OK, so you've done all your screening, the tenants look good. No bad reviews from previous landlords.Tenant drives up in a nice new clean car and has good appearance. They move in, then comes the first visit 6 months later and you find the place looks like it hasn't been cleaned in weeks. What do you do? Do you expect your tenant's to keep the place clean and sanitary on an ongoing basis, or do you just wait until they move out and deal with it then? If it keeps getting worse and worse, at what point do you take action, and what action do you take?
I don't expect to convert people. There are more pieces to the addendum BTW:
http://www.kelsoha.org/housekeeping_-_public_housing.html
Adapt to fit your requirements / expectations.
Explain why you think they are not good house keeping.
Joe Gore
I hope you took a large security deposit from them. I think periodic inspections are a good practice. If at any time they become a problem to the neighborhood, you have a good reason to take action.
There are varying degrees of cleanliness, but we provide our homes professionally cleaned from day one. It would not take too much effort to keep the home reasonably clean from that point forward, and most of our tenants do. Let me clarify. Maybe I should say, hypothetically speaking, it doesn't look like the place has been cleaned for months. Upon entering the house, there is a strong unexplainable odor. Food debris is along the baseboard in the kitchen, splashed food debris on cabinets, layers of splatter on the stove, dirty pots, pans, and dishes piled up and overflowing from the sink. Urine smell on bathroom floors. Bathtub areas dirty inside and out that were previously white. Hand smudges along hallways. Stains on the carpet. Grass overgrown in the yard. I think you get the picture. Basically tenant laziness and not much regard for the place. If you've been in the business long enough, I'm sure you've experience this type of thing. What do you do?
My lease has an addendum called: House Rules. And in it are spelled out exactly what I think good housekeeping habits and methods are. Down to how often to wipe the kitchen cabinets to how often the tub and shower get scrubbed, etc. etc. etc. Picture what you might use for a fraternity house rental.
OR
a teenager who lives at home...:)
We have found that 'dirty' tenants will result in a LOT of work (for you) when they leave.
good luckk
With gloves!
But seriously ...
We too have a clause in our house rules about maintaining a level of cleanliness, but it's interpretation is subjective.
I have walked though one of our units (I was there to change the backup batteries in the smoke detectors) that was so filthy our toddler, who was with me, did not want to be put down on the floor. I remarked on the state of the apartment - the tenant was too busy to clean. I offered to send in our cleaning person and would pay for the first two hours if he covered the rest.
It took the cleaning lady six hours to clean that two bedroom unit ... and she was concerned she was not able to get all of the grime. The tenant continued to have her come in once a month for the rest of the tenancy.
The key is to set the expectations during the lease signing, and if you find that they are not in compliance, send a cure letter and reinspect. Building relationships with your tenants is key, and it makes it easier to address those "uncomfortable" moments. Good Luck!
I inherited two tenants that were also tooo busy to clean. We also inherited a slight bug problem, and by slight, We gave each tenant 30 opportunity to cure. We had several (3) different exterminators come to treat and they all said that these two unit were the source of our problem. After 30 days, one of the tenants really tried, but she is older, disabled and needed help. Since she actually put forth effort, we helped her. Asked her if she would be okay moving to a different unit in our building and we raised her rent $40/mo and added a once a month cleaning person. She was so happy and grateful - also her payments are always first of the month and she has lived there for 10+ years. We will be checking in on her monthly to make sure she is at least making an effort. The cost of moving her was 50% less than evicting since we had one unit ready it seemed like a win win at this time.
Now the other tenant - she was just lazy and disregarded the opportunity to cure. When presented with the health code, and the written statements from the exterminators, she left on her own will - and left a 20yd dumpster worth of filth behind her. So while we didn't need to spend $300 to evict, it did cost me $350 for clean out and another several hundred on make ready.
