Took over an apartment lease-now we find cat urine under the rug and I'm responsible!

[enjoie70]

Hi,

I've been scouring the web unsuccessfully for answers.

Major issue brewing here. I took over a lease from a tenant who had pets(I don't have any). The maintenance manager came over to fix a dip in the floor yesterday and noticed pet urine spots on the BOTTOM of the carpet which he says I'm responsible for. They know fully well that I don't have a pet and the tenant before me did(she paid a pet deposit)I looked the place over thoroughly before signing the lease, and it never, EVER, crossed my mind to physically rip the carpet up and look for signs of pet urine.

I went down to the leasing office today and talked to one of the guys and he basically said I'm screwed and pointed to paragraph 8. Paragraph 8 states:

"DAMAGES AND CHARGES. New resident accepts the dwelling in the condition existing at the beginning of the Lease Contract term according to the move-in inventory signed by the original residents. Security deposit deductions, if any, will be made regardless of whether damages or charges occured before or after the changeover date and regardless of which resident, occupant, or guest may have been at fault."


That obviously doesn't sound good but maybe there are other laws that supersede this. For example, I found this PDF file on legal zoom that gives the impression that section 2 would apply to this situation. **posted the excerpt in the next post


Would greatly appreciate any advice or comments. I feel next to helpless at this point. Thanks.

 

[enjoie70]

This is the excerpt from legal zoom. I took out the link in the first post bc the rules say no links for people with less than 10 posts.

Section 2: Assumption of Rights and Duties. Provides that the Assignor is no longer responsible for the duties listed under the Lease (e.g., rent, maintenance of property, etc.). There are two options provided regarding the continuing liability of the Assignor. In the first, the Assignor is completely released from any liability it had under the Lease. If the Assignee defaults, for example, the Landlord cannot seek payment from the Assignor. In the second, the Assignor will be liable to the Landlord if the Assignee defaults. Select the option that best suits your arrangement, and delete the other.
Note that, in any event, the Assignor will remain responsible for any obligations that occurred before the assignment. In other words, if damage happened to the apartment before the transfer, or if the Assignor did not fulfill another obligation under the Lease, the Assignor remains responsible

 

[mightymoose]

They are playing games with the language in the lease.
Had there been any knowledge of the pet urine you likely would not have accepted responsibility. This is a pre-existing condition that the landlord should be going after the prior tenant for. If the landlord did not discover this problem before refunding the previous tenants deposit then that is not your fault.
The landlord can still pursue that previous tenant for the damages. If they take it out of your deposit you can take the matter to court.

This situation is different than if there were obvious damages (holes in the walls) that you had knowledge of and were still willing to accept. Also, how old is the carpet? If it is more than 5-6 years old then it may be due for replacement due to ordinary wear and tear anyway. Since the urine stain was unknown prior to lifting the carpet then it may be a bit unreasonable for the landlord to argue you are responsible for damages that couldn't even be detected without ripping the floor out.

Document and photograph what you can. Until you move out and they withhold your deposit you are not really out anything. If they do withhold it then settle it in small claims.

 

[enjoie70]

Thanks for replying, and I agree, it seems totally unreasonable to expect a new tenant to rip the floor out to see whats going on. I'm wondering if that language in paragraph 8 would hold up. It seems like an easy way for the apartment complex to pass the blame to me and not get involved in finger pointing, but in this case, they damn well know that she was the one with pets and she caused the damage. Is it possible that section 2 in the legal zoom document supersedes the lease language?

 

[bluemann33]

How long have you been living there? That stain could have came from a tenant 3 or 4 years ago. If the carpet was old then they can not pinpoint from which tenant the stain came from. Do as mighty said and document everything. I would also demand that the carpet be replaced. Good luck.

 

[enjoie70]

I've been here for about 3 months now. A few of my friends said the same thing At this point, I need to find out when the carpet was installed.

 

[mightymoose]

Again, until they actually give you a bill or withhold your deposit you don't have any claim to make. Do what you can to document the matter now so that you can defend yourself later.
You probably won't have any luck with a request to change the carpet. If they do change the carpet, be sure that you don't make any agreement to pay for it in part or in whole.