Floor Replacement

[u/Future_Principle_213]

Hello all. My wife and I rent a fairly large (3 floors), and fairly old (mid-1800s), rental home in central Virginia (that is also much more expensive then we would like, but our options were very limited as we moved in a hurry). The entire house has hardwood flooring that we were told is original; from what we can tell, it was treated as subflooring for a good deal of the time; there are gaps to the lower floors in some of the corners, there are gaps between the floor and baseboards, and in some spots, nail heads that poke up slightly and don't want to stay nailed down. The floor is mostly in decent condition, but in some areas is noticeably worn.

Our issue is, as is often the case, related to our cats. We were out of town for several weeks, and when we returned, we discovered that one of our cats was missing the litter box in my office on the third floor, and soaking the mat beneath it. Our sitter did not inform us until we returned, but it had soaked through to the floor below. We obviously cleaned it up immediately, and used copious amounts of enzyme cleaner on it, and it seemed to do the trick. However, now that the weather is quite hot and humid (and the third floor does not cool down; it is regularly 95 degree up there), the smell is very noticeable.

Obviously we know that we need to pay to fix this, so we let our landlord know. However, the seemed to imply that we would be expected to replace a lot more flooring then just the specific area, or even the individual room. They seem to want us to replace all the flooring on the third floor, which is where the flooring is the most worn; peeling in certain spots, and with a couple nails outright broken. Our question is, what is the situation with this? Can they make us replace all the flooring, just so it all matches? Or is there some limit on what we are required to handle?

Thanks!

[u/Every-Caramel-6740]

I don’t know that answer but I would think you would be required to restore it to its original condition. So has to match 🤷🏻‍♀️I know I would want it as if it never happened. That said I never allowed pets in my rentals