Hello everybody,
I'm not an investor yet, I've been browsing the forum to learn mostly. I have a question for you guys as the landlords because I have recently faced this situation:
So I moved out of a big master bedroom in a 4br house couple days ago. The landlord was probably first time being landlord, they were really very uptight about keeping the house clean, where we put the shoes, how much we cook, how many time we do the laundry, at the beginning (well, after the contract has already been signed, otherwise I would have changed my mind when I hear this) they even ask if they can make a schedule of my cooking time like what day what time I cook, I guess they wanted to make sure everybody in the house can use the kitchen, but the hell?? they don't even live here, it's up to us tenants to work it out together!! they come by very often, like almost every few days for the first 2-3 months or more. I decided to move out because of the uptight landlord and the house mates were a family, and they were very loud (the dad talks on the phone downstairs at 5AM a few times a week and everytime he's home, he talks to his family really very loud).
The landlord came by to check out the room after I moved out, no damage whatsoever, well, I was there for like 4 months only. They called me on Sunday to come by and pick up the deposit after they checked the room. They said if it's not clean and they need to call professional cleaners, they would have to deduct my deposit. But I didn't make a mess out of the place, it was clean. So they called me to come pick up the deposit, I couldn't so they said they'd mail the check to me. I said ok. But today they called and asked if I could come by later in the week to pick it up, I'm ok with it. But then they said there were stain on the toilet and if I want to clean it up they'll give my deposit back full, otherwise they'll have to deduct some because they'll have to call "professional cleaner" and also, there is dust on the window..... The toilet had a little yellow rim stain on it when I just moved in, and the carpet was full of dust, I had to buy a new vacuum to clean it up!!!! They also told me that since I used the oven, I also need to make sure it's clean but the oven already had stains when I moved in!!!! I still managed to clean that up pretty nicely.I made a mistake not taking pictures of everything in the house when I first moved in - but how would I know they could be like this!!!
It seems to me that the old landlord is trying really hard not to give me back my deposit, or not in full. Is it normal for a landlord to do that? I know lots of people here are landlords, it might be offensive to assume that about a landlord, but it seems awful lot so to me in this case....
People talk about screening your tenants, but in my case I should screen my landlord.... the place was gorgeous, they were friendly, nice, and funny even.... and with the questions they asked, I thought they were just....screening me, so I just answered and prove to them I'm a trust worthy person.... little did I know, that was the sign for me to not sign the contract because they're so uptight.
I apologize if my post isn't suitable for the forum. I mostly see people complain about tenants and how to deal with them, I'm not a landlord yet, so I guess this is a lesson to learn for me - how to not be an uptight landlord and scare the day light out of the tenants.
Thank you for reading!
