Reasonable Cost of Repairs Withheld from Security Deposit

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johnomo

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My jurisdiction is: California

What is the standard for how much a landlord can charge for repairs by a tenant upon move-out?
We left a 40-yr-old rental house in cleaner condition than we found it (according to the landlord). There was some damage, namely a hole in a sliding closet door, a hole in a bedroom door (which we had patched) & a stain on a bedroom carpet caused by fluid spilled by my elderly father-in-law. We pointed out to the landlord that there was a panel in the garage loft with which the closet door could be repaired though we did not have time or skills to do it.
The landlord chose to replace the closet door with custom-built mirrored panels w/ new hardware ($375 incl installation), the patched bedroom door w/ a new one ($175 w/ installation) & 3 separate charges for the carpets ($100 for spot repairs, $325 for replacement/repair of the stained carpet & $185 for carpet cleaning). The carpet was 3 yrs old. Judging from the style & condition, the doors appeared to be original equipment when the house was built.
We offered to clean the carpets before leaving, but he insisted that he did not want us to do them.
QUESTIONS: 1) Is there some standard formula to figure out what portion of the upgraded replacement closet doors we have to pay since they were well into their useful life? 2) Can we be forced to pay for a brand new bedroom door when we made a good faith effort to patch the old one with a patch kit? 3) Can we be charged for cleaning & repairs of the carpets since we lived there more than 2 years?
There were other smaller disputable charges that brought the total deductions to $1200 from our security deposit.
He never informed us prior to our move out that we had a right to a preliminary inspection in which he would list items he wanted repaired before we moved out. Otherwise we would have done some or all of the repairs ourselves for MUCH less than he is charging. He gave us a standardized memo that listed suggestions to his tenants of what types of things he expected upon move-out, but not a customized list generated by an inspection.
We found out from the previous tenant that he had done the same to her family. What recourse do we have? Is there a standard formula to which we can direct him to figure out the reasonable charges?
 
Have read it & sent it...

Thanks, but I have read the entire publication & have forwarded sections to my landlord. It does NOT address the issue of reasonable cost of repairs other than a reference to carpets. Anything else out there?
 
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