What do you point out to tenants at annual inspections

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What do you point out to tenants at annual inspections

Jennifer Rysdam
Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes

I just evicted a tenant who had lived in one of my apartments for 8 years. He obviously hadn't cleaned in all those years. I'm wondering, when you do inspections what do you point out for tenants to clean/fix? Do you have them clean, wipe food off of walls, pull out appliances and clean under, scrub shower, clean carpets, etc.? I'm realizing that maybe if I had pointed these things out in the last 2 years that I have owned this building that I might not have had to do so much of it myself when he moved out.

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Mike Miranda
Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 5 votes
7y

Hello. My faience and I have been growing our list of rentals for several years we are up to 20 units now and counting...

anyhow, we created a Cleaning list upon renting and require the tenants to acknowledge and sign it. and they will be charged Cleaning fees associated with each job  for not returning the apartment clean like they received it, we think this is not to much to ask and if they don't like the terms it also is handy in the screening process. we have had good luck with this policy and we have turned it into a profit center as well as great turn overs for the ones who do clean it.

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  • Frank Maratta
    Rental Property Investor · CT · Member since 2019 · 105 posts · 68 votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam

    After 8 years I would expect a mini rehab - cabinets appliances countertops and repainting the entire apartment. If after 8 years all you had to do was clean, you got away easy.

    1Reply
  • Jeff Willis
    CA & NV · Member since 2019 · 216 posts · 378 votes
    7y

    Don't confuse clean with damage. If you do inspections, it is for the purpose of identifying maintenance items. It is not your job or responsibility to tell me if my floors are clean. 

    4Reply
  • Jennifer Rysdam
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Frank Maratta:

    @Jennifer Rysdam

    After 8 years I would expect a mini rehab - cabinets appliances countertops and repainting the entire apartment. If after 8 years all you had to do was clean, you got away easy.

    I did do a mini rehab, but it would've been nice to not have to spend so much time cleaning the filth as well. The fridge wasn't that old but had to be replaced because it was so gross and broken inside. The floors had to be scrubbed before putting new vinyl plank on top of them. Under the fridge and stove were just disgusting. The tile surround and tub were nasty and the carpets all stained. I'm just curious if these are things that get brought up during inspections. Not only is it more work for me when they move out, it causes bugs and mold as well. I have run into such filth in apartments where people have only been there a couple of years too.

    0Reply
  • Jennifer Rysdam
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Jeff Willis:

    Don't confuse clean with damage. If you do inspections, it is for the purpose of identifying maintenance items. It is not your job or responsibility to tell me if my floors are clean. 

    I get what you're saying. I don't expect them to be perfect. But his was just gross. Here is the fridge for example.
     

    0Reply
  • Mike Franco
    Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2013 · 555 posts · 261 votes
    7y

    I would check for things that attract pests.

    Pests, plumbing leaks, are my biggest concerns.

    I had a tenant once who let water remain on the bathroom floor. It rotted out the wood and attracted termites. There was very extensive termite damage, which I still haven't properly fixed yet.

    1Reply
  • Jennifer J.
    Pleasant Hill, CA · Member since 2017 · 43 posts · 17 votes
    7y

    Lack of cleanliness can definitely turn into a maintenance issue. That refrigerator picture is horrifying. 

    0Reply
  • Jason D.
    Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam you point out lease violations and look for maintenance and repairs. It's not your responsibility to tell them how to live.

    1Reply
  • John Teachout
    Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    That's exactly why we don't provide refrigerators in our sfr rentals. Tenants need to supply their own. (we do supply the other appliances)

    1Reply
  • Jennifer Rysdam
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Jason D.:

    @Jennifer Rysdam you point out lease violations and look for maintenance and repairs. It's not your responsibility to tell them how to live.

    I won't tell them how to live, and I don't expect their place to be spotless, but our lease states that they have to keep their apartment clean.

    1. "HOUSEKEEPING. On an ongoing basis, Tenant agrees to keep the home in a clean, neat, and sanitary condition."

    Did you see the pic of the fridge that I posted above? Things like that are something that I'm going to start pointing out. He ruined that fridge. I had to replace it. Broken drawers and door shelves. I'd rather see many other items broken than a fridge like that. His $300 deposit didn't quite cover his damages or his unpaid rent.

