High Maintenance tenant

[Ethan Martin]

Need some advice. I have a tenant who moved in last week. We did a walk through with a checklist and she kept saying how everything was great. House is new construction, less than a year old, and she wants me to take $500 off rent because she has to clean it. Also, I mopped the floor twice and she just moved in, so I’m betting most of that on the floors are from her… 

I know I can be a pushover sometimes, and I think my kindness to her in the beginning is starting to backfire. How would you respond to this? 

[Nathan Gesner]

$30 an hour for a cleaner would be over 16 hours of cleaning. I'm guessing she's grossly exaggerating her time. There are a lot of variables involved, but if I know the place wasn't real clean when they moved in, I may compensate them for a day of cleaning. That's eight hours at $30 an hour, tenant provides the cleaning supplies, total of $240. If it was just mopping and wiping baseboards, 3-4 hours should be sufficient.

In the future, you may want to include a clause similar to what I use:

MOVE-IN CONDITION. Tenant acknowledges the rental was represented through marketing designed to attract applicants for in-person inspections. Tenant was given the opportunity to inspect the rental prior to signing this Agreement. Tenant elects to accept the property in its current condition and/or they are waiving their opportunity to inspect, at their own choosing and for their own convenience. Landlord shall not be obligated to clean, decorate, alter, repair, or otherwise improve the rental, either before or after the execution of this lease, unless agreed to in writing as part of this Agreement.

I make them initial this clause and I verbally tell them, "Everyone has different cleaning standards. We've done a general cleaning given the time available. You may want to do additional cleaning before or during occupancy."

These two actions have cut back on a TON of move-in complaints.