You had cats. You were not suppose to have cats right? You have your answer.

Those "small stains" that you mention probably reek, and cleaning "the best you could" is not going to be good enough for the next tenent. You did not say you had the carpet professionaly cleaned, and even that may not be good enough for pet stains. Non pet owners are going to smell the musky animal smell left behind. The floor underneath may even be damaged.

It's too bad you did not respect your landlord, and you kept cats on their property that they were not informed of. Otherwise you would not have to be replacing the carpet.

Thanks for your response bud wi. I really wish they would have followed Georgia law by giving us a checklist of the problem and the ability to do a walkthrough within 5 days of the end of the contract. Or given us a place to live while they were "repairing" the carpet of the mildew and mold. I certainly will take your advice under consideration while going forward.

Even if they did give you a 5 day checklis and even replaced the mildew carpet you probably would of had to pay for carpet replacement.

It sounds like you understand you broke your lease and are bringing up the past trying to justify something. If they didn't replace the carpet due to the mold mildew and let you live there, I'd guess they wouldn't replace it for the next tenant.

I would however contact managment and let them know the mold mildew was not caused by you, or your cats. Offer them just the deposit since much of the problem you had to live with was not your fault.

You broke the lease with not one, but two cats. You lost any leverage you had right there.

Consider yourself fortunate if you only having to pay for carpet replacement. (And that musky/ammonia cat smell is much different than mold/mildew smell, and readily detectable.) bud_wi is right about it potentially ruining what's underneath the carpet as well. One of my in-laws purchased a home that was in need of TLC (a lovely home once they got it renovated). The carpet had to go because of the cat smell, but once removed the odor was still strong. It had soaked into the older hardwood floors underneath. So that all had to be taken out as well.

At our fault, we flooded the apt downstairs. We are paying to have the servpro guys come dry it all out, paying for ceiling replacement. Now they want carpeting replaced in three rooms (two bedrooms and a hall) at cost of $1600. I feel they are upgrading the carpet quality and taking advantage. Am I wrong? I want to be fair, repair damage, but not redectorate. I feel they should replace with similiat carpeting quality. At this point I am thinking of just teling them to take it to small claims court and let the judge decide on it all, then I'll pay whatever the judge says. Their current carpet is old and ratty.

You'll probably lose in small claims court, have to pay court fees, waste your time, and give youself more of a headache. I'm guessing you don't have renters insurance.

I would let them know of your concearns. Perhaps they will see this from your point of view and go with a less expensive carpet.

On our lease it has a clause that if ANY type of pet is brought into the apt without written consent, the complex has a right to impose whatever penalties it sees fit. Once you sign your name to that, you'd better be ready. Does your lease say anything about the owner's rights if you break the pet agreement? Seems in this area, the pet rule is very, very crucial to obey. The penalties have gotten so strict due to a killing by a pit bull of another pet. The pit bull had been snuck in. I think cats or not, they will stand by their end that you broke the agreement and they will use it to get any leverage regarding the carpet.