Security Deposit and carpets

[wendys8861]

Question:

Rented apartment May, 2005 with my hubby. Moved out Oct. 2009. No kids, no pets.

Only the front room had some staining on the carpets. The rest of the carpet througout the apartment was in great shape - no staining, very little wear, no damage. We advised landlord we were going to have it cleaned. They informed us that we couldn't because they have someone they use. After we moved out, they sent us a bill for $1200, less our $400 security deposit, the bulk of this being $900 for new carpet.

I am baffled that they felt they had to change the carpet throughout the entire apartment when only one room had stains.

I am being told the carpet was new when we moved in. We were there 53 months. Now, here's my question:

The landlord is assessing a useful life of 10 years to the carpet. They have deducted a portion from the cost of the NEW carpet for a pro-rata. Am I wrong in thinking that the pro-rata should be taken on the cost of the OLD carpet? It was surely cheaper to purchase 5 years ago.

Here's my reasoning: Say I buy a stereo for $1,000 that I anticipate is going to last 10 years and I lend it to a family member for 5 years and they return it damaged. I can't recover in court the amount to replace the stereo today (which might be $2500). I can only recover what it was worth when I purchased it, less depreciation. Isn't that correct?

Would this same reasoning apply to the carpet in the apartment which was a very low grade, cheap carpet to begin with?

Please advise. I'm writing a letter to my landlord and would like to know if I'm barking up the wrong tree.

thanks so much!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Since justification for carpet replacement costs often involve the inclusion of receipts, the value is placed on the current replacement costs (minus depreciation for age).

It is unlikely that the landlord has the receipts on what the original carpet cost. In addition, installation is often less now than five years ago (many "big box" home improvement stores are trying to underbid each other on installation costs, charging as little as $59 for whole house installation in my neck of the woods).

Carpet replacement should match the quality of the original carpet. A tenant could argue that it isn't fair for them to pay for any extra cost of a high quality, expensive carpet replacing an original, lower quality one.

Gail