Non-refundable cleaning deposit

[Mixalot27]

I am renting an apartment in Vernon, BC. My six month lease is up at the end of April. When I signed the lease I was informed that they charge a $150 non-refundable cleaning fee which I paid. Normally when I move out of a place, I clean the place spotless. However, in this case since I have paid a cleaning fee, I am wondering what condition I am expected to leave the place cleanliness wise?

[speedog]

Do what you would normally do? :dunno:

Btw, you're renting an apartment in Vernon, BC but your location is in Calgary - that's one hell of a commute.

[ExtraSlow]

This fee means they are hiring cleaners. So no worries about cleaning surfaces or floors. I'd probably still vacuum.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
This fee means they are hiring cleaners. So no worries about cleaning surfaces or floors. I'd probably still vacuum.


:werd: I'd at least vaccum and throw away garbage. Normal decent human being stuff

[jwslam]

Originally posted by dj_rice
:werd: I'd at least vaccum and throw away garbage. Normal decent human being stuff
I disagree? If I've paid a fee, I'm leaving in the same condition I would leave a hotel room... No access to a vacuum, garbage left untaken, but obviously not like the Sage Hill AirBnB house.

[Mixalot27]

The lease we signed was just a standard BC Residential Tenancy lease provided by the BC government.

According the lease I am expected to return the place in clean condition. However, if I am reading things right, he wasn't allowed to charge me a non-refundable cleaning fee on-top of my security deposit. It appears that the security deposit can only be half a months rent and then on top of that only a few certain fees for keys, nsf cheques, etc.

http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/loo97/loo97/10_477_2003


However, I don't plan on disputing the fee. My thought was that I would at least take out the garbage, vacuum, and do a quick surface cleaning. However, I was thinking of not cleaning inside the appliances, bathtub, balcony, etc overally thoroughly. Then again, I might just clean the place like I normally do to keep a good relationship and avoid any hassles. I guess I will ask my landlord what his expectations are.

[Seth1968]

That $150.00 might just be for carpet cleaning. If so, you would still have to clean the place. Check the lease, and maybe talk to the landlord.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Originally posted by jwslam

I disagree? If I've paid a fee, I'm leaving in the same condition I would leave a hotel room... No access to a vacuum, garbage left untaken, but obviously not like the Sage Hill AirBnB house.

I'm of a similar opinion, the exception being any extreme messes/accidents. For general dirtyness/untidyness, if they won't let me clean it myself and make me pay for it, I'm not going to do anything. Let me clean it myself and it will probably be better than the paid job.

[HiTempguy1]

Regardless of the cleaning fee, you still need to abide by BC's landlord and tenant act, which probably stipulates the place be "clean".

Would I leave it spotless? No. But I would at least give it a quick cleaning, place shouldn't be that messy if you only lived there 6 months :dunno:

[ee2k]

Check with your landlord about what's expected.