Housekeeper Nightmare. What would you do?

Question

Here's the story. We've had this cleaning person and this property for just about a year. She's done some shady things in the past.

1. I've caught her lying to me (told me a cabin was completely filthy and never let that guest back in there. She didn't know I was in town and visited that cabin earlier that morning and the guest left it cleaner than before they got there).

2. She contacted a guest one time and asked for $7 because she had to mail their debit card back to them. Lesson learned there... never give cleaning person a guests address. Duh.

3. She was constantly asking for extra money for cleans because it was "so disgusting". We quickly squashed that.

4. She could never put the hot tub cover back on because her "back hurts"

These are just off of the top of my head.

Recently we had a guest call and say they thought they had bug bits. Yes. The bad kind. We called the housekeeper. She "looked at the house and the beds and didn't see anything."

We called again the next day. "you know my son came home with bug bites the other day"

So....  we fired her.

We have reason to believe she costs us the following.

$1000 for the treatment of the house. $1500 to replace box springs and mattresses (amazon has great deals btw)

$300 for a deep clean of the house to remove dead bugs and all the filth the old housekeeper left behind. It was bad.

Upon doing inventory of our linens we are missing $370 worth of linens. After firing her I sent her an email disclosing exactly what is missing. She said "I don't have your curse word curse word and I don't want your curse word and I need my money and I will see you in court" several voicemail and a dozen nasty emails later all of which I ignored because I'm a little too busy to read these novels....  She contacted me again this morning and "did happen to find one set of sheets and 3 washcloths and I need full payment right now"

I'm left with a decision. Do I withhold the $370 from her pay and risk having some broken windows, especially since this person lives right down the street and I live 4 hours away, or do I pay her in full just to get rid of her. Which would bring the grand total of what she cost me in the past week to around $4300 with the bookings that I had to cancel which of course enraged a few guests and was a customer service nightmare.

Yet another chapter in my Vacation Rental book. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Anyone want to buy a cabin?? LOL!

Paul Sandhu · Answer

Not to highjack this thread, but my cleaning lady does all 22 of my furnished rentals for free.  She also sleeps with me.

Jeff G. · Answer

So, some advice on actually finding a cleaning lady. An old friend of mine swears by this:

This is going to sound like a very strange approach, but hear my out... Contact a nearby Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall ("Church" by another name) and ask to speak to one of the Elders ("Pastor" by another name). Tell them the brass tacks: you're a landlord looking for a cleaning person who is scrupulously honest and hard working. Ask them to put you in touch with anyone in their congregation who fits that bill who is looking for work. They will.

You'll probably end up with a Pioneer ("Missionary" by another name) who just needs to make enough money to meet his/her basic needs. Because their faith is especially strict you're much more likely than not to end up with someone who has a squeaky clean record, works very hard, and wouldn't dream of being dishonest or stealing from you.

Let me know if that helps, @Lucas Carl.

Andrew Wong · Answer

Pay her and move on. Next cleaning person, don't give 10 chances.

Luke Carl · Answer

@Paul Sandhu I have to say.... your joke about sleeping with the cleaning lady NEVER gets old lol!

John Underwood · Answer

Pay her and move on. Not worth the aggravation.

She might start harassing guest even if she doesn't break any windows.

If you have video proof of any theft then you might be able to make a case.

Account Closed · Answer

Theft is theft.  What I would do is I would go and talk to the folks at the local police department and explain your thoughts/issues.  Then, I would tell her where and when she could pick up her final check.  Be sure to coordinate that with the detective looking into the case so the detective can be there as well.  This will document the delivery of the final check with a witness, and it will give the detective the opportunity to ask any questions about the situation.  If there is retaliation, police will already be involved and a paper trail will already be established.

Andrew B. · Answer

If we ignore the possibility of retaliation, I believe you would be legally obligated to pay her for services rendered, and would have to seek legal recourse for anything she cost you.

If it was me, I would pay her (perhaps offer less than she claims she is owed), but make her sign a statement saying she has received payment from you in full and will not try to get any more wages from you.

This is not legal advice.

Nicole A. · Answer

Wow that's a lot of housekeepers! Are these just hired individuals or are they from a company?

Michael Plante · Answer

Yikes 12 housekeepers sorry to hear that

Same one here for 13 years

Housekeeper Nightmare. What would you do?

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