Need help renter/legal question Bend. (low income, apartment complex, credit)

[dawny2u]

My Grandma lives in Bend. She has 9 months left on a 1 year lease at her apartment. The Vintage. It's a tax credit senior complex. She has lived there 10 years. She is 87 years old. On Thursday the manager gave her a 24 hour inspection notice. Only her and one other woman got a notice. The manager came in, looked at her carpet which is 10 years old ( carpet is clean, normal 10 year wear and tear) and told her she has 3 days to hire ( The manager's private contracted carpet cleaning company and pay 178 dollars) to have them professionally steam cleaned or face a fine and eviction. Is this even legal? I don't feel it is. My Grandma offered to have a local carpet steam cleaning company come in and clean them but the manager said no, it must be HER contracted carpet cleaning company the apartment complex uses. They also did the same thing to another disabled lady. These are low income apartments where most seniors use their entire check of social security to pay rent. I'm no expert in property management but this seems highly illegal.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Well, basically, the short answer is yes. The manager can require her to use a designated carpet cleaning company. The home use rented carpet machines actually damage carpet, so many landlords don't allow them. Some of the truck mounted companies aren't reliable. The manager can require cleaning by a company that does a good job.

Unfortunately, the $179 is actually very reasonable. There are several companies that charge more, or are suspected of taking advantage of seniors. Especially if furniture has to be moved, that price is not out of line.

If she has lived there for 10 years and never had the carpets cleaned, she hasn't been taking good care of her apartment and carpet cleaning is about 9 years overdue. Management has been very patient with her.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Perhaps if you are concerned about your grandma, you could gift her the price of the carpet cleaning. Just because she is low income, that doesn't excuse neglecting the care of her apartment.

I used a designated carpet cleaner for my rentals. Not only was he the guy who did the best job of cleaning, repairing, and stain removal, he gave a discounted price for doing all of my carpet work and i knew the job would be done right, every time. I know he was the designated carpet guy for many of the big apartments in Bend for that very same reason.

My tenants benefitted by getting the best price, but they really benefitted because he could repair and remove stains so that he often salvaged a damaged carpet so that the tenant didn't have to pay to replace damaged carpet.

[Minervah]

I also live in low income housing. Although it’s in another state, the rules are the same regarding 24 hour inspection notice. We just had one this week. It’s random. Everyone gets the notice but only a few apartments are actually chosen for inspection. It’s also in the tenant lease so no complaining there.

What does surprise me is the short notice to come up with the money to clean the rug. I get that the company must be chosen by the manager because more than likely she has to get them approved by her boss which is probably whatever company the building has contracted with the government to do all this type of work. What I don’t get is the short notice to have the work done.

People living in these buildings which I assume is a HUD building like mine don’t have that kind of money just laying around. It makes me wonder if there isn’t more to the story like if maybe in ten years this is not the first notice and maybe previous notices were ignored. It could be due to miscommunications somewhere between the grandmother and manger. If t’s possible but not likely that in the ten years she’s been living there grandma’s apartment got bypassed during inspection time.

In any case, I agree with Oregonwoodsmoke, ten years without having a rug cleaned is a long time. Maybe that’s the reason for the urgency now.

[Metlakatla]

What does your grandma's lease say about carpet cleaning? If it's not part of the lease, they cannot legally demand that she do this, let alone fine and evict her for it.

HUD guidelines for replacing rental unit carpeting is once every seven years. The landlord likely has no case against your grandma due to the age of the carpet. And if it's just normal wear and tear, your grandma has no financial obligation.

Carpeting in these complexe isn't of the best quality, either, usually with an average lifespan of 5-7 years. I would be at that management person so fast with a lot of questions about why this carpet has not been replaced ...

Don't fall for it. And don't let anyone here try to tell you that you have to comply before you find out way more information.

You say your grandma has nine months left in her lease. Is she planning on renewing? If not, watch out for them trying to bill her for carpet replacement costs. They won't win that one, either. It's a 10-year-old carpet that should have been replaced three years ago.

[dawny2u]

I guess I should be a bit more clear on things. Her carpets are clean, there is no stains no odor, she removes her shoes daily before entering the home and the carpets were cleaned once a year by Stanley Steamer which they charged her 49.99 total carpet with coupon. The manager here is forcing her to use her friend/co worker's carpet company or face fines and eviction. The carpet itself is clean. If I was able to upload photos I would. It came as a surprise and only done so after an attorney contacted the owners of FPI because my Grandma signed a 1 year lease and 2 weeks later they gave her a 200 dollar rent increase. The attorney looked over the lease, contract etc and found it illegal and served a notice to FPI and the manager got into trouble.

This same manager is now telling another resident she must use a different brand of cat litter or she will be fined 160 dollars a month. Even though her carpets do not smell, no issue with cat nothing. I may take this further with the attorney but was curious what others thought. I guess I should have gone into further details about the situation. I don't want you all thinking she lives in a garbage pit of an apartment. Also, the manager has entered her apartment and gone through her drawers and other items and has been caught doing so without any notice to enter apartment. Which is why this is all so concerning. Also, the fact that we offered to have professional carpet cleaners come out and give the manager the documentation, receipt from a licensed carpet care place for cleaning and she told us no it must be her friends/co workers business. sent alarm bells also.

[dawny2u]

Also, in her lease it only states that after move-out or termination of lease that if carpets are found to be dirty, your 300 cleaning deposit will be withheld. Nothing more. This manager also told Grandma she must pay her cash only to have them cleaned and gave no formal letter with FPI company letterhead stating they must be cleaned and by whom and what time frame. When Grandma asked for this so we can show the attorney who was dealing with the lease/rent increase, the manager told her not to worry about a letter, get it done now or go live on the streets.

[dawny2u]

oregonwoodsmoke, I never said the carpets have not been cleaned ever. Also, we wouldn't go rent a rug doctor, we actually offered to have a licensed professional carpet company come out and clean them and the manager had a fit and told us NO it must be her friend who cleans them and basically tried to extort the cash out of her on the spot. I would never allow her to live in a dirty home and she up until this new manager took over, had no problems with her apartment, it's care and always passed her inspections. I would gladly pay to have her carpets done (as I do every year) however, I am not passing nearly 200 dollars in CASH ONLY to some 20 year old apartment manager who is trying to extort money from the elderly and get no papaerwork for it

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Since you already have a lawyer, with all the additional information that you didn't provide in your original question, I suggest that you have your lawyer write a nice letter to the owners of the building, outlining the possibly illegal activities of their property manager and suggest that the owner deal with the problem before it causes the owner some serious issues

[Metlakatla]

This "manager" deserved to be fired. Your grandma is lucky enough to have someone like you looking out for her, but I wonder how many other elderly residents this person has extorted money from.