Deposit kept

By LL Question

We rented an apartment for 14 months. We did a walk through upon move in. There were two sections of the carpet that were obviously replaced about 2 foot by 1 foot so, I am assuming the carpet was old. Anyhow, I did not note this on the initital walk through. We have two toddlers and a dog so, in the fourteen months, there were spills on the carpet. When I did the final walk through upon moving out there were two things listed on the move out form which, totaled $50. There was no mention of anything on the carpet. Our deposit was $600 and I was expecting $550 back. However, when I recieved the deposit check, it was for $28 becuase they listed that they had to replace the carpet. There is a clause at the bottom of the move out form that says that there may be additional charges for damages not visible in the final walk through. I would like to file a claim in small claims court to try to get this deposit back. I feel that if there was any question about the "stains" on the carpet they should’ve been listed on the final walk-through. I don’t feel that this clause pertains to carpet because everything was moved out of the apartment and all the carpet was visible. Should I take this to court or is it a lost cause? I am in MN and I know that MN generally favors the landlord.

Related posts:

Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(