In California Can Landlord Charge Tenant Carpet Cleaning

If the carpet cleaning does not exceed a professional cleaner s normal rate and the carpet doesn t have any actual damage landlords should not charge a tenant for dirty carpets.

In california can landlord charge tenant carpet cleaning.

Thus if the tenant s damage cheated three years out of the carpets life the landlord under california law could only hold the tenant responsible for 300. And the longer a tenant has lived in a place the more wear and tear can be expected. According to california law landlords can only charge tenants for carpet and paint under certain conditions. If the carpet originally cost 1 000 and had a life expectancy of 10 years the depreciation charge would be 100 per year.

In other words landlords bear the cost of the routine carpet cleaning when a tenant moves out. This action allowed by security deposit laws is generally called a wrongful withholding of security deposit or a wrongful retention of security deposit lawsuit. Deductions cannot include normal wear and tear essentially a landlord would have to sue a tenant as a separate matter if they did not pay for routine carpet cleaning required by the lease. There is no legal reason to single out the.

In california for example the landlord must provide receipts for any repairs or cleaning over 126. Any carpet cleaning charges they collect in advance must be treated as part of a security deposit which must be subject to a refund.