Landlords: What can you ask Tenants to do when moving out?

[black_2.5RS]

I own a rental property and i'm trying to document what I expect my tenants to do when moving out. I know generally, the place needs to be clean but I want to clearly state what "clean" means in order to avoid confusion and BS down the road. Are there any things I can ask a Tenant to do (ie: vacuum the carpet) and cannot ask (ie: shampoo the carpets, scrub the walls with a tooth brush)?

I've looked on the Alberta Landlord Tenancy Act and it doesn't really specify. It just basically states, return the place as you got it or expect deductions from the damage deposit.

[Amysicle]

From the Rental Agreement we happened to inhereit from purchasing a house, it says:

"Management acknowledges receipt of ________ dollars ($_____) as a deposit to indemnify owner against damage to the property and for Resident's fulfillment of the condtions of this agreement. Deposit will be returned to the Resident less a $150.00 carpet cleaning charge, thirty (30) days after the residence is vacated if:
a) Lease term has expired or agreement has been terminated by both parties; and
b) All monies due Management by Resident have been paid; and
c) Residence is not damaged and is left in it's original condition, normal wear and tear excepted; and
d) Management is in receipt of a copy of the final bills on all utilities (including gas, water, electric, cable TV and telephone)
e) Deposit will not be returned if Resident leaves before the lease time is completed. Deposit may be applied by Management to satisfy all or part of the Resident's obligations and such act shall not prevent Management from claiming damanage in excess of the deposit. Resident may NOT apply the deposit to any of the rent payment."

And I suppose in your walkthrough inspection report with the tenant, make notes that the carpets have been vacuumed, walls have been wiped clean, windows and mirrors windexed clean, etc, etc basicly a list of things of the condition of the place that you're giving it to the tenant, and what you expect what they move out, which I'm going to hope all that stuff means it's "original condition".

Hope this helps.

[urban.one]

30 days is illegal.

The law says 10 days. Even if your tenant signed the lease stating 30, the law still applies.

As for deducting the $150 for carpet cleaning... You are only allowed to deduct funds from the security deposit if the apartment is dirty beyond normal wear and tear.

The terms of the Residential Tenancies Act cannot be contradicted by the terms of a tenancy agreement.

Again, it doesnt matter what the tenant signed or agreed to. The law always applies. (Most tenants dont know the rules as well as they should and thats why landlords are able to take advantage.) But as a landlord you should understand the law because theres tenants out there who know the rules and can become huge problems and end up costing you lots of time and money.


Originally posted by Amysicle
From the Rental Agreement we happened to inhereit from purchasing a house, it says:

"Management acknowledges receipt of ________ dollars ($_____) as a deposit to indemnify owner against damage to the property and for Resident's fulfillment of the condtions of this agreement. Deposit will be returned to the Resident less a $150.00 carpet cleaning charge, thirty (30) days after the residence is vacated if:
a) Lease term has expired or agreement has been terminated by both parties; and
b) All monies due Management by Resident have been paid; and
c) Residence is not damaged and is left in it's original condition, normal wear and tear excepted; and
d) Management is in receipt of a copy of the final bills on all utilities (including gas, water, electric, cable TV and telephone)
e) Deposit will not be returned if Resident leaves before the lease time is completed. Deposit may be applied by Management to satisfy all or part of the Resident's obligations and such act shall not prevent Management from claiming damanage in excess of the deposit. Resident may NOT apply the deposit to any of the rent payment."

And I suppose in your walkthrough inspection report with the tenant, make notes that the carpets have been vacuumed, walls have been wiped clean, windows and mirrors windexed clean, etc, etc basicly a list of things of the condition of the place that you're giving it to the tenant, and what you expect what they move out, which I'm going to hope all that stuff means it's "original condition".

Hope this helps.

[Amysicle]

Seriously.

Nice. Thanks for the heads up. I can see this as being a potential headache down the road. This was a previous agreement between the previous owner and the tentant (we haven't even taken possession of the place yet, and they failed to tell us about the tenants until after the papers were signed and money was exchanged. grrr). And I've only skimmed through it so far.

I did call the Alberta government about it (not specific details within the lease) and they said we would have to honour this agreement. I'll take a look at the RTA later.

[brucebanner]

Originally posted by Amysicle
(we haven't even taken possession of the place yet, and they failed to tell us about the tenants until after the papers were signed and money was exchanged. grrr).

That seems like a real dirty trick by the seller. Did you plan on moving into the house after you took possession of the home?

What they did as a seller is wrong IMO.

