Who pays for air duct cleaning?

[Alex Shipp]

Have tenants who claim they have breathing problems and requested the air ducts to be cleaned. I looked it up and there is no scientific evidence that cleaning air ducts improves air quality according to the EPA.

Air ducts is kind of in the grey area of whether it's regular maintenance or not. Should I say this isn't regular maintenance and refuse to pay for it, split the cost 50/50, or pay the whole cost?

Part of me thinks, I should pay for the whole cost just to maintain a good tenant relations. 

What would you do?

[Fred Heller]

I think it's worth doing every 10 years or so. If nothing else it may help the AC work better. And if there are any leaks in the ducts, that will definitely cause your AC to work harder.

Not AC related, but the one thing that no one thinks about is the dryer vent. It needs to be cleaned every few years because it does accumulate lint and other debris. It can also cause a fire if it's too dirty.

I had a dryer in one of the homes I manage that kept blowing the internal fuse and it would stop generating heat. After several trips trying to determine the problem, we discovered that the dryer vent was clogged with bird's nests and other debris. After cleaning it, the problem stopped.