Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Am I able to keep the full deposit of $1800 from our prior tenants. They moved out and complied with all cleaning instructions, but even after cleaning the carpets professionally still smells of urine. The tenant broke the lease by allowing SEVEN additional kittens into the home with their pregnant "spayed" cat that was on the lease. We have had the carpets recleaned and it still smells. We had a black light test done and it is clear that the urine is still in the carpet, padding and subfloor. We are having estimates done for carpet and padding replacement of 1600 sq ft. Just not clear on the documentation that needs to be sent to the tenant to document the damages that she can't smell.

Pictures (if possible) of the blacklight test, written estimates of repairs (detailing out damages and causes) by more than one source would also be great. Any kind of documentation you can get by third parties (especially cleaning companies) would help in this case.

Posted by Eric D, NH on Tuesday, August 30, 2011