Do you find the list of house rules necessary compared to a more general statement about house cleaning? Do you think by being specific gives you more justification to point out those specifics that are not being followed? What do you do if you think they are not following your house rules? Is that spelled out also? As @Roy N. stated, house rule interpretations are subjective. We have also used rental agreements that were worded like they were for a fraternity house including where it is a appropriate to defecate. Going over the lease at lease signing was a bit embarassing because most people with common sense know what's expected. @Sean Kuhn It also had wording something like - house must be kept clean on an ongoing basis and if not, cleaning service would begin on a manditory basis at tenant's expense throughout the tenancy. We never found it necessary to actually start such cleaning service, but I would imagine the tenant would likely move out at the end of the lease if you did that - which might be a good thing. We also have wording that states costs can be taken from security deposit with 30 days to replenish, which might be better than waiting until they move out and find that you don't have enough left to pay for all the cleaning and repairs. What do you think?
@Roy N. After that first cleaning, did the tenant decide to pay for the monthly cleaning on her own? Maybe one way of dealing with the issue would be to point out the problem and then if they didn't keep things cleaned as expected, when it's time to renew the lease, add an addendum requiring monthly cleaning service. If they don't agree, then don't renew the lease. It seems like it would be difficult to retrain an adult tenant - maybe not worth the effort. If it's a whole family, it becomes that much more difficult.
In that instance the tenant (a he) elected to continue bringing back the cleaning service ... seems he liked the apartment to be clean as well, but did not wish to do it himself.
In one of our student rentals, we've baked cleaning into the rent and have a cleaning service stop-in twice a month - they cover the house, but they don't do bedrooms and we make that clear to the tenants.
At one of our multi-family properties we just started offering cleaning service as an option to the tenants. This is a pilot project between us and the cleaning service.
As to your previous question about detailed house rules, we do have detailed clauses about care of the property (e.g. do not use abrasive cleaners on acrylic tubs). You cannot force the tenants to follow the guidelines/rules, but you have them to fall back upon when you need to see damages or bring in an external cleaning service.
In one of our student rentals, we've baked cleaning into the rent and have a cleaning service stop-in twice a month - they cover the house, but they don't do bedrooms and we make that clear to the tenants.
This is interesting to me. If I were paying someone to enter and clean my rentals twice a month, I'd want to make sure they were doing the bathrooms. Not so much for cleanliness but to check for repairs and maintenance issues. Lots of fixtures that could leak and lots of places to accumulate water damage that tenants don't seem to notice or care about. Also we have extreme hard water that builds up and ruins fixtures and surfaces if not dealt with regularly
When I was in boarding high school in the 1980s, our dorms were crappy painted cinderblock 1950s buildings with commercial vinyl floors, but all rooms had private baths. We were required to "clean" our rooms and we had very sporadic inspections (it was an art school). But they sent in professionals EVERY WEEK to clean the bathrooms. We were required to empty the shower, sink counter and cabinets every Thursday so the the cleaning ladies could do their thing, which involved a lot of noxious smelling chemicals and total bathroom spray down. We were told this solution was arrived at after a decade of silver fish infestations and excessive clogged sinks and toilet overflows. Looking back on it now that I've had tenants, the school's plan was probably cost effective.
@Account Closed
We do have them clean the bathrooms, the kitchen, the laundry, and all the common areas - it's the bedrooms they do not clean (students are responsible for their own bedrooms).
And, as you mentioned, the cleaning service provide a good early warning about leaks and damages to the property.
We do have them clean the bathrooms, the kitchen, the laundry, and all the common areas - it's the bedrooms they do not clean (students are responsible for their own bedrooms).
And, as you mentioned, the cleaning service provide a good early warning about leaks and damages to the property.
Sorry I misread that. Thought it read bathrooms.
I don't know what you could do other than giving verbal / written expressions of how you are unpleased with the way they keep the place. So long as they aren't damaging permanent fixtures etc... You can't clean up after them or hire a maid service then charge them for it. Although the latter is a pretty good idea, lol.
