All Forum Posts by: Jennifer Rysdam

I had a tenant move out and had to shampoo the carpet 4 times with lots of Odoban to get the smell out. I also had to spend hours scrubbing food off the front and inside of the cabinets, and under the fridge and stove, among other things. I do all of my work myself.

Can I deduct my hours from her deposit in MN? What hourly rate do you charge for cleaning?

Thanks!

@Mindy Jensen For some reason when I tried today it works fine again! Yay! I've really been missing the message boards :) Thanks for your help :)

I shampooed the carpets twice with 1/2 water and 1/2 Odoban. Now it just smells like Odoban. I'm going to rinse them a couple of times and see how it smells. Then I can decide what the next step is. I'm really hoping it turns out ok. I'm thinking most of the smell was from the cat box that was WAY too full of litter and not cleaned out. Lots of ammonia from the pee in the bottom that she couldn't reach because it was so full of litter. Crossing my fingers.

My next unit is someone who has been living there and smoking in it for 25 years. Fun times! :)

Thanks everyone for the ideas and advice. Definitely going to get the ultraviolet light. That will help in other units as well.

I just bought this building last month. My twenty something year old tenant had 2 unapproved cats and her apartment smelled horrible. I sent her a letter to get rid of the cats. She decided to give her notice and move out. She and her mother "steam cleaned" the carpets, thinking that would get out cat pee! She's convinced that they're clean and fresh. All I smell is cat yuk. I even asked the neighbor to come and do a sniff test. I'm planning on keeping her $300 deposit for cleaning and probably new flooring. How do I convince her of just how bad it is? I'm going to use Odoban in my shampooer and see if I can get it out. Also thinking about rolling up carpet, kilzing the floor, and then laying the carpet back down. It's nice carpet and I think the floor under it is going to be the problem.

My message board screen is all squished to the left and just a list. It's just impossible to use. Does anyone know how to fix this? I've tried clearing everything, restarting, etc. and nothing works. I'm missing Bigger Pockets :(

I only made the exception for him because he is recently disabled, was planning on moving, and the previous owner let him smoke. He's on the second floor and I didn't want him falling down the stairs with his walker and getting hurt.

Thanks everyone for your advice and support. Sorry it took so long to respond. My whole Bigger Pockets discussions screen is on the left side of my computer screen for some reason. It's nearly impossible to read and respond to posts.
Anyways, I sent a letter of non-renewal to him. Then I ran into him at the building later that day when I brought him some skis that I had bought for his walker legs (his rubber caps stick to the floor and make a ton of noise every time he moves around) and he said that he was going to be moving the end of the month. Then I felt bad. He's a nice enough guy. Then I kind of fibbed. When he asked if I needed a letter or something I told him that I'd just send him one in the mail and we'd be good, lol :) Covered my butt and kept a good relationship with him at the same time.
Thanks again, and if anyone knows how to fix my screen please let me know. It's like this on my android too. Everything pushed to the left and no formatting, just a long list of titles.

I have a guy in my building that has lived there since 1993. He's on the second floor (8-plex) and in the last year needs to use a walker. They aren't sure what's going on with his legs but they aren't working from the knees down. He's a smoker (non-smoking building) and a big drinker. I just bought this building and the previous owner didn't enforce the non-smoking rules at all. I sent a letter to everyone when I bought it that smoking was no longer allowed anywhere in the building. I had to make an exception for him though because I don't want him going up and down the 16 steps and back 20 times a day, plus he said he was going to move. Well, so far he's not moving, the common area smells like smoke from him, and I'm very concerned about him falling down the stairs, especially with the drinking. I have one person that moved out and I'm remodeling the whole apartment. Another is moving out the end of this month. I want to get good renters in there but I'm afraid with the smoke smell they won't want to live there. Especially since one is right across the hall from him. Plus, it terrifies me that he's going to fall down the stairs and kill himself. He's in his 60's.
I guess I know what I have to do, but I'm looking for some encouragement. There are other apartments in the area that are available, that are low income (which is what he needs anyways) and have elevators in them. The only reason he's staying at my building is because he can smoke and they'll make him go outside. He's on a month-to-month, I just wish I didn't feel like such an *** by ending his tenancy :/ 

Thanks everyone for the insight. I had the same thought about the phone calls every time it went down, lol! I can just hear them now wanting a credit on their rent because it was down for 2 days!

Jen