    1Reply
  • Jason D.
    Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam that sounds like it would fall under "lease violation", if that's what your lease states. But if you're not willing to evict over it, you need to remove that from your lease.

    0Reply
  • Dennis M.
    Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
    7y

    Most are slobs . Let him marinate in his own filth and collect the rent till they are gone . The inspections are to make sure they aren’t destroying the place and there’s no deferred repairs that they never told you about . Not your job to parent these slobs

    1Reply
  • Anthony Rosa
    Rental Property Investor · New York City · Member since 2019 · 703 posts · 538 votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam -  He gave a $300 deposit that doesn't cover repairs, how much is the rent?

    0Reply
  • Anthony Rosa
    Rental Property Investor · New York City · Member since 2019 · 703 posts · 538 votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam - He gave a $300 deposit that doesn't cover repairs, Is rent $300? If the rent is $300 what do you expect for tenant quality..$300 rent is borderline rent for homeless transition housing.  

    Obviously this tenant is nasty (might have medical issues?) and you did inspections for the past 7 and didn't do anything about it most likely because the rent was paid on time and the tenant wasn't a pain in the rear...Out of site, out of mind and the check keeps coming. 

    Look at it this way, you had a tenant for 8 years and that's longevity. Every tenant turnover costs money regardless of length of time.  In the end, you spend a couple thousand on turnover...all in all you did real good.

    1Reply
  • Mike Miranda
    Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 5 votes
    7y

    Hello. My faience and I have been growing our list of rentals for several years we are up to 20 units now and counting...

    anyhow, we created a Cleaning list upon renting and require the tenants to acknowledge and sign it. and they will be charged Cleaning fees associated with each job  for not returning the apartment clean like they received it, we think this is not to much to ask and if they don't like the terms it also is handy in the screening process. we have had good luck with this policy and we have turned it into a profit center as well as great turn overs for the ones who do clean it.

    5Reply
  • Meg K.
    Investor · Rochester, NY · Member since 2013 · 131 posts · 36 votes
    7y

    I love Google. :)  This might help https://www.landlordology.com/...

    BTW i have the same issue with current tenant.  He is a slob but pays on time.  I have only seen the basement which scares me about what i will find inside the apartment.  What is more, this was my former residence with a nice gas stove and 2 door fridge in a B/C area.  I told the tenant that I will be doing an inspection at the end of this month (It's been 2 1/2 yrs).  I am sure this will force him to clean up before i do the inspection which is intended to identify any needed repairs :). I can only put hope on the high deposit if eventually major cleaning is needed.  

    1Reply
  • Max T.
    Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam

    What you’re describing is normal wear and tear aside from the broken fridge.

    0Reply
  • Mark S.
    Real Estate Investor · Saint Paul, MN · Member since 2017 · 543 posts · 474 votes
    7y

    @Max T. Maybe it is in your area but I don’t know any landlords who consider broken appliances normal wear and tear, regardless of whether it is an A,B or C rental. The solution is to do an initial walk thru before move-in with the tenant, have them sign off on the condition of the property, include language requiring that it be returned in the same condition it was in when rented (carpets vacuumed with no stains, hard surfaces cleaned, etc.) and collect a large enough damage deposit to pay for damages and necessary cleaning. I always have the carpets professionally cleaned, bathrooms and kitchen cleaned, and walls touched up or painted anyway without charging it back to the tenant at move out but you want to start with things in decent condition.

    1Reply
  • Peter TverdovBusiness Member
    Developer · New Brunswick, NJ · Member since 2015 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y

    We do a quarterly inspection for every property we manage. We check exterior and interior. We do it for a few reasons:

    It's to see if there are any Lease violations

    We make sure smoke/carbon and fire extinguisher are working

    We make sure place isn't so filthy it's going attract pests

    We make note of anything nearing the end of it's useful life.

    Then this report gets sent to the owners and we keep a copy. Makes it easy to defend security deposit deductions when we noted that we asked the tenant 3-4 times in 1 year to clean the stove and then had to deduct for the stove being filthy. We've caught tenants with pitbulls on the property (no dogs allowed), bongs out on the coffee table, weed on the coffee table, etc. 

