Are we being Realistic?

[Account Closed]

Are we being Realistic?

Are we being reasonable to think that when a tenant moves out that the rental home will be neat as pin and clean throughout including cabinet tops, behind refrigerators, top of door trims and window ledges? Is that too much to ask our tenants since we rented out the home this way?

When landlords expect this to happen when a tenant moves out, (it's okay to hope, but not to expect) then they are missing what this business is all about.

This is a business of fixing up a rental home, renting it out, evictions and damages and starting all over again. And if a tenant was good.......we were lucky...... or maybe we were professional in how we handle our business. and it paid off. And, if a tenant left the unit clean, then, hot dog, because that is very rare.

I can see charging a tenant for cleaning if they just moved in and left within a couple of weeks for some reason and left it greasy, grimmey, and filthy. But not after a year or more!

Many new investors make the mistake of thinking that once they fixed up the house, and it is squeaky clean, then they don't have to do it ever again. They feel that for the rest of their landlording career each tenant will clean the house for the next tenant, but that philosophy is only a fantasy. I've rarely have ever seen that happen!

When a tenant moves out, especially after a year, it is the landlords job to clean the home, to paint the home, to take care of repairs that are caused by natural causes, and to get it move in ready again for the next round of applicants.

Many landlords don't take into consideration the amount of rent they have made from a tenant which would pay a maid to clean the home (or yourself) after a tenant leaves 100 times over!

When we stay at a motel, on vacation, our kids make a mess of the room. (Swimming Pool), Towels left draped over a tub in the bathroom, beds not made when we leave. Cigarette Butts in the ash trays, you name it, it’s done to the hotel/motel owners, and yet we aren't ask to pay the Hotel for cleaning it up afterwards We've paid them already to be a slob. It comes with the price of the room, unless we did damages.

I have rented to doctors, ministers, Police Officers, and let me tell you, they are slobs. I rented to a Section 8 tenant that was like a dream come true. She was the cleanest tenant I ever had, and even planted beautiful flowers in the front of the house (Most Section 8 tenants aren't like that, but she was). But I expect people to be slobs when they leave. And what a gift when I walk into a home and find it clean!

When a tenant leaves they are anxious to move into their new home, not clean the old one. And they usually wait until the last minute if they do intend to clean.

When we are landlords we see how other people live, verses other people who see each other only as a friend, or a co-worker or an occasional acquaintance. We, however see it all. Their Hyde side and their Jekyll side. Their faults and their good points. Their neatness, and their snobbishness’.

So just remember that the rent money the tenant pays you allows them to live like a slob in your home. That's their right! As long as they don't do damages, cause health hazards, or do anything illegal, they pay you for the right to live ....TO LIVE...in the home. To feel comfortable in the home. And if living like a slob is how they live, then so be it.

When I rented to my tenants I always referred to the rental unit as their home. After the signing of the lease I gave them a card with the keys, welcoming them to their NEW HOME.

When I left the home and got back into the car to drive away, I would say to my husband, well, that's the last time we will see this house look this way again, and he would say, Yep, and we drove away, all the way to the bank, happy that we made a lot of money that day and another house no longer vacant.

Nancy Neville