Vacating a leased apartment?

Dear All, I've lived in my current leased apartment for almost 4 years. I'm going to move to another apartment within the same community/management in a few days. The apartment leasing office is saying they'll conduct a "pre-inspection" of my current apartment and then give me the approval to move into the new apartment since it's an internal transfer. While my current apartment is in a good condition (e.g., nothing is broken or damaged), the carpet has a stain (almost 4 inches in diameter) on it that wouldn't go. I believe the apartment folks won't charge me for this wear and tear, given I've stayed in it for almost 4 years. What do they usually charge for and how? Do they deduct the amount from my security deposit or ask me to pay more? Any thoughts?

It would have to be a fairly new carpet and a very bad stain before they could access a charge for damages to the carpet. Other then that, I think your move should be routine. I can fully understand managements reasoning for an inspection before they let you move to another of their apartments. I am sure you can understand their reasoning too.
You should have no charges for regular wear and tear as you call it. You pay for that in your regular rent. They allow for upkeep expenses when they calculate rent charges to begin with.

They should have a list of things. For us it was simple stuff like, $5 for every hole in the wall left uncovered, $30 if you don't clean. $60 for a new door, etc.

They won;t leave any chance of eating up ur deposit. I lived in an apartment for 1.2 years and kept it clean and tidy but they deducted 150$ for a small spot left on carpet. so be ready for unexpected deductions.

I moved out of a rented apartment in August and they deducted things from my security deposit. The took out $90 to have the carpets cleaned, which was fine with me because they had done that to the previous tenant the clean them for me. I wouln't want to live on somone elses dirty carpets. They also deducted a $20 trash fee. I never did ask what this was, because I know there was no trash in the condo when I left. But I just wrote it off as it's easier to let them have $20 then to go try to argue with them, I was just ready to get out.

It depends on the state you live in, but most work on a sliding scale for carpet and paint.

For example, if you've lived in an apartment for 1 year, and the entire place needs to be repainted, you may be responsible for about 60-75% of the cost.

Usually if you've lived there over 3 years, you are not responsible for damage to paint and carpet, even if it needs to be completely torn out and repainted, because the laws consider it to be normal wear and tear.

It all depends on them. If the carpet is in good condition other than the stain, they may charge you extra ($30-50) for a spot removal and not charge you for the general shampooing. If all possible, try removing the spot or make it not too obvious. You can get a hand held machine called spot remover which comes with cleaning solution that works wonderfully for about $20-25 at Walmart or Target. I cleaned the black inkjet printer ink with that. It's really best not to give them any reason to charge you anything.

As a landlord, I always gave back the deposits--no matter what they did. Probably why I never made any money on rentals --LOL.

There are limits to how long an apartment can charge you for an item (I am searching for the word here, but my mind hasn't had enough coffee yet). Example: in my city, by law rentals have be painted every 3 years. In you situation, you could not be charged for any marks on the walls (well, aside from actual holes).

So I am wondering if your city has the same rental laws. Was the carpet new when you moved in? Because, 4 years is a long time for carpet in a rental, and if it was used when you moved in your case would even be stronger.

First of all, go buy a can of Resolve carpet cleaner--the foaming kind. Under $5.00.. Spray, let sit, clean with damp cloth. If Resolve can't get the stain out, it is probably never going to come out. If the stain still won't budge, you are going to have to negotiate wit the apt. complex on the carpet charges. As you have been a good, long term tenant, they may just replace the carpet and not charge you anything *that would be the right thing to do*

M