How can I protect myself against my shady landlord?

Question

My landlord never did a move in checklist with me and is trying to nail me on replacing his 20 year old carpet after I have lived her only 3 years.The carpet has rolls in it and on some of the edges has pulled up and is falling apart since its so darn old. I plan on taking pictures after its professionally cleaned when I move out showing the condition it was left in but those things were there before I moved in. Is there any way to fight this since its going to be my word against his?He is thereatening to keep my whole deposit!

Answer 1

If he never gave you an inspection report, and the carpet is honestly 20 years old... I'm pretty sure the tenancy tribunal won't give him much of a leg to stand on. (It's a legal requirement to complete an inspection report).

The only thing you can do to be sure is to call Fair Trading on 13 32 20 and explain the situation with them.

Legally your bond will have been lodged with them too by the way, so make sure you got a receipt from them.

Answer 2

Well, you fight it in small claims court.

Take some close up pictures, carpet is one of those dating items, you can tell how old it is, within 3-4 years by the color and texture.

But, your pictures will not show that you did not damage it.    It will be his word against yours, but 20-30 years is the life expectancy.   If you can prove it was 20 years old then his word will not matter, you will win.

Answer 3

You didn't take pictures when you first moved in?

Unfortunately my apartment compelx did something similar. After telling me it was 444 a month after rennovations (new carpet, cabinets), they told me it was 544. They made me sign the lease BEFORE I did the walk through. Which I found out from here that it is illegal. My place has paint chips all over the place, there are shelves missing in my fridge, the siding on the bottom of the wall in the kitchen is torn up, my bedroom window's screen is all twisted and my window lets air in when it is completely closed, and my living room window has at least a 1-foot crack in it that lets air in which makes it hot in the nights, my bathroom door doesn't lock, there is a HUGE dip in the ceiling above my shower which they said was "old damage" so they wont fix it but it just keeps getting bigger, there are bubbles in the wall on the top where it connects to the ceiling, and literally almost EVERYTHING is crooked in my apartment, including doors, cabinets, light switches, closet doors, etc. They told me that my bedroom window doesn't matter and can wait a couple months. I was told my living room window would be fixed in a couple weeks. I moved in in early December and nothing is fixed yet! But I'm sure they will blame that all on me and keep my deposit. But that is because I am 18. But I intend to fight it.

You should scream back and/or take him to small claims court, if it is a large deposit. And if none of that works, just to p**s them off, stand in front of the leasing office and picket as long as you can for as many days as you can, spreading bad word about the complex so no one moves in there again.

Answer 4

Take many pictures of the place when you move out, then on the issue of landlord charging you for replacing 20 year old carpet: In the USA in a civil suit asking for damages the person is only entitled to FMV, fair market value of the item and not replacement cost that is considered unjust enrichment and is illegal.

Then the question becomes what is FMV, of a 20 year old carpet? In majority of courts the FMV = 0,  In the majority of courts they will assigned a life span for carpet this can vary anywhere from 5 years to 10 years in general. I personally like to go with  7 years since this is the allowed IRS deprecation for carpet, which is what I assume any landlord is using on their taxes for deprecation of the building.

So in your case at this point if the landlord tries to keep your whole deposit to replace 20 year old carpet you course of action will be as follows, move out,  make sure the place is clean when you move, take many pictures, wait the allotted time frame in your state for the landlord to return the security deposit or make an accounting of what they are keeping, then once the time frame passes or when you get the letter stating they are keeping the monies for replacement, the next day file in small claims in the county where the rental is located, it’s a very easy form to fill out

Answer 5

Is there a place where your carpet is held down with a metal rail screwed in the floor? Take t off and you'll get the original color of the carpet.

Answer 6

well i think you should take a close look at the contract you signed because it may say that your responsible for it and then again it may say that he is responsible for changing it and doingrrepairsand before you have it cleaned you MUST take a picture of each room before it was cleaned to show  the improvement i would also advise making copies of these pictures.if he keeps your deposit and the contract says that he is responsible for repais(i suggest making a copy of the contract too) then sue him use the before and after pics and outline the part in the contract showing hes reszponsible but dont move out.stick it too him.hope this helped