how often should carpet be changed? rental property

[Mumt02]

hi everyone 😊

we moved into our rented home in 2018! we have carpet through the landing on the stairs and in the two bedrooms upstairs! i’ve found the property on right move from 2013 when it was last sold and it’s all the same carpets so they are 11 years old probably even older as the previous owner had put them in!

i just feel like they should of been changed by now 😂

It's "should have", not should of.

It's "I saw", not "I seen'.

You seem immature/ clueless for this reason OP. It's wasteful not to mention a waste of money as well, ultimately the cost will be passed onto you.

In my many years of renting I found most landlords don't want to spend a penny more than they have to! So no, I really wouldn't expect them to have changed the carpets, unless they were severely damaged.

Unless you're renting in a very high price bracket (I was not haha), then maintenance is usually pretty basic.

I've just ordered new carpets, they have a 15 yr guarantee.
I'll probably change them before that though as I have a ddog

Do you daresay, indeed...

Yes, carpets (and rugs) become full of grime. They should be cleaned regularly. You may well have led a sheltered life if you're unaware of this fact.

People walk on them in shoes, dust gathers in them, pets roll around on them, and perhaps occasionally have toileting accidents. Pollen, mould, dander, bacteria, cockroach allergens, rodent allergens, and various pollutants like airborne lead and other particulate matter, including residue from smoking, can settle in the fibres.

I'm guessing you have never tried deep cleaning your carpets, if you're unaware of how gross they can become? Hire a machine and give it a whirl on your carpeted floors. You'll be aghast.

@ForGreyKoala maybe you have led a very sheltered life as you should see some of the cheap and shoddy excuses for carpeting that some landlords fit in their lets and expect their tenants to put up with. Rugdoctor doesn't perform miracles.

Lol, our carpets are damaged and thread bare but we havent had the time or money to replace them.

Home owners of course.

Hopefully replacing them with hard flooring in the next couple of years.

Been here 15 years and I dont know when the carpets went down prior to that.

We are landlords. Our tenants contacted us recently and said could they have new carpets in the ground floor of their house. It had been ten years. We said yes certainly and they are choosing and sorting fitting them and we will pay the bill. They are long term tenants and we work on trust.

So the carpets aren't damaged but you think they should have been changed anyway? Bet you wouldn't be changing them if it were your house.

Our stair carpet is 25 years old, considering getting a new one mainly because I don't like the pattern now
Downstairs carpet was changed at 15 years, expecting the same with present one. Bedroom carpets 10-20 years

We own our house

i would 😊

The carpets get changed in my rental property as and when needed. One set got changed after 3 years because of the need and another is 13 years in atm and still look immaculate (I'd actually love to know what that tenant does as they do look proper immaculate!) last time I was there for something.

That said if anyone looked on a listing they'd assume the carpets have never been changed as I've replaced them several times with the same one, from the same place, as i know it's good quality and lasting! So unless you can see specific stains on the old Rightmove listing it's not necessarily the same carpet

Our upstairs carpets have been here since before we moved in in 2004.
Our new carpet downstairs went in about 12 years ago. They all still look ok.
I do nip in the carpet remnants place regularly though because I spilt some tea on the back bedroom carpet and now I can only have the bed one way to hide it.

Changing carpets is a right pain, well it is in our house anyway, apart from stairs and landing, having to move everything, it's something I dread rather than look forward to.

Thinking about landfill here. Don’t think they should be changed unless they are damaged etc.

My house is almost 34 years old, still on the original carpet in 1 bedroom and the landing and stairs! The other bedroom carpets are 20, 18 and 14 years old - plenty of life left in them.

I think your age is possibly relevant because the current generation seem much more inclined to throw away things that aren't worn out but simply because the items are older in age or style.

I'm in team 'replace when it is worn out', which could be any time from just few years (if poor quality, low care and high usage), to 30+. Having an up to date looking house isn't a high priority for us.

The house we are renting we have been in 13 years and its carpets are clearly WELL older than that. The wall paper is the same from my childhood in the last century, the nostalgia was part of why I liked the house.

I KNOW my cheapskate landlord is going to try and claim my deposit because the carpet on the stairs is threadbare and stained (its a cheap cream carpet so you can see paths of least resistance exactly where 20+ years of footfall has been).

Mumsnet is a weird place though, there was someone on here ages ago aghast and ranting at their disgusting and 'unhygienic' neighbor for having not changing the carpets when she moved into her house. Apparently its gross to live in a house with the previous owners carpet (which is obviously just batshit).

There's nothing wrong with carpet or old carpet or even carpet in kitchens etc... I would take carpet (even very old carpet) over tiles (which is cold and slippy/dangerous and can be filthy and harbor all sorts in the grouting) any day personally.

I think ages is also relevant because if your 20 something 15 years old seems 'old' in relation to you, where as if you 65 something 15 years old is likely to elicit no thoughts on being 'old'.

Some of our carpets are around 30 years old and we are only now thinking that maybe we need to do something about it.

Because landlords have a magic money tree and an endless pot of money?!

Absolutely mad.

I'd love new carpets. Can't afford them. Imagine most landlords feel the same.

My carpets are at least 30 years old.

Carpet hugely varies in quality and the underlay used can make a big difference too. My dad's carpets were about 30 years old, not the worst quality but he'd obviously used cheap underlay and there was zero cushioning left at all. They'd also 'rippled' in places and faded.

Don't worry OP, not sure why you're getting snarky replies, you were only asking, not demanding. Another day a LL will post saying their tenant has asked about new carpets as they're 15 years old or whatever and they'll be berated for being a slum landlord and how dare they leave their tenant in squalor whilst they're paying off their mortgage for them 🤷‍♀️

Why can't people just answer the op's questions? Can't believe the amount of sarky and mean posts. Would you be like this in real life?

Op - as someone did say there is no set rule on carpet replacement but if they are old, well trodden and horrible looking, I'd ask my landlord to see if they could be replaced. You never know they might say yes!