Useful Life Of Carpet In A Rental Unit

I definitions and special rules for purposes of this section 1 class life.

Useful life of carpet in a rental unit.

Paint may have a useful life of 2 3 years depending on who you ask. Like appliance depreciation carpets are normally depreciated over 5 years. But what is class life. The carpeting in your rental unit is 5 years old.

Table 2 1 on page 9 of the publication shows allowable depreciation of property used in rental activities. The life expectancy of carpeting in a rental unit is 10 years. If the carpet is glued down perhaps in a basement then it becomes attached to the property and must be depreciated over 27 5 years. Assume the following facts.

Rental grade carpeting usually has a useful life of five years according to diana valin cpm owner broker of the rental xperts in encinitas ca. Repairing after a rental disaster. Using the alternative depreciation system carpets have a usable life of 9 years. Learn more on carpet damage here.

Suppose a tenant has damaged beyond repair an 8 old carpet that had a life expectancy of ten years and that a replacement carpet of similar quality would cost 1 000. Thus if the class life of carpet e g is more than 4 but less than 10 years the landlord depreciates carpet over 5 years because it is 5 year property. This applies however only to carpets that are tacked down. Also normal wear and tear to carpets drapes and other furnishings cannot be charged against a tenant s security deposit normal wear and tear includes simple wearing down of carpet and drapes because of normal use or aging and includes moderate dirt or spotting.

Carpets and drapes useful life rule a landlord cannot routinely charge each tenant for cleaning carpets drapes walls or windows in order to prepare the rental unit for the next tenancy. The tenant damaged the carpeting by spilling kool aid and cooking oil throughout and in the spots where there are not. Repairing is the key to your tax treatment replacing destroyed appliances carpet and linoleum are an asset and depreciated 5 years. If the carpet has light sun damage or is showing signs of wear that is normal wear and tear and the landlord cannot blame the tenant.

Useful life for carpet a landlord must expect a certain time period where paint and carpet have a useful life. Using the general depreciation system carpets have a usable life of 5 years. If the carpet has been in place for 5 years or longer it s the landlord s responsibility to replace it since that is the length of the carpet s useful life. Most repair costs that are results of the tenant destructive actions are fully tax deductible in the year incurred.

Normal wear what it includes.