Current Events > My landlord wants to charge a $1000 cleaning fee (I moved out).

(+) Yeah! (+)

Before you assume the obvious (i.e. that I am a methhead and I completely trashed the place), here were his comments on the checkout form:

• dust still left in the vacuum
• limescale behind kitchen sink tap
• food residue under dials on kitchen hob
• dust inside bedroom air vent#

He then itemised a bill for this and each point is listed at around $50-100 to clean.

I'm not going to share pictures for obvious reasons but I checked with various friends and they said the place was absolutely sparkling. The photos the landlord sent through were zoomed in to a molecular level of some dust and basic things that would take a 10 second wipe to fix if they were spotted. I have no doubt that if he hires a cleaner they will give the place a 15 minute once over and be done.

I'm never renting again.

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So why didnt you spend 10 seconds wiping those areas?

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skermac posted...

So why didnt you spend 10 seconds wiping those areas?

Naturally it was entirely deliberate, I looked directly at those spots and thought, "I'm just going to leave this, because I hate money"

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pinky0926 posted...

I have no doubt that if he hires a cleaner they will give the place a 15 minute once over and be done.

Perhaps you should have done this.

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skermac posted...

So why didnt you spend 10 seconds wiping those areas?

Imagine defending the landlord on this.

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onedarksoul posted...

Perhaps you should have done this.

There's a provision in the lease that he will get a professional cleaner regardless and the cost of this would be around $200, so I figured what the hey, if he's going to get someone in to shampoo the carpet and whatever no matter what I do, no point paying twice for it.

I've moved house many times in my life and never had trouble like this, but I should have known with the kind of guy he is.

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Always get the property professionally cleaned and give a copy of the receipt to the owner or management.

16-BITTER posted...

My favorite landlord story:

Friends of mine had to move out of their apartment because it was seized by eminent domain and was being demolished to improve traffic at the intersection (they got decent compensation and notice from the county, for the record).

The landlord didn't return their security deposit because they didn't clean the carpets prior to vacating.

Fucking scum

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At least next time you've learned your lesson to take a video evidence along with a newspaper / common show for that day next time you leave

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16-BITTER posted...

My favorite landlord story:

Friends of mine had to move out of their apartment because it was seized by eminent domain and was being demolished to improve traffic at the intersection (they got decent compensation and notice from the county, for the record).

The landlord didn't return their security deposit because they didn't clean the carpets prior to vacating.

lmao

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Do they not have a system like here?

Unless you trash the place for real (which would require them taking you to court over to get paid on) the most they can do is keep your damage deposit (which is capped at a half months rent).

Most landlords won't give you the damage deposit back no matter how clean and perfectly maintained the place is but thats still better than this shit.

A landlord here could do that I guess... but you'd have no more obligation to pay it than if a random stranger sent you a bill.

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cant do much. people have to take landlords to court if they get wronged.
have to bring in pictures of the apartment before you left since that is the proof you had at the time that it was in good condition as it was left.

then it will be a toss-up if you get at least most of the money back.

my grandfather was shorted out of nearly his whole deposit due to cigarette smoke (they had to clean the entire apartment of smoke stains). doubtful it would've taken the whole deposit to clean it up but that was the result.
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Is there a provision in the lease that he can demand a $1000 cleaning fee?
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How much security deposit did you pay? What happens if you just refuse?
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You can technically fight stuff like this in court, but I'm not sure how successful that tends to be and if it's worth it.

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My lease details exactly what i need to wipe down and shit in order for it to not come out if my deposit. Wtf

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skermac posted...

So why didnt you spend 10 seconds wiping those areas?

No one was paying him $360,000/hour to do it.

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TC: *moves out*
Landlord: "there's dust on this shelf"
CE: "Y U NO CLEEN REEEEEEEE"

Sounds like an asshole. I wouldn't pay it.

Tell him the best you can do is 5


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Yeah my husband and I would get cleaners to come in before we moved out. Much cheaper than what landlords will try to charge.

You should seduce and then hump a bastard into his wife for him to raise like an idiot

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Solo_Wing posted...

At least next time you've learned your lesson to take a video evidence along with a newspaper / common show for that day next time you leave

I did all this. To be honest, i think he's just salty that we moved out in the middle of a pandemic when no one is moving into rentals. The cleaning cost is conveniently about a month's rent.

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Just say no. They'd probably have to spend more than $1k in legal fees to get you to pay it.

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Is it possible for you to contest it? I wouldn't be surprised if he's cheekily asking for more than he would legally be owed.

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all the shit the landlord is trying to bill you for is pretty stuff that can easily be missed with the naked eye. no one outside of military officials would have been able to spot it

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kingdrake2 posted...

cant do much. people have to take landlords to court if they get wronged.
have to bring in pictures of the apartment before you left since that is the proof you had at the time that it was in good condition as it was left.

then it will be a toss-up if you get at least most of the money back.

my grandfather was shorted out of nearly his whole deposit due to cigarette smoke (they had to clean the entire apartment of smoke stains). doubtful it would've taken the whole deposit to clean it up but that was the result.

Tbf properly cleaning a place that has been smoked in is expensive as fuck. It requires new paint with killz primer which is expensive as fuck.