Kudos,
Mary
Kudos,
Mary
I agree. I don't think you could just clean the place and charge them for it without first giving them a chance to correct the problem. It would definitely help to have some specific language in the lease they agreed to and signed before having the place cleaned and then charging them for it - especially if commenced on a recurring basis. Charging for cleaning up after a tenant with dirty living habits may not be as concrete a thing to do as charging for repairs of actual damage or destruction of the property. At least not without actually spelling it out in the lease.
That is why you have a housekeeping clause or addendum for your lease. Even the public Housing Authorities have this sort of addendum for their tenants; you can search google to find one of those addenda to use as a starting point for your own addendum.
But you also have to do something else as part of your screening process before you accept a tenant. Visit the prospective tenant's residence to observe how well they are performing housekeeping duties; you can't expect them to do any better if they were to live in your unit.
But you also have to do something else as part of your screening process before you accept a tenant. Visit the prospective tenant's residence to observe how well they are performing housekeeping duties; you can't expect them to do any better if they were to live in your unit.
Steve, that sounds like a good idea but how do you go about visiting the prospective tenant's residence? Just directly state it is part of your screening procedure? Or would you come by the prospective tenant's current residence with something extra they need to sign and hope they let you inside?
I expect the untidy ones would probably be hesitant to even complete the application if they knew a visit to their current residence was required (which would be good), but I wonder how many good tenants would find this too intrusive - as they are packing up and getting ready to move.
Any other landlords doing prospective tenant current residence visits?
Gerald, just tell them that as part of the maintenance process you need to visit the property periodically to perform pest control, change air conditioning filters, landscape pruning etc...
If you hire those out, you still say you visit periodically to make sure those are doing their jobs.
You can offer to give them a 24 hour notice before your visits.
You can offer to give them a 24 hour notice before your visits.
Yes, we already do this at least every 6 months and this is how we discover how well our rentals are being taken care of - as well as checking for safety and maintenance issues.
@Steve Babiak mentioned a prospective tenant current residence visit. Sounds like a good way to see how they take care of another rental before they move into yours. I just wonder how one would go about arranging the visit and if other landlords have tried doing this - and how well it worked out.
I tell them that as part of qualifying for the unit, a visit to their residence is required. If they object to that visit, then their application is declined. My tenants seem to keep things in my units similar to how I observed things at the visit at application.
The inspection criteria are written into my addendum; as I suggested, I started with an addendum from a Housing Authority that was linked in another thread that had a topic on hoarders now being a protected class. And of course I made modifications to better suit my wishes, but I left in opportunity to cure, re-inspection criteria, and that landlord will allow for reasonable accommodations (think of visually impaired tenant being unable to see or elderly tenant being unable to perform certain actions).
@Steve Babiak I think you're referring to:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/88268-what-should-i-include-in-my-lease
The link included on housekeeping was no longer good, but it appears to now be here:
http://www.wfha.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/housekeeping_policy.pdf
So Hoarders are considered a "disease" and is being recognized by the American Psychiatric Association so it's now a protected class? What else is considered a protected class that falls under the same category? What about kleptomaniacs, pyromaniacs, etc. Where does it end?
I like the idea of a residence visit in the application process to check the housekeeping habits of tenants before they move in. They might be able to clean up their place some before your visit, but if they're really bad, that would be hard to do. This would add a bit of extra work each time you select a tenant but might be worth it. Do you check each room in the houe of each applicant, and then if all else is equal, make your selection based on their housekeeping habits?
I can see the use in visiting a prospective tenant's residence, but as a tenant, I would be creeped out if a landlord requested it. What if the tenant is a single family and the landlord is a guy-- or vice versa- then you have to deny the tenant? What if a tenant claims something? What if the tenant lives an hour away or in another state?
Hoarders being a protected class, if true, is absurd. True hoarding causes real damage. What's next, unstable people who throw furniture at walls? Absurd.
So long as the tenant isn't damaging the place or causing vermin/smells with their housekeeping, I tend to look the other way. Unless, of course, what they're doing at the moment will cause long-term damage.