Carpet Five Year Law

California does not have specific requirements for replacing carpets or any condition of the unit so long as it remains in a habitable condition which means free from substantial health or safety hazards.

Carpet five year law.

So carpet is depreciable over 5 years on the landlord s tax return because the secretary of the treasury in the real world meaning irs staff reporting to the secretary did a study and determined that carpets used by residential landlords have an anticipated useful life of more than 4 but less than 10 years that is 5 9 years. Many landlords charge tenants to pay for carpet replacement for no apparent reason. For example if a tenant s dog damaged a five year old carpet beyond repair and its life expectancy is 10 years then the landlord could only charge the tenant 50 of the cost to replace the carpet. Importance of before and after photos or videos.

Depending on the age of the appliance or carpet the landlord must pro rate the cost against the average life of the appliance or carpet. Common sense dictates that carpet wears out in five to 10 years. Many states allow a landlord to deduct legally a tenant s security deposit to replace the rental carpet by the time the tenant decides to move out. Listed below are some facts you should know about carpet replacement.

Your landlord doesn t want to get sued for an injury caused by carpeting. If you have a good working relationship with your landlord nicely point out the problem. The cost of replacing the carpet after 10 years falls to the landlord. The department of housing and urban development has set 7 years for the replacement of carpet in rental units.

One of our tenants informed me that residential landlords have to replace carpeting every five years. Hud has a list appendix 5d of various items and their life expectancy. For example carpeting has a useful life of 10 years. Under california landlord tenant guidelines a carpet s useful life is eight to 10 years.

While they are durable they can start losing their texture and color after 4 or 5 years. If he doesn t respond put your request in writing.