Does anyone include cleaning service for tenants?

Question

Hi All,

I'm new to BP. I recently purchased my first property in Montana. My unit is near a university and I inherited college students. They are fine renters but I have noticed that cleanliness is average at best and sometimes a potential fire hazard. For example, the washer/dryer is near the water heater and the tenants have not been properly throwing away dryer lint. I was concerned when a pile of lint had accumulated near the hot water heater. I already gave the tenants hell and discussed fire safety, but does anyone offer cleaning services once a month for peace of mind? My goal is to have major common areas cleaned and ensure the laundry area is free of lint, etc.

Thanks,

Chris

Richard L Banks · Answer

Hello Christopher, I can understand what you are talking about. While I was in Mississauga, Toronto. I used to have Students from the University Of Toronto Mississauga, as my tenants. Oh, They were so disappointing when it comes to tidiness and discipline. After a month I couldn’t even recognize my place. The floors were covered with junk foods And the laundry areas where untidy. I was so angry and told them to clean it up. But nobody cared. So, I decided to go for some emergency cleaning services in Mississauga . I searched for someone affordable and discreet. The cleaning service I hired also provided the cleaning materials and equipment. So, I had to pay only for the cleaning. But If you want you can also write it up in the lease that the tenants should agree with the cleaning. That’s completely your option.

Michael Plante · Answer

I’m sure you can find someone to clean for $15/hour

Pay them to clean for 2 hours a week

Add $120 a month when you re-rent

Advertise you provide light cleaning when you rerent

Nathan Gesner · Answer

If you rent to college kids, expect this to continue. Their standards are going to be low, always. Personally, I hire a cleaner to handle the common areas on all my multi-family properties because the tenants (even older adults) don't usually clean the common areas.

Josiah Pisel · Answer

Chris welcome to BP! You can definitely add that to the lease when the leases are up (or as @Rob Orazi suggested, and have the the current tenants sign an addendum agreeing to have the unit cleaned every so often, i.e. once every two weeks). There is currently a rental listing on CL here in Bozeman that includes cleaning in the rent price, once every two weeks.

You can also write into the lease that the tenants agree to clean the lint from in dryer and around hot water heater on a daily, weekly, monthly basis... whether they actually do it or not is another story, but at least it shifts some of the liability on to them if the place burns down because of dryer lint.

Another thing to consider if your not already doing it is to require renters to have Renters Insurance. This seems to be more and more common place these days. This also may help covering you in the event that there was damage to the property and the tenants were liable for it.

Also if this is your first rental property remember that tenants often times need to be trained/learn to be good tenants (especially if they are younger first time renters, i.e. college kids). Stay on top of them, be consistent, and follow through with what you say you are going to do, and most importantly be a good communicator (this will pay big dividends later).

Good Luck

Michael Rutkowski · Answer

Hey Chris, Nice job on your purchase in Bozeman! ;)

I used to rent to college kids in Bozeman, but my depreciation was through the roof. I would never pay for someone else's cleaning without charging them. Something like that would need to be in a lease agreement.

The best thing you can do around here is to lay down some commercial vinyl flooring, put some real wood wainscotting up, get a carpet with a 10 year warranty, move that laundry away from the water heater, and do a 3 month routine inspection. Also if you're paying heat/gas, clean or pay someone to clean out all your ducts and change your filters if you have forced air.

This is a great market but renting to college kids is the pits IMHO. I did it for 10 years.

I run a few businesses here, one of which is a niche property management company. You are welcome to PM with the address of the property and I can bounce some ideas off of you if you're interested.

Christopher Geddes · Answer

Thanks, Rob. The lease is up in May so I likely won't make any changes until then. You make a good point about understanding that the unit isn't exactly mine anymore. The overall cleanliness is less of a concern. I thought of this to hopefully prevent potential fire hazards from occurring.