Carpet purchased about 10 years ago and in excellent condition except noted minor burn from side of iron from years ago different tenant. Most recent tenant showed me the blue paint damaged, about 4 foot section in bedroom and spots on some carpeted steps to bedroom. A reputable carpet cleaning company cleaned the living room and there are a few minor burns remaining, but said they could not clean or repair bedroom or stairwell carpet. So I purchased new bedroom and steps carpet and the cost far exceeds the security deposit he paid. He also put a hole in wall, missing doorbell, left unit dirty, , some painting required which I will do and clean, other defiencies. Was in unit about 4 years. Would you charge full amount for carpet replacement? How would you handle? I had no plans on replacing any time soon. Also have similar situation in another unit tenant gone after over 3 years and carpet 11-12 years old. This one left owing money. Few issues but living room carpet singed and with some burns in one room, carpet co. said could not clean or repair.They cleaned the other room which now has a few cigarette burns remaining. These are non-smoking units. Thank you.

Don't have carpet in ours, so not sure how to handle...

Maybe one option that would pass muster in court is percentage of typical lifespan. In other words, if carpet normally lasts 20 years, and it was 10 years old, charge half?

You cannot (at least in Indiana) charge for "normal wear and tear", but burns and other damage certainly don't fit that category.

This always gets a little tricky. The problem is that while it seems reasonable to go "The carpet was still in excellent shape! If I have to replace it, you owe me for it!" -- that won't necessarily stand up in court.

Hoosier's logic sounds good -- except that carpet doesn't last 20 years according to most estimates. It MIGHT in a real home, sure, but the reality is that stated ratings are more like "4-10 years" at best for most carpet -- especially in an apartment. I think the IRS depreciates it to $0 over 5 years. So, in court, a good lawyer would argue that the life of the carpet was over -- so, therefore, it is completely on the landlord.

What most do here is charge for it and hope it never goes to court since it usually doesn't. :)

- John...

Carpet is fully depreciated after seven years and worth nothing. It was time for you to replace so you really should not be charging the departing tenant anything for the carpet. You might have trouble re renting since you still have some ten year old carpet left. I have never seen ten year old carpet in excellent condition so that's in the eye of the beholder. I have never seen ten to twelve year old carpeting in good condition either. Maybe you could ask for another opinion from someone to look at it and give you their opinion on whether or not it's in good condition.

I might charge the tenant up the the full security deposit and let them object if they think it's unreasonable.

Normal protocol is if carpet lasts 20 years, and you had 10 year's of life left on it, then you should charge half of the cost.

Certainly burns and singe marks are not wear & tear.

IRS says carpet attached to house is depreciated at 27.5 years. Carpet not glued down -just tacked - is personal property and depreciated at (7-10, I forget.)

Judge doesn't work for the IRS though and may not at all agree.

Gotta know your judge, as Brad20k says. What will they allow?

We had a tenant DESTROY some 7 year old but still immaculate (when they moved in) carpet. We depreciated it over 10 years, so charged for 3 years. I charged full replacement cost BUT we went with Allure instead of carpet, which was much cheaper, and did not charge for installation. Adding in all the other damages, they owed US $2000 after totally using up their deposit. They were very mad but never pursued us because even if the judge disallowed the flooring, they still would have owed us.

Are you crazy? Or did I miss read your post? Look at your TAX Schedule on depreciation for your carpet install. You were able to write off the carpet over 3,4 or 5 years. Why then would you expect the tenant to be fully liable for the entire purchase? Courts only allow you to recover the depreciated value, not the retail cost or replacement cost.

WMH: Where does the IRS state that carpet in a RENTAL is depreciated over the entire life of the building (27.5 years)? That is not what I find at all. As others have said, the IRS usually sees carpet in a rental as a 5 year (or 7 year) depreciated item.

You can find more details on the explanation here:

homelinemn.org/wp-content/uploads/IRS-Carpet-Depreciation-Law.pdf

To simplify, the Secretary of the Treasury (which is basically IRS staff doing it) put the anticipated life of rental carpet at "5-9 years." (Which the IRS then classifies as a "5-year property.")

- John...