Clean Apartment Tenant Expectations

Every tenant moving in for the first time expects a clean rental unit i.e. freshly shampooed carpet, a scrubbed and polished bathroom / kitchen, and perhaps, even a lick of fresh paint on the walls, if required. However, tenant expectations are sometimes not met by landlords, who may promise a clean and newly painted apartment before a tenant moves in, but renege and do not deliver on the promise?

If, you are one of those landlords, who did not clean the place before the new tenants moved in, and now because they have nowhere else to go, they are concerned about the health of their children and the total well-being of the family. In such a situation, they may just consider reporting the unhealthy living conditions of your rental unit to the health department, getting you into trouble with the authorities. Once they know their legal rights in the matter, they may even go to court against you.

Unpainted and unclean conditions are genuine health risks, and certainly demand that you as landlord should take immediate action by getting the place in spic and span condition. Once the matter gets reported to the health department, seeing the severity of the problems will prompt them to take action against you, especially, if the walls are painted with peeling lead-based paint, fast deteriorating and a definite health hazard.

Many of the states have enacted remedies for tenants that give them permission to carry out necessary repairs in their rental units, later on deducting costs from the rent, or withhold rent till such time; the landlord cleans the place, carrying out repairs and maintenance work.

To wind off, a word of advice to tenants:

1. In future, get every landlord promise down in writing before moving in. You will need a contract to prove your point, in case you have to move the issue to a court of law.
2. Avoid renting a dirty place, as any landlord who advertises and shows such a place has no pride in his / her property, and is unlikely to keep it up during your tenancy.

As for landlords, it your responsibility to offer clean and healthy living conditions. After all, if your last tenant did not clean out the unit before moving out, you had their security deposit to deduct cleaning and repair costs from, unless of course, the lick of paint has been long over due, in which case, painting costs cannot be deducted from the security deposit amount.