Advice required on tenants request to change carpets

Mark Alexander says:

Hi Roberta. 20+ years ago I rented a little flat, I had let my own home own and become an accidental landlord myself just to make ends meet. That’s another story though. Anyhow, the flat had green carpets and my then wife hated them. We were, therefore, in exactly the same position as your tenant is in now. Our landlord, at the time, agreed that if we wanted to have new carpets we could do so on the following conditions.

Option 1) That we paid for the new carpets but he would have to agree to the colour. On this basis we would also have to pay for professional fitting and disposal of the old ones and leave them when we left the property.
Option 2) That we would pay for the existing carpets to be professionally removed, stored and re-fitted when we left. We could then buy whatever carpets we wanted and we could take them with us at the end.

We went for option 2). In hindsight though, option 1) would have been better for us both.

I’ve never had a tenant ask me the same question but I would probably offer the above options. They would really have to hate the carpet to choose either and I suspect most would choose to stick with what’s there already.

Tony Sheldon says:

My advice would be that you allow her to change the carpets on the understanding that the carpet fitter delivers the carpets to you for storage. If, at the end of the tenancy, she wishes to take her own purchased carpets with her, she may, provided she understands that the cost of collection and refitting of the original carpets are an agreed deduction from the deposit. Alternatively, if the carpets she had fitted and left at the end of the STA are not acceptable to you, you reserve the right to replace them with the stored carpets at her cost from the deposit. You carry cost of storage but the life of the carpets are enhanced through lack of use.

Jan Martin says:

Hi there. I would agree colour of carpets and agree that the carpets must remain when the tenant leaves. If your tenant leaves dirty carpets then I expect the whole house would be the same so do what you would normally do and ask for cleaning costs. You can get the changes added to your inventory.

Top Management says:

Roberta, as an agent we would recommend Mark’s 2 options detailed below to our landlords. This way you have control and the tenant has what they want. We would also recommend adding photos and descriptions to the Inventory/Schedule of Condition report with the tenants signatures and dates to ensure that you are covered (deduction from deposit wise) once the tenancy has ended.

joe bloggs says:

CANT UNDERSTAND WHY YOUR ARE POSTING THIS RATHER THAN DISCUSSING IT WITH YOUR TENANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alastair says:

roberta,this is good news for you,it shows that your tenant intends to stay longer than six months,the longer they stay,the better for you,as,as yet i’ve always had some expenditure between tenancies,even its just marketing and lease preparation fees.Its best to get off to a good start,so agree.But establish the value of your existing carpets,i’m guessing that they must be showing signs of age and not as fresh as they might be,agree that they can change them provided that they leave them when they vacate,and that they purchase carpets not less than the current value of yours.Request that they cover expenses of uplift and disposal of yours.I’d imagine that following on from carpets they’ll be considering decorating too.My philosophy has always been to encourage my tenants to consider the property as their home,and thus allow decoration picture hanging etc,as my longest tenant has now been with me over ten years,with many others over 5 years,it pays to be accommodating. Remember to treat your tenants as your customers,after all they are paying you for a service.Get to know them and pre-empt any issues that you can foresee,this way your tenant will feel that you care about them and your property.Good luck

Mike262 says:

Reach agreement in writing between you and the tenant, approve the colour and quality “to your entire satisfaction” and that the new carpets will be left at the property when the Tenant leaves.

David Muir says:

I have been asked this twice this month. I look at this from a positive point of view. My reply is alway if they want to then yes, but with conditions,1, it must be a quality carpet and a wearable colour( digestive colour is my preferred . 2,must be fitted by a professional fitter and be left when they leave.
If they agree then photos will be taken a new side contract will be drawn up to reflect the new conditions. As far as I am concerned it all starts at the beginning with the move in, all condition of the property should be recorded on the inventory including the decor and signed for by all parties on the day, a video is recorded on the day and copies of both returned to the tenant with the deposit reg certificate. This keeps every thing neat and tidy. As a landlord and agent we must try hard not to find the negative in all the questions asked by tenants. I hope that by not being unreasonable the tent is likely to stay long term, if they leave I will have a good carpet for the next one or the deposit retained to redo.

Roberta says:

Thanks to the many of you who have given me some great advice. I’ll now tell you what happened. As I mention below, I texted the tenants to say that I’d see them when I returned from holiday and we met on Saturday when they were moving stuff in. They told me that they want to stay a long time and I said I was very happy with that. I asked if everything was ok for them and they said it was great but that they’d like new carpets in the bedroom. I explained that I wouldn’t be able to store the existing carpets long term and they said that of course they’d leave their carpets down when they do leave. I asked what they are going to get and they said a darkish grey with a mottle which seems similar to what is there at the moment except mine are mid brown. They have a professional carpet fitter in the family who has agreed to lay them.

I agreed to all this and asked if it would be ok for me to take a couple of pictures of the new carpets when they are fitted for the inventory, and I’d also add something to the inventory about the change of colour and condition of the carpets and that the carpets have to stay there when they leave.They are happy with this. They are responsible for lifting and removing the existing carpets.

So I think I’ve covered everything, tenants are happy and so am I!

To Adrian who thinks I shouldn’t be letting property – I’ve been doing this for a number of years, I like to think reasonably successfully. I can’t see why you think that simply asking for people with more experience than me to give me a few pointers in the right direction on a question I’ve not been asked before means that I shouldn’t be letting property.

Mark Alexander says:

Agreed

joe bloggs says:

roberta, im not asking for advice…you are. my advice is to communicate with your tenant to establish the circumstances. this can be done even when on holiday!!!!!!!!!!

joe bloggs says:

hi mark
IMO this was a pretty stupid topic. obviously you want to fill your pages, but this was not 118′s finest moment. not all responses have to be positive surely? what happened to honest opinion?

phil says:

Doh . Pressed wrong button. Meant to say well done Roberta. Don’t listen to “crabs “- Always trying to pull you down.