am being charged for a new carpet at my former apartment cause it had some stains on it...i was living at this apartment for 3yrs and the carpet was never replaced during these 3 yrs.Am i being exploited?Shouldn't the landlord replace the carpet after 3 yrs of me living there?Total cost $1700 for a new carpet
The carpet should be replaced only when it is soiled beyond the cleaning process. Time has nothing to do with replacement.
You should be allowed to have it professionally cleaned to see if the stains can be removed. If it is beyond repair then you are liable for the exchange of a carpet which is either the same or similar to the soiled one. You can check your license agreement and see if it says anything about replacement of damaged items, having worked with rentals I can honestly say that once you sign the contract you are liable for any damages you may have caused either accidentally or on purpose.
We don't know when the carpet was initially installed. Was it 5 years old before you got there? Unfortunately, there is usually a process when you first sign your lease that you do a walk-through of the premises to determine if there were stains on the carpet before you lived there, damage to appliances, holes in the walls etc. It sounds like you didn't know you were supposed to do that, or weren't told. You could ask that the landlord allow you to try to have the carpet cleaned before they charge you to replace it...it shouldn't really be your responsibility to replace carpet unless you seriously did some damage to the majority of it. If they refuse, then tell them you will see them in small claims court. Just make sure you send a certified letter requesting that you are allowed to pay for the cleaning before they replace it. If you do go to court you will need proof that you sent them the letter. On the other hand, if you had dogs in your apartment, or something like that, and they determined that the carpet was torn up or ruined, you may not have much recourse. You should look at your lease and see what it says. That will help you determine whether or not you actually signed a document making you liable for those kinds of costs. good luck.
Most apartment complexes will only install new carpet every 5 to 7years. I've never heard of any apartments changing them in less than 5 years, unless the carpet was somehow damaged, or stained beyond the ability to clean them. As to the cost of $1700...we don't know how big your apartment was, or what quality of carpet is being installed. You could call around and get estimates from a few carpet sources, to compare prices. Good Luck
