Landlord-grade carpet replacement in a standard rental bedroom runs $400 to $900 fully installed, using polyester loop or FHA-grade material that handles tenant turnover better than premium residential carpet. The math is different from owner-occupied carpet because tax depreciation, security-deposit deduction rules, and turn-window scheduling all change the cost calculus.
Owner-occupied carpet is selected for lifespan, comfort, and design. Rental carpet is selected for turn-cycle economics: cheap enough to replace every 5 to 7 years, durable enough to survive moderate tenant misuse, and stain-resistant enough to look acceptable at move-out under normal wear. That changes the fibre choice. The carpet you would put in your own master bedroom (mid-grade nylon, $4 to $5 per sqft installed) is wasted on a rental, because the turn-cycle is shorter than the carpet's useful life, and the higher initial cost does not recover through extended service.
The two dominant landlord-grade choices are solution-dyed polyester loop and FHA-grade carpet. Solution-dyed polyester ($1 to $3 per sqft material, $2 to $5 installed) is the mainstream landlord choice for non-subsidised market-rate rentals. FHA-grade ($0.79 to $1.50 per sqyd material, roughly $0.09 to $0.17 per sqft material) is the HUD-spec minimum required for FHA-insured loans on rental property; it is what gets installed in subsidised housing and in the rental portfolios where the landlord wants the absolute lowest replacement cost. The lifespan is 3 to 5 years vs the polyester loop's 5 to 7, but the cost differential at install is meaningful enough that some landlords genuinely run the FHA-grade math.
Carpet replacement on a rental property is generally a deductible expense, but the treatment depends on the scope and IRS depreciation rules. For rental real estate, IRS Publication 527 treats carpet as 5-year MACRS property: the cost is depreciated over 5 years using the modified accelerated cost recovery system, rather than expensed in the year of purchase. A $3,000 rental carpet install generates a $600 depreciation deduction in each of the following 5 years (subject to the mid-year and half-year conventions that the IRS applies in the year of placement and the year of disposal).
The exception is partial replacement, sometimes called a repair-style intervention. If you replace carpet in only one room and the rest of the unit's carpet remains in service, the IRS treatment can sometimes be a current-year repair rather than a capital improvement, expensed entirely in the year of purchase. The Tangible Property Regulations safe harbour for small landlords (annual safe harbour limit was recently $2,500 per item with election) can also apply. The rules are nuanced and the right path varies by your overall tax situation. Consult a tax professional and always keep itemised invoices showing carpet, pad, labour, and removal as separate lines for whichever treatment you take.
State landlord-tenant law dictates how carpet damage can be deducted from a security deposit at move-out, and the rules generally use a useful-life proration standard rather than allowing full replacement cost. The framework looks like this: if state law uses a 7-year useful-life schedule for carpet, and the tenant damages a 3-year-old carpet beyond normal wear, the landlord can deduct 4 out of 7 years of remaining life from the replacement cost, not the full cost. For a $600 bedroom carpet, that is $343 deductible, not $600.
State-specific notes worth knowing. California requires the landlord to provide an itemised statement within 21 days of move-out and allows useful-life proration. Massachusetts caps the security deposit at one month's rent and requires the landlord to pay interest on the deposit. New York City allows deduction for damage beyond normal wear but requires itemisation within 14 days. Texas has no specific cap but requires written itemisation within 30 days. The universal best practice across all states is to document carpet condition with dated photos and a written checklist at both move-in and move-out, signed by both parties. Without that baseline, deduction disputes go to small claims and the landlord usually loses.
The turn between two tenants is the operational tight spot for rental carpet replacement. The standard schedule looks like this. Day one (move-out day): tenant vacates by noon, carpet removal in the afternoon, walk-through and inspection. Day two: pad and carpet install, typically a 1 to 2 day job for a 3-bed unit. Day three: 24-hour cure time for seam adhesive, cleaning crew Friday or Saturday. Move-in by the new tenant Sunday or Monday. The whole turn is a 4-to-5 day vacancy window. Some landlords compress this by booking the install crew for an evening pour the same day as removal, but that risks adhesive cure failure if humidity is high. Plan a full 3-day install window and the turn is reliable.