? about moving from rental home & how much cleaning to do ??

[pandora174]

Question as haven't come across this before. Our lease is up & we've found a lovely home to lease which is in a better neighborhood & has a pool !

Our current lease I am not 100 % sure (I have a copy in my desk at work) has a $250 cleaning fee. We usually paint all walls, steam clean the floors/bathrooms/kitchen & deep clean the rugs before we move out. We fill in any holes & sand & paint. We also make sure the lawn is cut & windows clean. Of course we don't leave anything behind.

DH was wondering since they are going to charge us for cleaning (out of our security deposit) that we shouldn't do "all" of the above. Still vacuum, leave the house clean but forgo the steam cleaning/wall painting. Just touch up any areas that a chair has rubbed against1 wall & fill in all holes & mow the lawn & of course leave nothing behind.

I'm tending to agree. Tomorrow I'm calling the property manage co to get the exact details & read my lease. We are sorta in a time crunch so I can undertstand DH's point of view. He would have roughly 1 day to clean before we have to turn in our old rental.

What do any DIS landlords expect when a tenant moves out ? I really would like to get my $2500 security deposit back or as close as possible. House is in great shape. A few stains in the carpet in th 3rd bedroom that I'm hoping we can get out. Walls are clean (not brand new paint bright but not dirty looking) & no damage. We've lived here approximately 3 years.

 

[Lucille1963]

We are landlords and we like our tenants to leave the space in a way that they would be pleased to move in. We expect the floors clean, tub scrubbed and the fridge wiped. We do not expect them to paint and would discourage them from doing so. We do not charge a cleaning fee. When the tenant returns the keys we do a walk through with them and if the place is clean they get their deposit back on the spot. Since the tenant knows this, they tend to do a pretty good job cleaning.

 

[cbg1027]

I expect tenants to leave the house in the condition that they found it in. If it's not the same when they move out, then they lose part of the security deposit towards cleaning and/or repair fees.

I agree with your DH though - if you're getting charged anyway, why bother doing the extra work that you're going to be paying to have done again?

In my rentals with carpets, I charge for carpet cleaning upon move out so the new tenants have guaranteed clean carpets. I don't want the tenants doing the carpet cleaning themselves or picking out the cleaning service because I want to use the same company I always do since I know they will do a good job. But I don't charge a flat cleaning fee to tenants in houses with no carpet. They only get charged if the place isn't left in the condition it was when they moved in.

I would definitely try to clarify the language on your lease and see if you get charged no matter what. Either way, I would take photos of how you leave the place.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I would vacuum/sweep and clean up and scrub the tub/toilet/sinks- generally just make sure things are clean. I've never heard of anyone repainting their own apartment (unless they'd somehow ruined the paint) or steamcleaning the carpets (depending how long you were there, they may just be replacing carpets anyway.)

 

[DebMcDonald]

I expet my tenants to leave the house in the same condition as when they rented, minus the paint, etc. Long story short - just sweep, mop, clean. Do I never get it that way - NO WAY. I would never except someone to fix nail holes or steam clean carpets, thats just the normal wear and tear that goes with owning rental property.

 

[pandora174]

WOW I guess we always go overboard We have our own steam clean machine for carpets & floor, so it's really no big deal after we sweep vaccuum to pass the steam cleaner. I will clean all bathrooms, kitchen etc & DH does the best.

So far we have always gotten 100 % of our security deposit but I get the feeling this time I'm not. They just sounded so bitter that we were leaving. Tried even to charge me a full month's rent since we were living another 2 weeks after our lease expires. I politely told them that our lease is up, I am giving them 30 days notice & while I appreciated the extra 2 weeks I am not paying for a full month when I had previously spoken to another agent at the same office who told me that paying pro-rated rent was fine since they have people that skip out all the time and leave huge messes.

As to the cleaning fee I was told the fee was if we left the house dirty. So no big deal ! They don't do a walk through which I've never experienced before. I was told to drop off the keys with my new address & they will send me a letter with deposit refund in about 2 weeks after we move.

Just in case I am taking a video with my phone & lots of pictures. Hopefully all works out well

 

[Marymom]

I hate to be the voice of doom and gloom but... your rental agencies response does not sound good. I would try to insist on a final walkthrough with them. The fact that they don't want to inspect the condition of the home with you, means that they plan to hit you with every charge they can. I also think they will deduct the full months rent from the security deposit even though you have a verbal agreement of 2 weeks. Good Luck!

Mary

 

[azdizzymom]

Any communication you have with them I'd follow up with an email so you have proof of what you agree to just in case. I would email and verify how much cleaning they expect of you. I would also verify the amount the are charging you so they don't come back and say they are keeping $XXX of your security deposit for the remainder of that month. I would make sure you mention the name of the person who told you the rent could be prorated/date you spoke to them, etc. I would use cell phone so you can have record of when you called.

Do a walk through with them the day you move out and take pictures! Make sure you do the walk through...if not do a video and show what it looked like but also ask for walk through in email so if they claim you didn't want one you have proof again.

Better to protect and just be silly getting too much proof than have them totally disagree with what you said and you not to have proof of anything. I watch LOTS of judge shows rolleyes1) if you can tell.

 

[Lucille1963]

I expet my tenants to leave the house in the same condition as when they rented, minus the paint, etc. Long story short - just sweep, mop, clean. Do I never get it that way - NO WAY. I would never except someone to fix nail holes or steam clean carpets, thats just the normal wear and tear that goes with owning rental property.

Since we changed our policy to refund the security deposit at the final walk through, people have been much more through in their cleaning. I guess the motivation of having the check in their hands that day makes them scrub better It works well for us too, I haven't scrubbed out someone else's fridge in years!

 

[Swimalie]

I hate to be the voice of doom and gloom but... your rental agencies response does not sound good. I would try to insist on a final walkthrough with them. The fact that they don't want to inspect the condition of the home with you, means that they plan to hit you with every charge they can. I also think they will deduct the full months rent from the security deposit even though you have a verbal agreement of 2 weeks. Good Luck!

Mary

I agree. My husband and I moved across the country and rented an apartment for 3 months. We had a cat but that was it - no children. We did a walk through before we left and everything was cleaned by us. No marks on the walls, nothing that would prevent someone else from moving in. They still charged us $250 for "repainting all the walls". Um, the walls were painted before we moved in and we didn't leave any spots on them. Get a good walk through and take a lot of pictures before you leave.