Carpet dispute

Leeloo_Moo

Hi,

We have just left a rented property. Whilst in this property, we had a cat (with permission and extra deposit) and then got a dog (again, with permission).

After moving in, it became clear that the carpets had not been cleaned as they were flea infested. My family dog was staying and has a flea bite allergy, so I am somewhat obsessed with them. I bought a Bissell carpet cleaner, which brought out what seemed like year's worth of old pet hair and flea eggs. I also treated the floors with Indorex.

Things got a little odd a few months ago with the landlord 'popping round to remember what the house looked like' and then the agent doing an inspection, plus a valuation. We were therefore unsurprised when we were served notice, as we assumed the property was being sold.

We moved out and, as per our contract, paid for professional carpet cleaning. When I returned for check out, I was confronted by the Letting Agent who said our house 'stank of urine' and that the Landlord had already been in and complained about it. She also said that our house had 'reeked of urine' during the previous visits by herself and the Landlord a few months prior (but they hadn't told us) and that this was actually why we were served notice (again, news to us).

This was obviously very upsetting, as I wasn't aware of this and am actually a bit OCD about smells. I contacted friends, family and the carpet cleaner to ask what they thought and not one person thought that the house smelt of urine. The carpet cleaner said that sometimes the cleaning process can reveal old stains as the fibres act as wicking. Thinking about this, I had washed the carpets immediately before the previous visits.

Anyway, the upshot is now that the Landlord wants new carpets. They have ripped up the carpet in two bedrooms to demonstrate urine staining and said that the underlay has 'dissolved'. However, these rooms are two that we definitely didn't allow the pets in (one was a storage room, the other I used for beauty treatments) so I 100% don't believe it was caused during our tenancy.

My questions (sorry for long post) -

- can a carpet underlay dissolve in a year?

- what are we liable for?

Thanks in advance.

TBagpuss

When you moved in, did you notify them of the pre-exisiting flea problem and the steps you had to take to deal with it?

Was there a check in inventory, and if so, ht did it say about the condition of the carpets?

Also, the landlord can only claim for damage, not betterment, so they won't be able to claim the full cost of replacing the carpet - they can only, at most, claim the proportion they have 'lost' as a result of the damage (e.g. if the carpet would have an expected lifespan of 10 years, and it is 6 years old, then they have lost' 40% of its value. If it is 8 years old, they've lost 20%, and so on.) note - those are examples - I don't know what a reasonable 'lifespan' for a carpet would normally be.

you could also potentially ask why the concern was not raised at inspections.

Claim your deposit back in full , and let them challenge it. (if your deposit wasn't protected , they are in much deeper trouble, and you are in a very strong position!)