A mature couple of Indian extraction have applied for one of my units. I am working on the application at present and have not finished processing it. They are first generation immigrants from India and it is clear that they will be preparing traditional Indian foods in the home, including curry. I did some searching and found a number of posts by landlords at a variety of sites complaining of the extreme difficulty of ridding units of curry odors. I would like to hear from BP members with experience with this issue. Can curry odor be removed? What steps are necessary to eliminate it? What were the costs or removal of such odors? If you have rented to tenants who prepared curry, would you do so again based on your experience? My question is motivated in part by experience with tenants I have who are first generation immigrants from Africa. They also cook traditional foods and I am afraid that whenever I go over there strong odors are present. I am not looking forward to turning that unit over. I saw a guy at a landlord trade show that had some kind of ozone type machine for removing odors. It was a large canister type device and he said several of them left in a unit for 24 hrs could eliminate smoking odors. The cost was $650. I am looking at losing February rent if I do not take this couple, and that is $1,200. So I guess the question is could curry odor related damage cause $1,200 of damage to the unit? This would likely be just a one year lease, the tenant has just moved to the area and is looking at buying a place. All input welcome.

Diesel fuel will mask the odor .

Curry is right up there with cat piss....just tough to deal with. Put a clause in the lease that they will lose their deposit if the unit isn't returned curry free. Aside from that, we've used a product called Fresh Wave to get rid of light curry on walls and cabinets. It comes in a spray or a gel and can usually be found at Ace Hardware...when you can't find something...try your local Ace, you'd be surprised. We buy a number of products there both for our contracting work and our rentals. You'll need several applications. You can also try filling a large bowl with distilled white vinegar and placing it in the middle of effected rooms...let is sit for 24 hours. I can't explain how it works with smells but it does. Curry usually goes with saffron....hand in hand....and the two will combine to place an oily covering on kitchen cabinets. Those you need to clean first with something like an equal mix of Dawn, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. It will take several attempts if it's heavy. You will then likely still need to prime cabinets with an oil-based primer and repaint them. It really depends on how much cooking they did. Hope that helps! Looks like Bed, Bath & Beyond is carry it now too.

Account Closed he is in Canada they may or probably have completely different laws regarding tenants discrimination etc. than we do

Elimination of Curry odors?

Roy N.Pro Member

Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes

10y

Originally posted by @Stephen E.:

I decided to eliminate the Indian applicants. I was unsure of the curry issue but there were posts here and on some realtors' websites that worried me. Stories of houses being impossible to sell because of the persistent curry odor. This is a nice unit, freshly renovated with all new flooring and paint. I can't afford to let it be ruined with obnoxious odors. Secondly, and perhaps even more troublesome, the tenant was difficult during the screening process. He objected to my need to see tax documents to verify income and said he was not comfortable if I did not believe he could pay rent. I explained that this was a normal part of the screening process but he was resistant. I ignored signals like this during the application process for what are now my worst tenants. They pay on time but they are very irritable and difficult to deal with. I don't need difficult tenants. So I have decided to keep the place vacant. The Indian tenants would have moved in this weekend and paid February rent of $1,200 so I am losing that. But I don't want to risk damages to the unit and potentially difficult tenant relations. So I will keep looking.

Stephen:

You can eliminate the candidates based on their failure to provide suitable proof of income (ie. tax documents), but not based on their ethnicity (which includes the clothes they wear, food they eat, deity to whom they pray, etc). While our laws are different than our neighbours to the south, discrimination over ethnicity (curry) could land you in front of a human rights tribunal.

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Stephen E.

OP

St Thomas, Ontario · Member since 2013 · 575 posts · 408 votes

10y

@Roy N. I am conscious of this issue. I think the posters who said the unit should be returned without strong odors were correct. it is difficult to describe the issue without addressing the particular odors. In any event I have set the issue of odor aside and focused on the difficulties in completing screening. The applicant appears to have withdrawn from the screening process in that they did not want to provide any further information and objected to routine disclosures such as proof of income.

2 Reply

Roy N.Pro Member

Rental Property Investor · Fredericton, New Brunswick · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes

10y

@Stephen E.

I figured you would be. It's one of those handful of issues to which there is no easy, nor non-frictious, way to handle.

Elimination of Curry odors?

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