How can I approach our landlord?

My2Beauties wrote: Brian and I have decided to wait on a house for the next year, obviously it's just not meant to be at this time with as many problems as we have had. We have decided to just wait a year and pay everybody off and then get a home!

Anywho.....so with that we are staying in our house now that we rent and the house is ok except for one thing...our carpet! We need new carpet so bad...it's awful! He didn't change the carpet when we moved in anyways (by law I thought they were supposed to ) however it had certain spots on it that have come to really annoy me, and they are in the middle of the floor where I cannot cover them up with furniture and they look awful! The guy who lived there before us had dogs and other animals (Brian is allergic to cats) and since we have lived there Brian and Hanna both have chronic allergy problems! Hanna constantly has a runny nose and is sneezing and so is her daddy! I think new clean carpet would help a great deal. Here is my question, we have lived there for 2 years now and our landlord is wonderful, when we need something he is Johnny on the Spot with it but most of the things we have needed are small and miniscule, not very expensive at all! How can I approach him about new carpet, which I know will cost a lot of money!!!!!!!! Thanks for your help in advance guys!

alice&arik replied: Well if he is cool and good about getting you stuff you need, I would just mention it to him sometime. I mean the worst he can say is no, right? It never hurts to ask. And just mention about the allergies and say that you have tried everything and since you are sticking around for another year, you would like to know if it IS from the carpets. And that maybe the allergies would go away and it would save all of you some headaches..

That is what I would do. I Hope you get the new carpets.

Sunflower04 replied: I would say something if I were you.

If he says no, you could always get the carpet yourselves and take it with you when you move. It might cost you but the health for your child is worth it. Just keep the old carpet to put down after you move. My DS has asthma and we spent a small fortune getting our house in order for him so he doesn't have to suffer. I understand where you are coming from.

Good Luck though!

Boys r us replied: Well, here is the way my mind works..if you tell him that you're looking ofr a new place next year but in the mean time would really appreciate new carpet..I don't think he'll bite! Why you ask? B/c it IS expensive to recarpet and if he's going to have to put new carpet in, then I'm sure he'd rather do it AFTER you move out, so he doesn't have to worry about the possibility of replacing it again due to stains and so forth after you move out in a year. KWIM? As a business man, if he knew he needed to replace it, but in a year would be looking ofr a new tenant, then a smart business man would wait until his current tenat moved out in a year..that way when he's showing it to the perspective new renters it will have Brand new carpet, which is always a plus

Anyhow..yeah I'd mention it to him just casually, that you really would like new carpet but keep the looking to buy a house in a year thing to yourself!
I don't think you should feel akward about approaching him LeaAnn..he's your landlord and you should be able to tell him when things need fixing!

But are you sure you know what all is involved with having him put new carpet in? As far as moving all of your stuff so it can be done?

ammommy replied: Have you had it cleaned by a professional cleaner? If not, suggest that first. Many companies can work miracles on carpet.
On a side note, have you had the ducts cleaned? If there is cat dander in the air, cleaning your ducts makes a huge difference in the air quality and allergies. It cost us about $300 for a 2300 square foot house.

My2Beauties replied: Yes I'm aware we would be moving furniture and stuff around which I don't care about because I think our house needs re-arranging anyways...but he didn't even have new carpet there when we moved in, he just tried to clean the nasty old carpet he had in there and our dumbbutts didn't really say anything about it and just figured we would clean it again ourselves, but nothing helps! The carpet is absolutely disgusting and it looks as if it has been there for a long time. He knows that we were looking for a home, and that it fell through I'm just gonna tell him like this you know look...we're planning on being here for a long time now because we have put the house hunting on hold and then explain the allergy situation and that we think new carpet would help greatly. I have already talked to a guy that I know is a landlord and said he knows a a place that if we use his name will give us a dirt cheap price (unless our landlord already has somewhere that he goes to)! I'm just scared of what he will say because if he says no, then we cannot really afford to put the new carpet down ourselves and Hanna will continue to suffer and then my house will still look gross! You don't understand, this carpet is hideous!! Let me see if I can find a pic with the spots on the floor:



See isn't that disgusting, those have been there forever, I have tried resolve, I have tried deep cleaning the carpet with one of those heavy duty cleaners, nothing works!

mom21kid2dogs replied: Wonder what is under the carpet? Is it useable hardwood? It's far cheaper, more cost effective and healthier (allergywise) to have wood, tile, laminate than carpet. I was shocked at how well made and inexpensive good laminate flooring is now! You could always offer that up as an option, then purchase an area rug (far cheaper than carpet and portable when you move) to keep the floor warmer. JMO, but if I were a landlord I'd never have carpet in a rental~way too expensive to maintain!

ammommy replied: Eww...it really needs to be replaced.

My2Beauties replied:
Yeah it was this way before we moved in!!! Now tell me he should have done something about that before hand? We were just ready to get our of our small apartment!

My2Beauties replied:
I have no clue, I can ask him, I am not opposed to hardwood or anything like that, I would rather have carpet simply because I"m cold natured and wood flooring seems to make houses colder to me for some reason but like I said anything besides this awful carpet!

mom21kid2dogs replied:
Could just be me, but after we went to hardwood and tile, I'll never have carpet again! We have one room of carpet (a concession for my husband who thinks the other floors are cold, too!) and the carpet cleaner was here more this year than my mother!! It's so much cleaner and easier to maintain a hard floor with kids and dogs, plus even large area rugs are pretty cheap, especially compared to carpet.

The allergist told my husband (also a highly allergic guy) that the less fiber type stuff in your home the better.

My2Beauties replied: I may consider hardwood or tile then, but I did buy a brand new hypoallergenic vaccuum cleaner (for when we were supposed to move ) and haven't used it yet because to be perfectly honest our nice vaccuum that we have now we got a year ago won't even pick crap up off this carpet, it's so soiled with crap that you have to get down on your hands and knees with the brush attachment and scrub hard to get hair or anything else out of it!

Kaitlin'smom replied: Talk to him it cant hurt.

now you make me feel bad for how awful my carpet looks.... I need to re-place it but it is expensive. I like the idea of hardwood floor with area ruge, but that can be costly as well. I need to look into some options cause if we are gonna sell something will have to be done. GUess its time to measure and go pricing

coasterqueen replied: Well if it's law that they were supposed to change it before you moved in then show him a copy of the statute adn tell him you let it go then but you are requesting that he replaces it now or you will have to call the correct state department .

My2Beauties replied:
I like the way you think! I'm going to call him on my 3:00 break..wish me luck guys!

Kaitlin'smom replied: let us know what he says

loveydad replied: Ugly carpet, very cute baby!