They are charging me for carpet replacement!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so mad I could spit!!!!!!!!!!!!  I moved out of my old place on 1/29 and just got a bill for $684 for carpet replacement due to cat urine!!!!!!!!!!!!!  THE KITTENS HAVE NEVER PEED ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE LITTER BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  They claimed it was in the bedroom and when they put their nose to the stain, it smelled of cat pee.  Are you serious?  Do any of these morons own a cat???!!?!?!!  Cat pee is an intense, foul, eye-watering, throat-burning ammonia smell, not that I need to tell any of you.  In my BEDROOM?  And I just slept in there with the door closed every night and never noticed?  Cat pee gets STRONGER WITH TIME, so even if they peed while I was away at work, you don't just NOT NOTICE a urine smell!!!!!!

What should I do????  I already left a voicemail telling them to call me immediately in the morning.  I have an email ready but I'm a little nervous about that as I don't want to go to court or anything, and email is official correspondence in a way that a phone call isn't.  Does anyone know anything about that?  Should I send it?  I really, really do not want to pay these charges.  It's so ludicrous and unfair.  I will have to take out a loan against my 401(k) to pay it.

How long did you leave there? Usually after 5 years they can no longer charge for carpet replacement.....

Only 1 year.  The kittens only lived there for eight months.  I am so upset.  We never had an accident when they were babies, and never any health problems that caused inappropriate peeing.  This is so unfair.  I had heard about this company doing this to people with pets - they are renovating and there were a lot of reviews that said they had to pay for carpet.  I was so scared this would happen and now it has. 

I am an honest person - I take responsibility for my problems and don't try to argue or cry my way out of it.  If my cats had peed in the bedroom I would be more than happy to pay.  But they didn't. 

parsleysage said:

Only 1 year.  The kittens only lived there for eight months.  I am so upset.  We never had an accident when they were babies, and never any health problems that caused inappropriate peeing.  This is so unfair.  I had heard about this company doing this to people with pets - they are renovating and there were a lot of reviews that said they had to pay for carpet.  I was so scared this would happen and now it has. 

I am an honest person - I take responsibility for my problems and don't try to argue or cry my way out of it.  If my cats had peed in the bedroom I would be more than happy to pay.  But they didn't. 

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Tell them you are going to have it professionally cleaned - there is not need to replace a carpet for pee - and there is no way for them to prove it.... You can go there with a UV light, put the lights out and show them there is no urine....
But by offering to clean with an enzyme cleaner, I don't think there is anything they can do.... Get a machine in the supermarket and go there clean that room....

I will definitely try that but the truth is they have probably already removed the carpet and had new installed... it has been six weeks almost.  They probably waited so I didn't have any option except to pay.  They are supposed to call me tomorrow morning and if they don't I'll call them.

Isn't there a time limit they have to contact you in!?  I was thinking just what you said; they waited till you can't prove it to send you the bill!  I thought when you rent and move out they do an inspection and just don't give you your security deposit back.  I would be livid too!!

I would refuse to pay. Tell them they can take you to court if they really want their $600 that bad.

In that case no way I would pay them then..... They have to prove that..... Give you the results of the inspection, call you there to show you the findings..... Usually that is done within 10 days- Take a look at your leasing agreement - there should be a deadline for inspections in there. They can't just take 6 weeks and contact you like that out of the blue 6 weeks later with a $650 dollar bill.....

I agree with the others. I would fight this every step of the way.

Oh my, that's not cool!

Yup, I definately WOULDN'T pay it. 

Ughhh..... I am SO FRUSTRATED right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I spoke to the property manager on the phone this morning and boy wasn't she helpful.    Having worked in customer service before I recognized some of her key phrases designed to mollify me ("You were a great tenant, we appreciate your business, I understand how frustrated you are, I know it's a lot of money," etc.) but unfortunately for her I am not "mollifiable."   She sent me the photo of the damage and I literally laughed out loud:



There are so many things wrong with this photograph:

1.  WHERE is this stain?  It's clearly right next to a wall - which wall?  It was a tiny apartment and there wasn't much free wall space - does she suppose they crawled underneath a dresser or my mattress (I didn't have a bedframe, it sat directly on the floor) to pee?