[Amysicle]

It's a bit complicated with the number of people involved, but I agree, it is a completely dirty trick on the seller's part. They've been pulling shit like that during the entire process, but too much time and money has been invested into this to really say STOP! We're not putting up with it anymore.

It was going to be as much painting/renovating that needs to be done in a short span and then moving in, but now it's going to be do what we can, and wait for the lease to end before doing stuff in the basement. We'll probably end up moving in a month before the tenants leave, so it'll be kind of cramped with way too much stuff in too small of a house with too many people. :nut:

[codetrap]

When the wife and I lived at burger view, they gave us a checklist for our inspection that covered all the stuff that had to be cleaned in detail (down to window tracks wiped clean)..

The same checklist was used when we moved out. I found it pretty helpful as everything was spelled out clearly up front, and we all knew what our responsibilities were.

We did have the option of course of forfeiting the DD for them to come in and clean, based on an hourly rate from a professional cleaning company. Since I kept the place pretty spotless, I simply did the checklist in a day.

[codetrap]

Originally posted by Amysicle
It's a bit complicated with the number of people involved, but I agree, it is a completely dirty trick on the seller's part. They've been pulling shit like that during the entire process, but too much time and money has been invested into this to really say STOP! We're not putting up with it anymore.

It was going to be as much painting/renovating that needs to be done in a short span and then moving in, but now it's going to be do what we can, and wait for the lease to end before doing stuff in the basement. We'll probably end up moving in a month before the tenants leave, so it'll be kind of cramped with way too much stuff in too small of a house with too many people. :nut:

Moving in before the tenants leave seems like a really bad idea to me. It's just creating a situation where fights happen, and stuff can go missing. You may be better off finding and alternate place to stay, or in the very least putting the majority of your stuff in storage until the tenants are out and the locks are changed.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by codetrap


Moving in before the tenants leave seems like a really bad idea to me. It's just creating a situation where fights happen, and stuff can go missing. You may be better off finding and alternate place to stay, or in the very least putting the majority of your stuff in storage until the tenants are out and the locks are changed.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by codetrap


Moving in before the tenants leave seems like a really bad idea to me. It's just creating a situation where fights happen, and stuff can go missing. You may be better off finding and alternate place to stay, or in the very least putting the majority of your stuff in storage until the tenants are out and the locks are changed.

To me it sounds like the tenant has a basement suite and the OP is planning on renovating and moving in to the upper portion, leaving all their belongings upstairs in the cramped space while waiting for the lease to end.

[Amysicle]

BlackArcher, you are correct. Sorry for not clarifying. The tentants are in the basement suite (so I guess it should have occured to us that they were tenants, but the sellers kept mentioning they'd have to talk to the other owners first during negotiations and so we figured that's who they meant, since no one mentioned tenants at all).

Edit: Let's just call it a day and label me an idiot. Everything that could go wrong is going wrong and now we're just trying to make the best of a bad situation.

Thank you again for the heads up about the Rental Agreement not being quite legal. I'll take a closer look at it later to make sure all of it complies with the RTA.

[S4maniac]

With our properties, we gave the tenant a copy of their move-in report. There was another column labeled Move-out. The tenant was to clean and check off all the items that were checked on move-in.

There was a check box for professionally steamed carpets. Rug Doctor didn't cut it.

Technically you can ask for anything "reasonable" for the tenant to clean. The key consideration is that its almost never worth fighting a tenant in court.

[syb65]

where was your lawyer through all this?

[Amysicle]

I'm wondering that myself. :banghead:

[Whiley]

i thought law was basically place must be cleaned to same condition as time of move in except for normal wear and tear
theres people whov had their security money kept by grinch landlords claiming for cost of a billion little repairs sometimes though to

[sr20s14zenki]

I just moved out of my apartment, and into my house, but we broke our lease to do it. Long story short, i found a new tenant, we rugdoctored, and cleaned everything, not perfect, but livable. On our lease agreement it said there was a 200$ re-rent fee, well he actually gave me our damage deposit fully back minus 100$ for a re-rent fee rather than 200$ which was on the agreement. Good landlord IMO, not grinchy.

[Mitsu3000gt]

We pay a realator $100/month/property to manage our rental properties and it is the best investment ever. Zero hassles, he is familiar with all the laws, and he also lines up GOOD tenants to rent your house so they move right in as the previous tenants are moving out. So far we haven't had a single issue with any tenants, never one month without a renter, and every house looks near perfect inside and out. I would highly recommend a service like this if you don't like dealing with the hassles of a rental property. If the tenant has an issue, they don't call us they call the guy and he works everything out.