Wisconsin Landlord Law Carpet Cleaning

A lease may include a contractual provision requiring the tenant to pay for routine carpet cleaning.

Wisconsin landlord law carpet cleaning.

For example a landlord may not withhold from tenant s security deposit for routine painting or carpet cleaning where there is no unusual damage caused by tenant abuse. Under wis admin code atcp 134 06 3 c landlords cannot withhold from a tenant s security deposit for normal wear tear even if included in a nonstandard rental provision. Even if the lease includes the permitted provision the cost for routine carpet cleaning may not be collected by the landlord in advance because all prepayments in excess of one month s rent must be treated as security deposit. In most cases landlords should not charge tenants for a standard carpet cleaning.

Because carpet cleaning is part of the overall turnover costs that is usually covered by the landlords. This means that a landlord cannot automatically deduct the cost of routine carpet cleaning from a tenant s security deposit unless the cleaning i. Atcp 134 06 note note. If a tenant abuses or negligently damages the carpeting or walls in a way that requires repair replacement and or repainting the tenant may be at least partially liable for the damages though.

In disputes over security deposits courts have often considered basic carpet cleaning to be part of normal wear and tear. Atcp 134 06 3 c states that a landlord may not withhold from tenant s security deposit for routine painting or carpet cleaning where there is no unusual damage caused by tenant abuse madison general ordinance 32 07 14 forbids withholding for routine carpet cleaning in the city of madison. Because routine carpet cleaning is not an obligation statutorily imposed on either the landlord or the tenant assigning this responsibility to a tenant through a contractual provision does not render a rental agreement void. Tenant caused damage as an exception to the above no state requires the landlord to replace repair damaged carpet if the damage to the carpet has been caused by the tenant.