Cleaning out a rental- what's fair?

[Anonymous]

Many commercial leases (ie leases for apartment complexes rather than individual landlords) require receipts for carpet cleaning or you pay an appropriate fee. This needs to be spelled out in the lease, you can't add it as they are moving out if they didn't agree to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what is realistic/fair to expect from tenants who will be moving out. For instance, I would like the wood floors cleaned and polished, and the carpets shampooed. Other things like windows cleaned and free of bugs, etc. Can I give them a list of things I expect? Alternatively I've offered to hire a cleaning service and subtract the fee from their deposit, but they are cheap so I suspect they'll want to do it themselves.

OP, you're hilarious. Clearly you have never rented anywhere. No, you do not get to subtract the cost of a cleaning service from their security deposit unless they leave it less than "broom clean." They are not expected to clean windows, shampoo rugs or polish floors. Now if you go in and find heaps of trash and science experiments in the fridge, then you can deduct from the security deposit. If you find damage, such as a big stain on the carpet that can't be cleaned or a broken drawer that was never reported, then you can make a reasonable deduction.

[Anonymous]

Security deposit is not for cleanliness, by law. It is for the security of the apartment -- i.e., real damages.

[Anonymous]

This is interesting as I was on the opposite end of this type of situation- landlord wanted us to wash the wood floors and apply a polish and steam clean the carpets. Our lease was really general, there weren't any details of what was expected. So we pushed back but landlord insisted that was what the previous tenants did when they moved out and therefore we should leave it in the same condition it was found. We didn't really understand what recourse we had to refuse since no details were spelled out in the lease, just that it should be clean when we vacated- no mention of "broom clean" or something more. We looked up rental laws for our town but no luck. We were stressed enough as it was and just hired cleaners.

Tenants should be wary and ask questions when renting, most landlords I've had were fine but every now and then you can end up with a lemon.

[Anonymous]

Had a landlord who nickeled and dimed us out of every cent of our deposit - we had a professional cleaning service come clean every last inch and were still charged for detailed cleaning around the grout, door hinges, etc.

[AroundTheBlock]

Rule of thumb is when a tenant moves out the property is in the same condition as when they moved in. While some wear and tear is expected, the overall condition of the space should not require repairs. If repairs are needed (carpet cleaning, wall repairs, etc) that amount comes out of their security deposit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many commercial leases (ie leases for apartment complexes rather than individual landlords) require receipts for carpet cleaning or you pay an appropriate fee. This needs to be spelled out in the lease, you can't add it as they are moving out if they didn't agree to it.

this was the case for my mother-in-law's place. After she passed away, we had to manage the clean up and her lease required carpet cleaning among other things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many commercial leases (ie leases for apartment complexes rather than individual landlords) require receipts for carpet cleaning or you pay an appropriate fee. This needs to be spelled out in the lease, you can't add it as they are moving out if they didn't agree to it.

this was the case for my mother-in-law's place. After she passed away, we had to manage the clean up and her lease required carpet cleaning among other things.

But I should add that it was in her lease. I don't think you should require it if it's not in the lease. That's not fair.

[Anonymous]

AroundTheBlock wrote:Rule of thumb is when a tenant moves out the property is in the same condition as when they moved in. While some wear and tear is expected, the overall condition of the space should not require repairs. If repairs are needed (carpet cleaning, wall repairs, etc) that amount comes out of their security deposit.

Right, but we're not talking repairs here, no one disputes that. Cleaning between the grout and polishing floors? C'mon now. If that level is expected it should be stated upfront in the lease.

[Anonymous]

In our lease we had to have a receipt for carpet cleaning and it wasn't the rug doctor. It pissed me off but our landlord sucked- cheap as all get out and we weren't living in the slums.

We were excellent tenants but if we were to to polish floors, I'd be livid. And, you just can't deduct from security deposits because you feel like it. You sound like a lovely landlord.

[Anonymous]

We were charged for carpet cleaning though we had no pets. It really irritated me so I filed in small claims court to get the money back. The judge added in additional funds once he heard from our landlord. It was wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Our very first apt. together the landlord deducted a rug cleaning from our security deposit and I've always regretted not taking him to housing court because I think we would have gotten treble damages given all the illegal things he did (not even counting the shady things like having a coin operated laundry machine that wasn't hooked up to hot water).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what is realistic/fair to expect from tenants who will be moving out. For instance, I would like the wood floors cleaned and polished, and the carpets shampooed. Other things like windows cleaned and free of bugs, etc. Can I give them a list of things I expect? Alternatively I've offered to hire a cleaning service and subtract the fee from their deposit, but they are cheap so I suspect they'll want to do it themselves.

I think you are the cheap one here. Most of those items are your responsibility, your own investment to get new tenants.

[Anonymous]

I still get angry when I recall some of the ridiculous things my landlords expected me to do over my years of renting.

One wanted us to wash the walls - REALLY? and then wanted to deduct the exterminator's bill for eradicating ants. There were literally thousands marching across our walls, but we had to listen to a lecture about cleanliness.

Another landlord wanted us to pay for polishing the hardwoods - we'd lived there for probably 5 or 6 years. Unfortunately we were young and naive and didn't stand much of a chance against their threats of lawsuit.

You rent - pay the maintenance bills yourself unless it's something egregious like a hole in the wall or black ink stains on the hardwood. If you can't afford to pay the bills you can't afford the rental. Or better yet raise the rent to offset the inevitable expense post-rental cleanup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what is realistic/fair to expect from tenants who will be moving out. For instance, I would like the wood floors cleaned and polished, and the carpets shampooed. Other things like windows cleaned and free of bugs, etc. Can I give them a list of things I expect? Alternatively I've offered to hire a cleaning service and subtract the fee from their deposit, but they are cheap so I suspect they'll want to do it themselves.

I think you are the cheap one here. Most of those items are your responsibility, your own investment to get new tenants.

Agree- you're the cheap one OP. Broom clean.

-Landlord here