2.  I have a very good guess as to where this stain is located, and it would be right by my bed - it was a food stain that I cleaned.  The cleaning process would account for this damage since I had to scrub the carpet with a wet brush, and I would be happy to pay the equivalent of a professional cleaning.  Surely this is a routine issue with tenants - not something you need to REPLACE THE ENTIRE APARTMENT'S CARPET for - oh yeah - did I mention that yet?  She said because it was a urine stain they had to replace the entire apartment, not just the bedroom, which is why it cost so much.

3.  Where's the proof this is urine?  Some maintenance employee writes "pet damage" on a legal pad and that makes it gospel truth?  This stain wasn't inspected with a black light - I wasn't given the opportunity to be present to inspect it myself (I actually requested to be there for the final walkthrough but the move-out instructions said that the walkthrough had to take place before your last day of rent responsibility, which for me was a Sunday, and then they said you couldn't schedule the walkthrough on a weekend!!! when I talked to her about that on the phone today she said that was actually incorrect.  I need to reread the moveout instructions, they are at home).

4.  Where's the proof this was even from me?  She said the carpet was brand-new when I moved in.  I asked for a dated invoice for the carpet installation and am waiting to hear back.

I'm not even concerned about the money anymore - well, obviously I am, it's a lot of money for someone on my salary and it will be a hardship to pay.  But if I felt as though this was a valid charge I would gladly pay it.  But it's NOT a valid charge and I am getting ripped off so that they can slap "Brand New Carpet!" on their ad and bring in more money!!!

I did end up having to send some things over email so I tried to be very careful with my wording as I do not want legal proceedings to begin based off of this.  I tried not to say "I am not going to pay this" - I said "I will be happy to pay the damages I am responsible for.  Thank you for helping me determine my responsibility in the matter of the carpet replacement."  I'm not sure what legal tricks they have but hopefully since I didn't say "I'm NOT paying it" they can't use it against me.  It makes me really nervous.  It's too much trouble, time away from work, and expense (especially if I lose) to take them to court over it.  If I can't resolve it then I will just pay it - but I am preparing a report with all this info that I will submit to BBB, FTC, The Consumerist magazine, RipoffReport.com, a local news station, and a VA state office for consumer affairs - IF this is not resolved.  Anyone have any other ideas for places I can file a complaint?

I would definitely fight it also and refuse to pay.  I really don't think there is much they can do.  

Did you pay a deposit? If so did they return the deposit when you left? If they did surely they had inspected things before they released the deposit and at that point that is their tough cookies.. If you paid a deposit and they did not return it to you. Is there anything in the lease that states if damage is more than the deposit you are liable? If not then again I would tell them tough cookies.

I'm also curious about your deposit and what your lease says about damages. Was your lease valid under VRLTA? According to Virginia law, the landlord can only charge you for damages beyond normal wear and tear, and only for the remaining carpet life (assuming carpet life is 5 years). Since you lived there a year, they can charge you 80% of the cost for new carpet in the room where it was damaged. If the carpet wasn't new when you moved in, they should charge you less. Did you get your full deposit back? Does the bill state you are being billed for 80% of the cost of the bedroom carpet? 

BTW you can take the matter to your local tenants' rights group and request mediation; usually it's free and almost every city has one.

