Tenant Requesting New Carpet Due to Allergies

I agree and disagree all in one...

It's old, and carpet does need to be replaced - generally every 7-10 years.

Although it could be in perfect condition and have another 5 years left.

If they've been excellent tenants though and agree to stay on, I wouldn't have a hesitation. Can't blame them for asking. A small rent increase though to help recoup some of the cost, especially if it's not required.

 

Floorboards, have a finite life also, they can cope with being sanded untill they sand the joins away, I think its 3 times after the first time. I hope this helps,
cheers

 

Great point

 

I'm wondering if professional carpet steam cleaning could help at all. Or is the wool really the issue? I've heard it can help, but replacing it might be best. 12 years old is pretty old, the carpet at my parent's house is about that age and could do with a replacement or clean, probably a replacement.

 

I don't think they would complain about a $10-$15 increase in rent if you are replacing the carpets for them

 

Thanks Wylie and Lil Skater

 

Hi everyone,

Just an update for you all. I attended an inspection with the property manager a few weeks ago and got some quotes and made a decision last week.

I will certainly be going with vinyl plank, thanks to @wylie for that recommendation. I did some investigation and it seems that laminate comes pre-polished but the problem is that it is not waterproof. Vinyl plank certainly does look and feel quite bad but it is waterproof.

I ended up going with a company that will charge me $2600 dollars for a 44sqm job which includes the removal and disposal of the carpet, supply and install of the vinyl plank and then installation of a thin 2mm acoustic underlay. Says that he will provide a 7 year installation warranty. Got different opinions on whether the floor underneath should be perfectly level, some people said that it would have to be, others said that it wouldn't have to be. Not sure as to who to believe.

 

Depends if you're holding snooker championships or like Coney Island. Full in the low points and grit your teeth.

 

Did the guy who quoted you mention that you'd need to have a level floor? We got vinyl here and had to pay for ardit (sp?) which is a resin that sets and levels out the floor. You'd also need to allow an extra day or two for this.

I sent my son to a skin specialist a few months back for his excema. First thing the specialist said was to remove our carpets. Perhaps this is the case with your tenants.

Have you also checked the strata rules in your complex on requiring an acoustic floor? When I changed a unit from carpet to floorboards, the thin acoustic underlays did not fall within acceptable levels and we needed the most expensive one.

I recommend you check all this out prior to getting started or your little request from good tenants could put you substantially out of pocket. If they are financially stretched it sounds like they won't pay extra rent for new flooring anyway.

 

Hey beachgurl,

I got about 5 quotes and each said different things about the levelness of the flooring. Some said that there didn't need to be a level floor, others said that there did need to be a level floor. Ultimately I don't know who to believe. The guy I have engaged says that the acoustic flooring underneath will mitigate the need for perfect leveling - not sure whether this is true or not. I will probably have to double check this again.

As regards to the strata rules, I have spoken with the strata manager and he did not specify any specific thickness of acoustic underlay. The 2600 quote includes a 2mm basic acoustic underlay.

The problem with investigating this is that I don't know who or what to believe in any case. Each different person who comes for a quote says a different thing.

 

With the joy of shared living accoustic transmission needs to be considered.

Understand that the best floating floors acoustically perform worse than any carpet .

You first need to notify strata of intent. Check by laws that may be carpet only.

Noise comes in two parts. Part 1 is compliance. The supplier will give you data sheets. You need to understand the building you are in. Slab thickness, lining . So on. Certification needs to be given to strata. Always go the better one that you can, ie quick step that is rated ie green backed, not white.

Part 2 is even if you compliant, noise generated can't create a disturbance. As an investor, it doesn't apply to you if the installed floating system is compliant.

Hope it helps. You don't want to end up in mediation then ripping it up due to noise complaints with incorrect documentation.

 

I just had to sand some floor boards for the first time in 100 years. At this rate of sanding...I should see 500 years total wear out of them.

 

Look just tell her to bloody replace the carpet herself, it saves money, it saves you time and worry and stress.

 

The carpet is 12 years old so it is unlikely any vacuuming would eliminate the dust because the rubber backing or whatever the backing is has also likely deteriorated and would constantly come through regardless.
Replacing is probably the only option imo so good that you are going that route.
From a mother's perspective, nothing worse than trying to deal with the allergies/asthma etc.! We went wood/tile and never looked back or had any major issues after that.
You will probably find they will be very relieved and possibly not overly concerned about a $10 increase, from my own experience, I have spent far more than this a week on doc bills/prescriptions etc!
You are able to claim it as a repair/depreciation and is an improvement over what was there so a good investment either way.
Is it glue they use on vinyl planks? (Not sure?)That could cause some real issues for a few days if asthma is the allergy issue, might want to have the tradie tell them to completely air the property if this is the case, that way you distance yourself from it

 

IF you decide to bow to the demands of the tenant for new carpet (irrespective of whether they paying an increased rent for the new floorcoverings), pick up the phone to your accountant. Some floorcoverings have to be depreciated over time, while others can be claimed at the next tax return. Funny how I disliked lino until I learned this.

 

Hi all,

Thanks for all the helpful advice and replies

Just to update the situation, I did end up have Enhance 4.2mm Vinyl Planks installed (the cheapest option). It seems that they didn't level the underneath concrete but simply put a 2mm acoustic underlay between the concrete and the flooring. Spoke to some different companies and some said that the underneath concrete needed leveling and others did not. Didn't know who to believe but the general trend was that quoting Asian flooring companies found over the internet was much less expensive than getting quotes from service seeking (cheapest quote was $2600 which I went with, versus quotes of up to 3500-7000-8000k from some companies/individuals. Could virtually tear the thing down and do the job all over again with one quote versus another.

The flooring was flat except for one small area which was slightly uneven - luckily it's not hugely noticeable, although still quite annoying. The people installed said this was 'normal' due to the unevenness of the underneath concrete. Installer says that they will provide a 7 year warranty for installation but who knows what that means. Probably was ripped off in the end with the quality of work, another difficult lesson learned.

I ended up helping the tenants move the bulk of the furniture out of their rooms as they were grossly underprepared and still had a bunch of their stuff in the rooms on the day of the work. All together took about 5.5 hours to do all the work and move the furniture back into the rooms.

Turns out the tenant runs an internet business from the apartment so I was successful in increasing the rent by $15/pw (probably too little in hindsight), no noise complaints from the neighbours underneath so far. Thinking of doing another re-valuation next year to capture the last of the Sydney growth and to see if the floorboards have made a difference.