Moving out

[Newlydivmomto4]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Kentucky

I am moving out of my current rental residence and have my move out inspection next week. A few hopefully easy questions.

First, on the move in inspection we noted some fraying in the carpet in various places around the front room. Its not a normal apartment carpet as I would call it, its one of those that pull up and apart easily. A few more spots have frayed since we have lived here over 3 years. I do not know how old the carpet was when we moved in, but its at least 3+ years old now. Any ideas on if they can charge me to replace the carpet when it was already fraying when we moved in?

Second, painting/dirt on the walls. When we moved in, the living/dining room combo had not been painted before we moved it. There were still nails in the wall, rough spots, chipped paint etc. There is more chipped paint, some minor staining on the walls because whatever paint they used is not kid friendly. I opened a soda on my couch that fizzed everywhere, including the wall, after cleaning myself off I wiped off the wall within 5 minutes, the soda would come off but it left a spot. Silly things like that, can they charge me extra for having to paint?

Third, about a year after we moved in, my boys noticed that on their closet door (folding bi-fold) that a piece of tape had been placed over a hole and painted over. I intended to keep the tape as proof but I have been searching for it and cannot find it for the life of me. As much as I want to tape and paint over the door I won't because I know its not ethical. Any ideas on how to deal with that in the move-out inspection?

Thanks for any advice that is offered.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"First, on the move in inspection we noted some fraying in the carpet in various places around the front room. Its not a normal apartment carpet as I would call it, its one of those that pull up and apart easily. A few more spots have frayed since we have lived here over 3 years. I do not know how old the carpet was when we moved in, but its at least 3+ years old now. Any ideas on if they can charge me to replace the carpet when it was already fraying when we moved in?"

As a general rule, the life of a carpet in a rental is assumed to be anywhere from 5 to 7 years.

"I opened a soda on my couch that fizzed everywhere, including the wall, after cleaning myself off I wiped off the wall within 5 minutes, the soda would come off but it left a spot. Silly things like that, can they charge me extra for having to paint?"

Possibly

"Third, about a year after we moved in, my boys noticed that on their closet door (folding bi-fold) that a piece of tape had been placed over a hole and painted over. I intended to keep the tape as proof but I have been searching for it and cannot find it for the life of me. As much as I want to tape and paint over the door I won't because I know its not ethical. Any ideas on how to deal with that in the move-out inspection?"

You would mention that there was a hole in the door covered with tape when you moved in.

Gail

 

[Newlydivmomto4]

Thanks GiG.

I was just thinking about something else, carpet cleaning and 'move out cleaning'. I'm a single mom of 4 kiddos, work full time, school full time, kids full time. My ability to do a deep enough clean to satisfy the landlords not to mention carpets. Does it look bad for me to just do a general cleaning and just chalk part of my deposit up to cleaning fees? Carpet cleaning, I know my property managers have a in house guy, he's done my carpet before for 50/hour. The carpet needs to be replaced, do I bother spending the money on paying someone to clean it?

 

[Gail in Georgia]

It would probably be far less expensive to get it cleaned then to pay for a replacement...and a good cleaning might "perk" it up considerably so replacement would no longer be an issue.

Gail