I've been talking to them for the last 24 hours and nothing has really changed.  They sent me the invoice for the carpet - it doesn't PROVE it was installed in my unit specifically, just that the company bought it, but it's around the right date and I'm a reasonable person, so I accept that as proof the carpet was new when I moved in.  So I also accept that the stain occurred while I lived there - again, fine, I am happy to take responsibility for the stain.  But it is NOT cat pee!  The laws of science don't bend - the properties of a chemical compound don't change.  Ammonia doesn't ever not smell.  If I noticed the box smelling after 24 hours, I would certainly notice a pee stain on my carpet after 24 hours, 7 days, 3 weeks, several months... ughh!!!  Unfortunately there is no way for me to prove it isn't cat pee as I wasn't afforded this opportunity.  And the leasing company made the decision to replace the carpet after a cleaning from their vendor - the vendor's invoice said "Pet urine damage - not correctable.  Recommend replacement."  So it isn't even the leasing company that I would need to prove it's not pee to.  This whole thing is just ridiculous.

I did not pay a security deposit - I was approved to rent without one.  I did pay pet deposits - $600 worth in fact! - but this is not a "deposit" in the traditional sense, it is a convenience fee.  Non-refundable and doesn't apply to damages.  It's a racket, but it's a racket I agreed to in advance.  Lesson learned. 

Swampwitch, they did reduce the bill due to wear & tear and depreciation, but apparently this carpet was guaranteed 7 years, not 5, so the 13 months it "lasted" was a smaller portion.

I can't not pay it... I want to buy a house in the next two years, and they have the ability to mark against my credit or even charge it off if I refuse to pay it.  My credit has already suffered with my money problems over the last 8 months or so, I can't afford any more.  I don't want to spend a bunch of money fighting it as I want to save my money for my house.  So... I will have to pay it.  I am deciding how I want to do that.

I will still file complaints and I am also going to try to contact the executive-level management of the leasing company.  They have their names listed on the website and I could figure out their emails based on that.

parsleysage said:

They sent me the invoice for the carpet - it doesn't PROVE it was installed in my unit specifically, just that the company bought it, but it's around the right date and I'm a reasonable person, so I accept that as proof the carpet was new when I moved in. 

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I would not accept that as proof. Management companies change and upgrade specific units all the time; just because they ordered it doesn't mean they put it in yours.

Did you check about the time limit on when they can charge you for damages after move out?

I'm pretty sure they can't wreck your credit for this. You aren't obligated to pay anything after you move out. . .that's what deposits and "pet fees" are for. I know this because my brother's landlord tried to get him to pay something after he moved out and that's what he was told.

By law (in Virginia) the property management/rental office has 45 days after you moved out to inspect the apartment and take charges for repairs out of the deposit, so they are within their rights. Not putting down a deposit explains why they billed you after you left. It's also my understanding that Virginia law states that carpets have a 5-year life in rental properties, period, carpet life in rentals is not determined by the manufacturer in these situations.

And you are right, not paying this would definitely be a negative on your credit rating. $684 is a lot of money but can't be too much of a hardship if you are buying a house in two years, you must have some kind of savings (needs to be in the 5 digits) for the downpayment.

I'd go to a mediator.

SwampWitch said:

And you are right, not paying this would definitely be a negative on your credit rating. $684 is a lot of money but can't be too much of a hardship if you are buying a house in two years, you must have some kind of savings (needs to be in the 5 digits) for the downpayment.

I'd go to a mediator.

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I don't currently have savings due to a variety of circumstances.  That's actually what necessitated the move - I couldn't afford my place (well, its location) anymore.  So, I moved to a new place that is half the rent and just received a raise - I am being promoted in April and will receive a raise then as well.  With this extra income plus drastically reduced expenses and a fairly tight budget - plus annual bonuses and tax refunds - I plan to save around $10,000 over the next two years (more if possible but $10k minimally).  The property I buy will be under $100k so while I will still need PMI it's at least over 10%.  It's not a set in stone thing - I could wait three years.

What services can a mediator provide in my situation? 

A mediator will discuss the problem with you and advise you of your rights. He/she will also talk to both you and the landlord (property manager) to come to an agreement. Here's more info for Fairfax County: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/consumer/tenant/ I don't know what county you are in but it's easy enough to google.

Hope you get it worked out.