This year, my wife and I finally purchased a home. Once everything had been nailed down on our purchase, we gave our 30-day notice at the rental house. On July 15, she received her written notice that we would be out of the house on August 15 (Our rent was always due in the middle of the month). With the notice, we included our final rent check.
Our landlord called us a week later to discuss a walk through and the possibility of showing the place. We informed her that it would be somewhat messy during our move. She agreed and told me to call her when we were out to arrange the walk through. As promised, we were out by the 15th (but not before investing in a $320.00 house cleaning). A walk through was scheduled for the 20th.
During the inspection, she noticed many little fix-it items. However, her only real concerns were the carpets. They were stained by our cats (and other smaller accidents over the years) To see if the damage went through to the wood floors beneath, we pulled up the carpet in several stained areas of the master bedroom. The padding appeared to absorb the stains in all of the areas. Everything appeared rosy.
Happily, she told us she'd check under the other carpets later. That was her only concern. Everything else was minor. We naively figured that would be it, shook hands, said goodbye, and left the house. No pictures were taken (I know..STUPID!) As we left, prospective tenants were filing in to check out the place.
A few hours later, we received an ANGRY e-mail from our landlord. Apparently, many of the interested parties left once they got a look at, and a whiff of, the pet stains. Suddenly, all of the minor concerns were major, especially the carpet. She demanded that we come back and pull up and dispose of all the carpet ourselves.
We sent a reply addressing all of the "minor" issues one by one. When it came to the carpet (which I believe was the one true concern she had. All of the other charges seemed trumped up) we hit an impasse. Knowing that she would never budge from her position without going to court, and seeing as how we didn't snap photos, we just told her to deduct removal costs from our deposit. Basically, we're too busy to go back and do free work for her. Since a long fight was in no one's interests, we thought this was the best course of action.
Unfortunately this is a problem as well. She claims no one wants to handle the job. The cat urine is a big problem. Now, since we won't just take care of the problem ourselves, she wants us to track someone down for her. We just want this problem to end which is why we made the offer of deducting from our deposit. Instead she is complaining about the "hardship" of getting quotes for the work and bugging us about taking care of it ourselves.
Sorry for the long preamble. I have just been perusing the forums, and I wanted to make sure I answered many of the questions I saw being asked elsewhere. Now, onto my question.
Her position is that we need to be responsible for the carpets since our cats stained them. Granted. Our position is that the usefull life was already close to, if not actually over. We had been there for nine years. She told us that the newest carpeting in the living room had been put in before the last tenant moved in. That was at least one year prior to us. So we are looking at 10 + year old carpets. With California law is there a time limit on carpets? I have been scanning the web and information, even from State sites, is confusing at best. She claims that she is insistent on us doing the work because it would be cheaper for us in the end as opposed to getting a professional. (She's doing us a favor) My question is why should we do it if depreciation requires that she replace the carpet anyway?
Since we already offered up the deposit this point is probably moot. However, for curiousity sake, can some of you knowledgable folks tell us, based on the above info, if we had a leg to stand on here?
Many thanks!
