Attorney General States That A Tenant Can Be Required To Pay For Carpet Cleaning Upon Vacating

I don't often get to report good news for landlords, so when the opportunity arises, I am especially happy to do so. Today is one of those times. Earlier today, the Wisconsin Attorney General issued a formal legal opinion stating that a residential landlord in Wisconsin may require an outgoing tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning and include such a provision in the rental agreement.

In Wisconsin, a residential landlord cannot withhold the cost of professional carpet cleaning from a tenant's security deposit. Wisconsin Administrative Code, ATCP 134.06(3)(c) states that landlords are prohibited from withholding from a security deposit for "normal wear and tear." The Note to this administrative code provision states that carpet cleaning is an impermissible basis for withholding a tenant's security deposit.

What has been unclear is whether a landlord can require a tenant to pay the cost of professional carpet cleaning upon vacating and include such a provision in the rental agreement. I have personally seen both courts that held a landlord could charge a tenant for professional carpet cleaning and others that did not. Additionally, some judges and court commissioners felt that including a provision in a residential rental agreement requiring a tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning upon vacating renders the rental agreement void.

Wisconsin landlords now have solid ground to require a tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning upon vacating and to include such a provision in their rental agreement.

The key questions and answers from the formal opinion are set forth below:

QUESTION 1: Based on current law, does routine carpet cleaning at the end of a tenancy fall within the landlord's duty to keep the premises "in a reasonable state of repair" as prescribed by Wis. Stats. sec. 704.07(2)?

ANSWER: No, a landlord's duty to keep the premises in a reasonable state of repair does not encompass routine carpet cleaning.

QUESTION 2: Would a provision requiring the tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning, in the absence of negligence or improper use by the tenant, render a rental agreement void under Wis. Stats. sec. 704.44(8)?

ANSWER: No, because routine carpet cleaning is not a statutorily imposed obligation of a landlord, assigning this responsibility to a tenant through a contractual provision does not render a rental agreement void.

In its analysis, the Attorney General states that the key issue was whether routine carpet cleaning falls under one of a landlord's statutorily prescribed obligations. If it does, the law would clearly prevent a landlord from assigning that obligation to a tenant. If not, then a landlord could legally assign the obligation to have the carpets professionally cleaned to a tenant.

Under Wisconsin law, a landlord must keep a rental unit in a "reasonable state of repair," and the tenant cannot be required to perform such repairs. Routine carpet cleaning, however, is not considered a "repair," as a repair typically involves fixing something broken. A dirty carpet does not need "repair."

The AG's analysis then notes that landlord-tenant statutes do not assign cleaning responsibilities to either the landlord or the tenant. As a result, the parties can assign cleaning responsibilities in the rental agreement. This means a landlord can require a tenant to pay for carpet cleaning if the rental agreement provides for it.

Please note, however, that while the Attorney General's legal opinion does allow a landlord to charge a tenant for the costs of having the carpets professionally cleaned, it still does NOT allow a landlord to deduct those costs from the tenant's security deposit (even if you put such a clause in your Nonstandard Rental Provisions). So if the tenant doesn't pay for the carpet cleaning as agreed in the rental agreement, the landlord's only recourse is to sue the ex-tenant for the costs.