A tenant was taken aback when her landlord accused her of causing concealed damage to the carpet, presenting her with an unexpected bill nearing $3,000.

She turned to a Reddit forum to share her experience after receiving a detailed invoice amounting to $3,836.77. The most significant charge was a hefty $2,773.77 for carpet replacement.

After her security deposit and interest were accounted for, she was informed that she still owed $2,080.12, with a payment deadline set for ten days.

The tenant explained that she resided in the apartment for two years with her two cats, maintaining its cleanliness throughout her stay.

“I lived there for two years with two cats—they never urinated on the carpets,” she stated.

“They did vomit occasionally, but no stains were visible,” she added.

She said she was stunned when the landlord conducted a surprise black light inspection the moment she moved out and suddenly claimed to have found stains in two of the rooms and the stairs.

What confused her even more was that the unit had already been taken off the market and a new resident had moved in.

A renter has been left reeling after her landlord accused her of causing hidden carpet damage and slapped her with a shock bill for almost $3,000 

‘This seems crazy, especially because there’s someone already living there,’ she wrote.

‘How do I even know they are using my money to replace the carpets?’

She added that she planned to push back and demand an itemised invoice from the company doing the replacement, or ‘some sort of proof that the carpets have already been replaced.’

The post quickly exploded with comments, and while a select few sided with the landlord, most of them insisted she should not pay a cent without a fight.

One of the top responses reassured her that landlords rarely have the upper hand in disputes like this.

‘The good news for you is that generally the burden of proof falls on the landlord,’ the user explained, arguing that if the photos fail to show genuine damage beyond normal wear and tear, the tenant will be off the hook.

Another commenter, who identified themselves as a former property manager, said the landlord’s demand was outrageous even if the carpet was genuinely damaged.

‘You should only be on the hook for the pro rata cost,’ they wrote.

‘If it has a five-year replacement cycle and it was two years old when you moved in… you would be on the hook for 20 per cent.’

Some commenters pointed out that the landlord’s case may collapse entirely if no move-in inspection was done.

One housing worker said she was actually in a better position because she did not have photos from when she first took the lease.

‘That means you can deny, deny, deny,’ they wrote.

‘Simply claim the carpets looked like that when you moved in, and the landlord must prove otherwise.’

They added that they ‘love it when landlords don’t do an inspection report,’ noting that in places like Canada the landlord would need black-light evidence of the carpet before she moved in.

Others were shocked by the costs themselves, arguing that such figures are only seen when a tenant has ‘basically trashed the unit’. 

One person urged her to take a firm stand, telling her to threaten court action.

A renter has been left reeling after her landlord accused her of causing hidden carpet damage and slapped her with a shock bill for more than $2,000

Another commenter mocked the size of the carpet fee, asking how large or luxurious the property could possibly be to justify nearly $2.8k for a few rooms, joking: ‘Is it made of orphan unicorn fur?’

Dozens of others accused the landlord of blatantly trying to take her ‘for a ride’, with many insisting she should call their bluff because it’s unlikely the landlord would want to spend time and money to fight it.

Others argued the minute a landlord spotted pets – particularly cats – they would have seen it as an ‘easy win’. 

However the consensus across the thread was clear that her landlord may struggle to prove any wrongdoing, especially with no prior inspection reports and with a new tenant already living on the very carpet she supposedly destroyed.

And with Reddit squarely behind her, many believe this is one bill that may very well vanish once the landlord is forced to justify it.