California Rental Laws Carpet Replacement

Carpet that is ripped or torn can cause you to fall and injure yourself.

California rental laws carpet replacement.

Under california landlord tenant guidelines a carpet s useful life. All landlords are legally required to offer livable or habitable premises when they originally rent a unit in california and to maintain it in that condition throughout the rental term. When a tenant moves out of a unit the landlord may deduct from a tenant s security deposit to repair damage to the premises that is caused by the tenant but only for damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. California law does not specify when landlords must replace carpeting in rental units.

Department of housing and urban development 451 7th street s w washington dc 20410 telephone. California tenant rights to livable premises. It does clarify that worn or aged but otherwise undamaged carpet does not affect a property s habitability. If the tenant vacates the apartment in any other condition the landlord can use a portion of the tenant s security deposit to cover the costs associated with having the rental unit cleaned.

California law also permits a landlord to deduct for the repair of damage to the rental unit including carpet damage as long as the damage is beyond. A landlord must replace carpet that poses these types of safety hazards. Most disputes over security deposits come down to what constitutes normal wear and tear. If carpeting is moldy worn or very unsanitary it can pose a health risk.

Even if no damage to the rental property carpet has occurred age and normal wear eventually triggers the need for replacement. Civil code 1950 5 b 2. According to state laws civil code 1941 1 and 1941 3 at minimum every rental must have. The landlord could properly charge only 200 for the two years worth of life use that would have remained if the tenant had not damaged the carpet.

Landlords are obligated to make rental property safe and habitable. For example suppose a tenant has damaged beyond repair an eight year old carpet that had a life expectancy of ten years and that a replacement carpet of similar quality would cost 1 000.