What should a new tenant expect? (lease, renters, deposit, lend)

[xpress4]

I know this is so trivial compared to what so many have had to go through, but it's really eating at me, please tell me what you think.

I moved into a rental home and realized that it hadn't been cleaned (toilets, floors, inside of drawers etc.). It's new, so during the quick initial walk through, short of lifting toilet seats, etc. I didn't notice realize it. Most of the light bulbs were burned out and the air filters look like they'd never been changed (although the lease is sure to note that the tenant must replace them every 3 months). I wasn't happy to have to clean and unpack (especially clean after someone else) but not that big of a deal. So I wrote a note to the property management company letting them know, must have been an oversight.

They told me to buy and replace the bulbs and filters and deduct it from the rent (I would have to BUY a ladder too to reach most of them). And didn't even acknowledge that the unit hadn't been cleaned.

Am I just getting old, or are we just talking common courtesy/decency here? Am I just s.o.l. or should they have done all this before I moved in...or at least apologized and offer to send someone over to make good on it?

THANK YOU so much for any input!

Brenda

[ajzjmsmom]

Welcome to the world of renting. When we moved into the last house we were in I went back in and told the property manager that the house had not been cleaned, he told me it had and even showed me the receipt from the cleaning company. I told him they needed to hire a new one then went home and cleaned the house myself. When we decided to move to another house recently I looked at several and in one house there was a huge hole in the door at one of the closets and it looked like someone had taken a can of coke, shook it and let it spray all over the ceiling in the living room. That property manager told me after they approved us for the house they would talk to the owner about fixing the door and that I could just get some bleach and clean the ceiling. They are nuts if they think I am going to rent a house in that condition. We finally found one the was through a private owner that was immaculate.

To the OP they should have come over and taken care of the issues.

But I guess when we chose to rent instead of buying we have to learn to tolerate some things.

I wonder if I am wrong to expect a clean house to move into especially considering I pay anywhere from $1300 to $1800 month depending on where we chose to live. I guess I just think if I am shelling out that much money for a property than maybe it should be ready to move into. I know we could buy and save all this hassel and complaints but right now it is not a logical or even something we want to do. When you face the possiblity of moving every couple of years it just doesn't make sense to buy.

[bentlebee]

Make sure you have pictures with dates printed on them..If you didn't catch it until a week later, you have not much proof...If it was so bad, it would have been noticed the first day, even after you both walked through the home.

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Make sure you have pictures with dates printed on them..If you didn't catch it until a week later, you have not much proof...If it was so bad, it would have been noticed the first day, even after you both walked through the home.

This is so a valuable piece of advice, we always take pictures, if they are with a regular camera I make a copy for us and give one to the property management company and if it is digital I put it on a disk. We didn't in the first house we rented after having owned for 7 yrs and it bit us in the butt. It was a lesson learned.

[STT Resident]

Not much you can really do about it but you might ask the property management company if they could replace those bulbs for you since you don't have a ladder high enough to get to them. Good luck!

[xpress4]

Wow, thanks to you all! I guess that's just the state of things. People (property mgmt co's) just don't care anymore if you're happy or not. Once you sign the lease, they're done. So sad. Thanks again!!!

[Nelly Nomad]

I could have written your post, Xpress. We're in almost exactly the same boat. Fairly young house that didn't look *too* bad during the walkthru but come to find out, it was really NASTY when you looked inside/behind things. We're renting from a private owner and it's obvious this person doesn't want to do ANYthing. We asked about a few items and were pretty much given the brush-off. When we mentioned needing a ladder to get to some of the lights, we were told we should probably just call an electrician (as in "it's your problem, not mine"). I think this party just wants to sit on their rump and watch the money roll in.

Meanwhile, we've busted our rumps trying to whip this place into shape so it meets OUR standards of cleanliness. Toilets. Bathroom floors. Furnace. Oven. Fridge. Drains. All absolutely disgusting. It's amazing to us the level of muck and mire people are willing to live with.

Infuriating, but I guess that's what we have to deal with as renters.

[JetJockey]

We're pretty lucky. During our initial 'walk through' the landlord gave us a quick tour, then left to go do some yardwork outside and said 'well, you're going to be living here, take as much time as you'd like to open things up, look around.'

He urged us to talk candidly when he was gone because he didn't want to influence our decision.

We walked around opening cabinets, turning lights on and off and my bf had a small light that we used in all of the plugs to make sure they were working. We flushed the toilet, turned on the shower, checked the heater vent and turned the stove and oven on.

We did do some minor cleaning, plus the old renters left a bunch of trash in the backyard that we recycled and threw away. Our LL did pay our first month of trash service in exchange for the clean up though.

If the house had been a mess I would not have rented it. If they LL can't even clean up between tenants, how is he going to be 'on the ball' when it comes to issues and repairs?

[Lacerta]

Couple of things.

If you had "agreed" to do the cleaning, for example, in exchange for paying a deposit or something, and had it noted in your lease, then it is acceptable. Otherwise, it is not.

However, clean can be partly in the eye of the beholder. We always have the tenants clean upon move out. Then we send the cleaning company in. Then we walk the property to make sure everything is in order. We've had several times people called us up to complain that the place was dirty, or even that it hadn't been cleaned at all, when we know it was immaculate (or as close as you can get in the real world). We've been told several times that we should fire our cleaning crew. We go out to look at the house, and can't find anything not cleaned. Come to find out that they found dust on one blind, or something. Yours is obviously more than that, I'm just saying everyone sees clean as something slightly different.

When I was moving into my dorm room my freshman year of college, I got to the room and found dead flies everywhere, pretty much filling one of the light fixtures. It was disgusting. And yet, the room had been cleaned, the flies had built up afterward. I had to reclean before unpacking my stuff. So I've been there, on both sides of the complaining.

Taking photos, or even a video is the best advice, and others have already said it. And keep track of where you put them.

As for the ladder and bulbs, I can't agree with you on that one. Yes, the bulbs should have all been working when you moved in. But if you are renting a place with vaulted or tall ceilings, you will need to get an appropriately sized ladder. Whether the bulbs are out now or not, you will need to replace them in the future as they burn out, and you probably will need to be able to reach the smoke alarm at some point to change batteries, or at least test it. The bulbs should have all been working, and that is definitely on the managements "bad" column, but the complaint about not being able to reach wouldn't fly with me. That's like saying you can't maintain the yard because you don't have a mower. My answer is "Then you shouldn't have rented a place that requires yard maintenance." In this case, its "Then you shouldn't have rented a place with tall ceilings" Honestly, it really is your problem. Either get a ladder, or be prepared to hire someone to come and do it for you. Changing light bulbs during occupancy is normal tenant maintenance.

[Ultrarunner]

I'm amazed at how many cleaning issues there are at move-in...

If it is not right... don't accept it or at the very least... note in on the lease with both parties initialing it.

The light bulbs will be an on-going problem... you will have to either hire someone with a ladder or buy one so you can change them...

I would come out and change them for you as part of the move in...

Light bulbs are starting to be a real problem... many of my tenants have signed up for a city energy program that does not require property owner approval... the city does an audit and changes light fixtures, weatherstrip and appliances as needed...

I'm starting to get calls from tenants complaining that the light bulbs required for the city supplied fixtures can cost $7 each and they want me to pay for them and install them

I politely refuse...

PS... don't expect the owner to lend you a ladder. A landlord friend of a friend did that and the tenants 11 year old daughter fell and broke her wrist and the tenant filed a claim against the owner for furnishing the ladder that resulted in her daughter's injury...