If you still have a copy of your old lease perhaps you should re read it to learn what it required for notice to vacate, OR to learn if it said it expired and you were to vacate. BTW email is not proper notice , you said >> And are we talking hand written in the mail or just anything written that can leave a paper trail such as email?<< Paper trails are real written on paper letters sent via certificate of mailing, confirmed mail delivery , certified mail, registered mail , Fed ex , local courier. RE the carpet , so how long did you live there ?