    [email protected]732-289-3823
    3Reply
  • Jennifer Rysdam
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, MN · Member since 2017 · 518 posts · 354 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Anthony Rosa:

    @Jennifer Rysdam - He gave a $300 deposit that doesn't cover repairs, Is rent $300? If the rent is $300 what do you expect for tenant quality..$300 rent is borderline rent for homeless transition housing.  

    Obviously this tenant is nasty (might have medical issues?) and you did inspections for the past 7 and didn't do anything about it most likely because the rent was paid on time and the tenant wasn't a pain in the rear...Out of site, out of mind and the check keeps coming. 

    Look at it this way, you had a tenant for 8 years and that's longevity. Every tenant turnover costs money regardless of length of time.  In the end, you spend a couple thousand on turnover...all in all you did real good.

     I bought the property just over 2 years ago. It's a very small town. It was a partial section 8 property and the program had ended. The rent was $444 at the time and whoever was willing/able to pay the rent could stay. A year later I raised the rent to $500 and he has always paid on time. The $300 deposit was there from when he moved in. His lease was ended because of doing drugs and being loud and disruptive to the other tenants. He's also a drunk who is very verbally abusive to other tenants and myself. Lots of lease violations, as he did as he pleased. I should have removed him long ago but he is friends with the handicapped tenant next door and helps him out. Once we got to the drugs part I had to end his lease. He refused to lease so I had to evict him. Even then he moved out when he wanted to.

    0Reply
  • Anthony Rosa
    Rental Property Investor · New York City · Member since 2019 · 703 posts · 538 votes
    7y

    Being a property owner for that rent range comes with non quality tenant pool has its headaches. 

    1Reply
  • Billy Smith
    Shawnee Mission, KS · Member since 2016 · 719 posts · 313 votes
    7y

    After 8 years it is beyond cleaning it is time to look for damage to the property .

    I  tell my renters to have it professionally  cleaned then tell them what that means .

    I would have it sprayed  for bugs no matter what you see before humans live in it .

    0Reply
  • Anthony Wick
    Rental Property Investor · Ankeny, IA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    I completely disagree with those that state the tenant can live any way they want as long as rent is paid on time. That makes no sense. Paying rent isn't a license to destroy the place. And yes, piles of filth do indeed ruin a place. The smells themselves can get into the building materials and could cause a complete tear out down to the studs. My lease does state regular cleaning must be performed, or landlord reserves the right to hire a cleaning crew and charge tenant. My units rent for $1,400+ for most of them, so I am absolutely prepared to evict a hoarder, a slob, somebody that ruins the fridge from no cleaning. And my inspections are every 6 months to catch these kinds of people and get them to either clean or to get out. 

    3Reply
  • Frank Maratta
    Rental Property Investor · CT · Member since 2019 · 105 posts · 68 votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam

    Was that fridge disconnected from power and remained closed after they moved out? That mold growth looks typical of that

    0Reply
  • Joe P.
    Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2017 · 824 posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    Interesting comments here. I don't think we have a right to tell tenants how to live, but we do have a right to set living standards vis-a-vis the lease; e.g. setting expectations.

    My duplex has an upstairs tenant who was messy, in the sense that they didn't clean up their food and dirty dishes. It wasn't the worst I've seen, but leaving out food and dirty pans attracts bugs.

    My lease states the apartment should be clean and sanitary, and was treated by an exterminator before they moved in, and any new issues would be their responsibility.

    I was actually surprised when I pointed this all out -- they cleaned the place pretty well and took care of the food/dirty pans. They're moving out at the end of the month (relocation) but the turnaround was remarkable.

    Anyway, the lease is our agreement to have a good working relationship. I am up front with folks that I'm an active landlord and I want good, clean tenants who pay rent on time. And I will be their best landlord in return...even though I am operating a C/B- area, I still want them to come, stay, and be productive to both the house and bottom line.

    2Reply
  • Ola Dantis
    Multifamily Syndicator · Houston, TX · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y

    @Jennifer Rysdam 

    Hey Jennifer, this one is a tough one, as it is hard to "enforce" cleanliness with tenants. It all starts with the type of tenant demographic that your property attracts.

    Now, the only reasonable thing to do is to set aside some capital for turnover when you find that a tenant is exhibiting that kind of behaviour during your inspections. 

    Glad you were able to get rid of that tenant 👍

    1Reply
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