My move across town is complete tomorrow. My lease for this place is in a box somewhere and I'm not likely to find it very soon but I don't think she lying to me.
The carpets are currently kind of dirty. When I moved in one year ago they were absolutely filthy and I had to convince her to pay for a carpet cleaning. Whole place smelled like cat urine.
I believe the current condition of the carpets is what most would consider "normal wear and tear." But there are definitely a few dingier spots. No spills or cigarette burns or anything (we don't smoke). Just tracked in some dirt from outside.
The real estate agent showed the house to somebody else a couple weeks ago and went back to the owner and said the carpets were dirty. I have a walk-through with this same person in a couple of days.
Owner has been quite nice to me (albeit not terribly attentive to the house's needs) in previous dealings and also very apologetic for the previous property manager who was a total scumbag. Nice and pleasant chats on the phone. Telling me what a great tenant I am, etc. Her first reply to me below was shocking to me and was very much out of character.
But now it is looking like she is going to take away some of my security deposit for the carpet which I suspect is not appropriate but I really have no idea.
My guess is that the carpet is 10 years old but I'm just guessing. At the time of this text discussion I was hoping that the first state I could find an example about this would persuade her to say, "yeah. cool. normal wear and tear and little bit of dirt is fine." So don't jump on me for referencing the wrong state. I was just figuring that most states had "wear and tear" clauses.
My main question is whether the lease could override the law if there is no "wear and tear" clause in it. And any other input you would care to provide would be great.
Here is my text convo from earlier this evening:
Me: wanted to ask about my obligation regarding the carpets. Your agent seems like she is going to be very tough on us regarding this as she has mentioned it to me multiple times. Is normal wear supposed to be covered by the landlord? It was assumption you would be getting the carpets cleaned for new tenants anyway. Do I need to have them scrubbed before inspection to avoid charges about this? I'm kind of concerned with this walkthru and inspection etc. I took no pics on my arrival of conditions nor of carpet after the cleaning it which it was still clearly not great.
Otherwise move is going fine. Just have a few things left to pickup over there and then will have everything out. Wife is a stickler and diligent about cleaning so will be going to town on that tomorrow also and I am pretty much powerless to stop her. (haha)
her: Tell me how to answer this...i PAID $290.00 for cleaning house AND CARPET...lease is clear...wtf.
Me: I thought my questions were ok. Didn't try to offend. The house was quite bad when we moved in so the cleaning was absolutely necessary and only took care of part of the problem. Still smelled really bad etc. Other places I have resided landlord/owner would also pay for occasional upkeep such as a yearly carpet cleaning, bug prevention, etc. And I thought new carpets every few yrs or something. Seemed standard to me but I wasn't really sure which is why I asked.
me: again my apologies if I set you off. I promise the place as a whole is going to be much better than when we started which I consider to be AFTER we had the cleaning people do their thing. The Windows and fridge will all be shinier etc. But I do believe the carpet will fall under general "normal wear and tear" guidelines. We haven't spilled anything (except for when the water heater broke which flooded the hallway) and neither of us smoke or anything like that. It is simply an old carpet that is light colored that we used normally so is less white now than before.
The following is from a site I found on California rental laws etc. But I am assuming that NY is similar.
A landlord cannot routinely charge each tenant for cleaning carpets, drapes, walls, or windows in order to prepare the rental unit for the next tenancy. Instead, the landlord must look at how well the departing tenant cleaned the rental unit, and may charge cleaning costs only if the departing tenant left the rental unit (or a portion of it) less clean than when he or she moved in. Reasonable cleaning costs would include the cost of such things as eliminating flea infestations left by the tenant's animals, cleaning the oven, removing decals from walls, removing mildew in bathrooms, defrosting the refrigerator, or washing the kitchen floor. But the landlord could not charge for cleaning any of these conditions if they existed at the time that the departing tenant moved in. In addition, the landlord could not charge for the cumulative effects of wear and tear. Suppose, for example, that the tenant had washed the kitchen floor but that it remained dingy because of wax built up over the years. The landlord could not charge the tenant for stripping the built-up wax from the kitchen floor.
her:..u didnt set me off. You have a lease in new york...i and my attorney wrote the lease..i know real property law in new york not california. The lease is what it is. Its simple if u dont have time...i will do cleaning and take from security. Its no big deal and im not upset. Just read our lease it is clear. I dont want us to leave on bad terms really i dont. Everything is spelled out in lease that is governed by new york not CA. Regards
Me: Calif was the first one I found. I will look into ny law regarding carpet wear and tear. Just thought they would likely be similar but I will check. Thanks for not being upset.
her: No worries...the lease is the law in this case...we agreed on it and both signed ot. Dirty carpet os not wear and tear...its dirt. Period.
me: don't have the lease in front of me but I assume there is a clause in there regarding normal wear and tear, right? If there isn't such wording but it is still law in ny then I am not sure whether lease would supersede that. Not saying you are wrong. I have no idea.