What is considered normal wear and tear if you have lived in the same apt for 5 years?
Yes it will. Smoking is not normal wear and tear. That is damage. I have had to replace entire carpets with padding, after a cleaning didn’t work, from heavy smokers. If the walls are yellow from the nicotine…that is evidence of a very heavy smoker and that isn’t normal wear and tear….those walls have to be washed before they can be painted to keep it from staining new paint. So yeah, your deposit is pretty much gone. If Tom above is charging his tenants $450 for a cleaning (which is sky high…I can get it done for half that amount in an empty house)…that is considered an illegal charge for normal wear and tear…unless the cleaning needed is excessive…the courts don’t require the cleaning to be pristine, just reasonably vaccumed and wiped down, no debris, etc. If he’s charging his tenants for “any sign of wear” by replacing the carpet…that too, is an illegal charge. Courts don’t require tenants to keep carpets in like-new condition…and ANY carpet will eventually show sign
