Carpets in a new rental: to clean or not to clean?

[MVal]

I am about to rent a house and it will be first time I've done so on my own. When I first saw the house, the carpets look to be in great shape and do not appear dirty, but should I go ahead and get them cleaned anyway?
I'm going to ask the landlord tonight when I sign the lease if he knows the last time they were shampooed, if ever. If they haven't been cleaned in a long time, should I ask him to do it, or would it be my responsibility to rent a Rug Doctor or something and do it myself if he doesn't think they need it or just won't do it?

[MommyCake]

Many landlords require tenants to have carpets professionally cleaned when they end their lease.  If this is in your lease, the carpets were probably just cleaned, which would explain why they appear to be clean already. 

[robartsd]

In most rentals carpets are cleaned between tenants; but it wouldn't hurt to confirm this with the landlord. Also read your lease and see what you will be responsible for doing while you rent and upon terminating your lease. You should be doing a walk through with the landlord to confirm condition of the property as part of your lease signing.

[MVal]

I did do a walk through with the landlord yesterday and marked everything I could find. He confirmed the carpets are fairly new and the last tenant cleaned them, so I'm good. Signed the lease yesterday! The great thing about this house is the utilities are all already on and I just have to get them transferred from the landlord's name to mine. Plus, he already gave me the key but I don't start paying rent until next month, so I've got nearly three weeks to get everything moved over from my old house to this one. Very generous!

[NoNonsenseLandlord]

Your landlord does seem generous, especially in this market.  I would have prorated at least from the 15th of the month.

[MVal]

Your landlord does seem generous, especially in this market.  I would have prorated at least from the 15th of the month.

Yes, I am very lucky! I'm glad I decided to jump on this house. Hopefully this will turn out to be a good move for me.