Carpet question

[shrinkmaster]

Jurisdiction

California

This came up in discussion so though tI would run it past everyone here and Gail in Georgia (if shes still here) In CA is there a rule or law that dictates how often a landlord MUST put in new carpet? Exmaple lets say tenants have lived in house or apartment 5 or 10 tens at what point is Landlord required to put in new carpet to replace this 5 or 10 year old carpet? How does Section 8 (if it applies) come into play if an issue?

 

[adjusterjack]

I've been participating on legal forums for 15 years and have been into the landlord-tenant laws of every state. I don't have to look it up to tell you that there is no law anywhere that requires a landlord to replace carpet because it's old and worn out.

That being said, it's almost universal that a landlord has certain obligations with regard to habitability and repairs which may, remotely, affect the issue of carpet if the carpet is a danger to the occupants.

For CA you can get an idea of the limitations by starting on page 36 of the following guide:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf

Beyond that, it's entirely up to the tenant to negotiate improvements and remodeling when the lease comes up for renewal by starting far enough in advance to say "I want this, that, or the other thing, with an agreement in writing or I don't renew."

As for Section 8, I believe that HUD's housing quality standards apply. You can find information about that at:

Housing Quality Standards - HCV - HUD