Not saying the landlords actually did what they should have but it literally requires repainting and replacing carpets to get it truly cleaned up.

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You have a deposit right? You should go to court since those amounts are insane. It may take a while to go through but you shouldn't lose $1K on things that take $20 to clean.

Tell him to fuck off and take you to court over it. They will tell him those prices are insane and he will lose.

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I mean, unethical landlords do this all the time. It literally makes no difference how well you clean it. They're relying on the assumption that people would rather pay the fee than spend the time or money to fight it. It's basically free money for them.

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I'd ask a lawyer about it.

I think avvo let's you ask lawyers questions like that.

kingdrake2 posted...

my grandfather was shorted out of nearly his whole deposit due to cigarette smoke (they had to clean the entire apartment of smoke stains). doubtful it would've taken the whole deposit to clean it up but that was the result.

Don't underestimate just what cigarette smoke can do to a place. It gets into all the vents, carpets, drapes, yellows the walls, ceiling, etc. It's a very time consuming process to get rid of the smell and stains.

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The worst part of this all is that I don't think he's trying to be malicious (weird and naive as that may sound). We've had ongoing issues with this landlord being TOO attentive.

Once we mentioned to him that we think we saw a mouse. He texted back immediately saying he would come over and he was at the house in 20 minutes (im pretty sure he lives a 30 minutes drive away). He set up traps everywhere and then randomly vacuumed the entire carpet. He then came back 3 times in the following fortnight to check the traps until we had to send him an email politely asking him to calm the fuck down and stop intruding.

This is one example of many where the guy was clearly just very very anally-retentive about his property. I should have known he'd do this.

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Alucard188 posted...

Don't underestimate just what cigarette smoke can do to a place. It gets into all the vents, carpets, drapes, yellows the walls, ceiling, etc. It's a very time consuming process to get rid of the smell and stains.

Oh. Yeah, id definitely say that cigarette smoke is a good reason to hold someone's deposit. Kinda thing you would really have to clean thoroughly.

pinky0926 posted...

The worst part of this all is that I don't think he's trying to be malicious (weird and naive as that may sound). We've had ongoing issues with this landlord being TOO attentive.

Once we mentioned to him that we think we saw a mouse. He texted back immediately saying he would come over and he was at the house in 20 minutes (im pretty sure he lives a 30 minutes drive away). He set up traps everywhere and then randomly vacuumed the entire carpet. He then came back 3 times in the following fortnight to check the traps until we had to send him an email politely asking him to calm the fuck down and stop intruding.

This is one example of many where the guy was clearly just very very anally-retentive about his property. I should have known he'd do this.

In that case, I'd ask to sit down with him and have him really explain to you how he came to those itemized price points for the cleaning.

I have some understanding of the situation. On the one hand the landlord (may) have a mortgage. On the other hand, people got rent.

I moved into a joint and my lady and I spent about 12 hours bringing it up to OUR standard of cleanliness. We maintained that level. When we left the land lord wanted to charge a cleaning fee and keep our deposit.

Took him to small claims court and WORE HIS ASS LIKE FRUIT OF THE LOOM. Don't fuck with me (at least nonconsensually)

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Did you have a walkthrough when you moved out?

Yeah, was already a few months in when we suddenly had to move due to a crazy landlord. We left the place pretty clean and all of sudden she sends us pics of the stuff we had allegedly destroyed (that she did herself) and used it as an excuse to not give back our deposit. We went to court and judge failed in our favor and ordered her to pay x amount back to settle it, but turns out she didnt even have that amount (like 600). We just left it there over our mental health and the fact that lawyer fees would be more costly than whatever wed get back from her.

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Almost nobody gets their entire security deposit back.

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I lost my whole $2,300 security deposit in Phoenix once because I had a syrup stain which they "had to replace the entire carpet"....assholes.I should of been smart though and just rent a steam cleaner.

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We had some actual damage from when our dog was a puppy and only got charged 50. Our fridge was in pretty rough shape too.

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pinky0926 posted...

dust still left in the vacuum
limescale behind kitchen sink tap
food residue under dials on kitchen hob
dust inside bedroom air vent#

That is ridiculous. The first would literally cost like nothing. The last is something that is very normal and vents are typically difficult to clean and you shouldn't be expected to do so.

The middle two combined would probably cost like less than $15.

Offer him $5 and if he doesn't either drop it or give a reasonable price, say you won't pay as he failed to provide evidence that it would cost him anywhere near that much.

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Landlords are scum and will always keep the deposit. You need to sue.

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Error1355 posted...

Imagine defending the landlord on this.

but youre the one out of your deposit

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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

Landlords are scum and will always keep the deposit. You need to sue.

sueing would be a loss in this case the judge will side with the landlord after seeing the pics

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skermac posted...

sueing would be a loss in this case the judge will side with the landlord after seeing the pics

No, the judge would not and if so youre out a filing fee, its worth it to try and safe $1000.

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take it to social media

who doesnt love to shit on landlords?

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I lived in my apartment almost 10 years, I dont expect any of my deposit back as I do not plan on cleaning it when I decide to move

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