Private Landlord Kept Security

[spankys bbq]

Originally Posted by himain

Maintaining the garden is not your responsibilty. It's the owners or landscaping company that does your yard. That's retarded.

Wrong. Tenants are responsible for maintaining the yard (mowing, weeding). They're not responsible for planting grass or bushes, but mowing and weeding, for sure.

ETA: Assuming there is not an HOA paying for the grass to be cut.

[spankys bbq]

Originally Posted by Robertwalpole

Even more to the point, it was in a subdivision that provided yard services based upon the HOA fees.

Maybe we need to get some clarification on what you are calling a garden. I'm guessing you are not talking about fruits and vegetables, but flowers and bushes. Is this correct? Does the landscaping company maintain the flower beds for each unit? Seems like that would be awful expensive and not very likely.

[chapsme]

If the LL doesn't send you the itemized list within 30 days, then the court will probably award you your Deposit anyway. That is the law, and the LL is in violation...

It is also standard practice to do a walk through before moving in and a walk through after moving out. Always take pictures... if the Landlord is smart, they will take pictures/video and use it against you if needed. I know I have in the past with my tenants.

To the guy with the 7 yr old carpet in CA... or anyone else with remote property....
a. hire mgmt company to inspect your place, it is the owners problem, not the tenants.
b. even if they did trash the carpet, you are only allow to claim damages on what was "left" on the life of the carpet. Conceptually, you are depreciating that carpet on your taxes... you have to deduct that from the life of the carpet too. You would have only been able to stick them with a couple hundred dollars of the replacement cost at best. "Harder" items like countertops/cabinets/doors are a different story since their lifetimes are 30+ years if exposed to normal wear and tear.

That is the key here... the property must be returned to the owner as it was moved into minus normal wear and tear. Dirty is not wear and tear! Tenants are responsible for cleaning the place thoroughly when they move out and this is an easy way to get part of your deposit claimed. Cleaning crews charge upwards of $500 to do "move out" cleaning and doesn't include carpet cleaning at all.

[spankys bbq]

In my area, $500 would be getting out cheap in some cases. We just dropped $2100 on one house.

[Mike409]

Originally Posted by baybook

Wel....

I just reented my place in CA. The carpet was new when the renter moved in. He left it stained in every room with traffice patterns visble from every single room. It wasn't vaccumed. It was a dirty, stinky fithy mess that I was afraid to walk on. I spent 2k and replaced it.

My renter was there for 7 years, but imo, a renter has a responsibility to keep the place clean and not live like a pig. If your beige carpet is black, you're a pig and the ll should keep your deposit. I'm still on the fence about charging him something for the condition the place was left in.

Back to the OP. This is what small claims court is for. No lawyers, just you and the landlord and the judge. Hope you took pictures before you moved out.

My sarcastic comment was in reference to NORMAL WEAR, not stains left in carpets. Traffic patterns is normal wear in my book. Those areas would included foyers and stairs.

Any place I rented, I wanted the carpet professionally cleaned before I moved in and I had them cleaned before moving out. However, carpet DOES wear down. You could clean carpet three ways to Sunday, it does not mean it will look like it was brand new, especially after seven years of use.

[baybook]

I'm personally still bitter at the moment. I fully expected to need to replace the carpet (you're right, it had been 7 years and it is a renter), but i wasn't expecting the carpet to look as though someone had been so willfully destructive.

It is like expecting to paint. Then walking in to see that someone threw mud on every wall. You don't want to see that.

Originally Posted by Mike409

My sarcastic comment was in reference to NORMAL WEAR, not stains left in carpets. Traffic patterns is normal wear in my book. Those areas would included foyers and stairs.

Any place I rented, I wanted the carpet professionally cleaned before I moved in and I had them cleaned before moving out. However, carpet DOES wear down. You could clean carpet three ways to Sunday, it does not mean it will look like it was brand new, especially after seven years of use.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by chapsme

That is the key here... the property must be returned to the owner as it was moved into minus normal wear and tear. Dirty is not wear and tear! Tenants are responsible for cleaning the place thoroughly when they move out and this is an easy way to get part of your deposit claimed. Cleaning crews charge upwards of $500 to do "move out" cleaning and doesn't include carpet cleaning at all.

And if the time frame of the tenancy is the more typical one or two years...
then that sort of expectation has more bearing.

But when the tenant is in place for longer periods then the judgment for conditions like wear and tear also elongate. But that still doesn't address (as was mentioned previously) the LL's responsibility, and especially a LL with a higher expectations, to monitor the condition of their properties.

A once or twice a year walk through?
The spring/fall furnace filter and smoke alarm battery change and similar?
Poke your head in, meet and chat look around and then *comment* about your observations and expectations.

But to come back after seven years of leaving a steady paying tenant alone and be disturbed that the place needs a complete cleaning... is frankly unreasonable. That level of filth you describe didn't happen overnight.

hth

[baybook]

Did I say that I hadn't been there for 7 years? Where did you read that?

Originally Posted by MrRational

And if the time frame of the tenancy is the more typical one or two years...
then that sort of expectation has more bearing.

But when the tenant is in place for longer periods then the judgment for conditions like wear and tear also elongate. But that still doesn't address (as was mentioned previously) the LL's responsibility, and especially a LL with a higher expectations, to monitor the condition of their properties.

A once or twice a year walk through?
The spring/fall furnace filter and smoke alarm battery change and similar?
Poke your head in, meet and chat look around and then *comment* about your observations and expectations.

But to come back after seven years of leaving a steady paying tenant alone and be disturbed that the place needs a complete cleaning... is frankly unreasonable. That level of filth you describe didn't happen overnight.

hth