Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm far from a neat freak, in fact I'm probably a slob by most peoples' standards. But even by *my* standards, that isn't "clean".
My understanding, as a tennant, is basically that stuff you can reasonably make go away with brooms and sponges is cleaning, never 'wear and tear'. No matter how long they lived there, a LL can legally and reasonably expect it to be returned clean. If they had been there 10 years then even refinishing floors and repainting all the walls would generally be wear and tear due to scuffs and scrapes and inherent deterioration over time of the paint and varnish. Nevertheless, the LL could still expect that they not leave the place with dust bunnies on the floor, dried-up spaghetti sauce on the walls, and hair +qtips in the drawers.
My friend and his wife leased a newly renovated house. Brand new fixtures, flooring and painting. Three years later they have just moved out. They wiped up surfaces, emptied the drawers, swept and mopped the floors, totally vacated the house, and made sure all lightbulbs were working.
The landlord has told them to come back and do a better job or a professional cleaner will be hired to clean the house and the cost will be taken from the security deposit. This is what the landlord is demanding:
All light fixtures dust free
All moldings and door casings and light switches clean
Window blinds dust free
All windows washed
All drawers wiped clean of hair, Q-tips, etc.
All dirt built up in corners scrubbed out.
Carpets in the 2 bedrooms shampooed
All doorknobs and cabinet pulls "crud free"
Splashes on the walls wiped
Fireplace cleaned out
My friend is irritated. Says dirt and dust build up are normal wear, and dust bunnies in closets or hair in drawers are just normal stuff. And that they paid a non refu dabble pet fee so the landlord should use that money to shampoo the carpets.
Who's right?
This is my favorite property management question!!
dirt is not wear and tear
do it yourself mr. rug doctor is NOT professional carpet cleaning
This is the definition of "clean" THERE IS NO DIRT ANYWHERE.
Normal wear and tear are a few scuffs here and there, wear due to simple use like hinges that wear out or a minor traffic pattern in a carpet, rust specks on an appliance.
When I moved I had a professional cleaning service come in and clean my place on the last day of the lease. For a 1 BR apartment, it was like $110 (I just checked the receipt.) Seriously, it was some of the best money I ever spent. I made sure the building manager saw them too, so they couldn't get cute about the cleanliness of the unit (I talked to former tenants who dealt with that.)
I don't believe you will have any luck with the part I bolded. It certainly would not work with me, why would I want to deal with your cleaning company?
I think her point was that the unit was professionally cleaned, to a reasonably accepted degree of cleanliness.
While I agree OP's description is not clean, I also think some posters here are underestimating what can fall under "wear and tear". It is a LOT in most states if a tenant has been there a few years.
For example, the CA state govt publication on the subject says:
"This approach assumes that interior paint has a two-year life. (Some landlords assume that interior paint has a life of three years or more.) Using this approach, if the tenant lived in the rental unit for two years or more, the tenant could not be charged for any repainting costs, no matter how dirty the walls were. 244"
"Generally, minor marks or nicks in walls are the landlord's responsibility as normal wear and tear (for example, worn paint caused by a sofa against the wall). Therefore, the tenant should not be charged for such marks or nicks."
That's consistent with what I'm told courts in my state (RI) will actually uphold: after a couple of years, scuffed up floors, worn carpet, and walls with nicks or even some crayon marks will fall under 'wear and tear' if a tenant challenges a LL.
That said, leaving hair, dust, etc that could easily be swept up is never "wear & tear".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
