Hand in keys AFTER 6:30pm + dirty house

[Aulyna]

Hi all,

Rented my previous PPOR 3 years ago by DIY.

The tenants left last week. Before they moved out, a new tenant signed a new lease to start the same day the old tenants handing in the key. Happy?

On the day, I received the email from the previous tenant, asking me to pick up the key AFTER 6:30pm....after a whole working day, getting the keys in dark itself is a bit of unpleasant, how can I check the cleanness of the house in dark? So I asked to meet next morning, and also informed the new tenant to delay a day of moving.

The next morning, found the house was in very dirty condition, e.g. the toilet was smelly and dirty, cooktop were dirty, moldy windows with spider nets and dead flies, The fan in bathroom was covered under dirt, that's remind me a week ago, a guy who come to fix the heating charged $65 to replace the filter for the same reason - too dirty, need a replacement... and more importantly, a big area of the timber floor was covered with black oily dirt (The whole house is hardwood timber floor, except laundry, toilet and bathroom....)

At the end, the previous tenant said that's all they could do... keep some money from the bond.

I clean up the house for two days, till 8pm in the evenings. The new tenant helped too, but the floor dirt could not be cleaned, seems need to be sanded out...

On the forth day, the new tenant moved in, as the husband was busy with his work too, asked to start pay rent from their moving in. I agreed.

My questions are:

How much money I should charge the previous tenant for the final clean up?

Thanks for your opinions in advance.

 

[Belu]

you should have had it professionally cleaned and charged it from the bond. that way you have a receipt for the works.

otherwise i would call a few places, get quotes for cleaners on a per hour basis and charge that by the total time you spent on it.

 

[Ed Barton]

Hi all,

Rented my previous PPOR 3 years ago by DIY.

The tenants left last week. Before they moved out, a new tenant signed a new lease to start the same day the old tenants handing in the key. Happy?

On the day, I received the email from the previous tenant, asking me to pick up the key AFTER 6:30pm....after a whole working day, getting the keys in dark itself is a bit of unpleasant, how can I check the cleanness of the house in dark? So I asked to meet next morning, and also informed the new tenant to delay a day of moving.

The next morning, found the house was in very dirty condition, e.g. the toilet was smelly and dirty, cooktop were dirty, moldy windows with spider nets and dead flies, The fan in bathroom was covered under dirt, that's remind me a week ago, a guy who come to fix the heating charged $65 to replace the filter for the same reason - too dirty, need a replacement... and more importantly, a big area of the timber floor was covered with black oily dirt (The whole house is hardwood timber floor, except laundry, toilet and bathroom....)

At the end, the previous tenant said that's all they could do... keep some money from the bond.

I clean up the house for two days, till 8pm in the evenings. The new tenant helped too, but the floor dirt could not be cleaned, seems need to be sanded out...

On the forth day, the new tenant moved in, as the husband was busy with his work too, asked to start pay rent from their moving in. I agreed.

My questions are:

How much money I should charge the previous tenant for the final clean up?

Thanks for your opinions in advance.

i'm sure one of the PMs will be along soon to give you a better answer...

imo you're in a tricky situation. you've not actually incurred an expenses so imagine if it went to tribunal you wouldn't get much. given the former tenant has said to take cleaning costs out of the bond hopefully they won't go to tribunal. you will need to be 'reasonable' about the cleaning costs. our definition of reasonable and the tenants is likely to be different.

wow! the new tenant helped you clean the mess of the old one. can i have their number?

 

[skater]

I believe you can only charge your actual costs, meaning that your own labour is free. You can probably charge the costs of the cleaning chemicals you used, but that is all.

What you should have done was take lots of photo's and got a cleaner in. Then you could deduct the costs from the bond.

Disclaimer: I don't self manage, but believe this is the case. Look up the tenancy laws for more info.

 

[Dazz]

.....I presume the previous Tenants fully paid their rent during the 3 years. You didn't mention anything untoward in that department so it's a valid assumption.

If that is the case, I believe after a 3 year Tenancy you have got off extremely lightly, and all of what you complain about could be put down to 'fair wear and tear'.

If it took you 2 days to clean up, ready for the new Tenants, and they even helped you, consider yourself extremely lucky....and your old Tenants even said take it out of the Bond ??

Missed out on rent for only two days....then straight into another Lease with what sounds like a brilliant Tenant.

I'd be deleting that angry red scowling face and be popping on one of those green smiley faces.

As a residential Landlord, you got off extremely lightly. That is almost "best case" scenario.

Your troubles are small indeed.

 

[alexlee]

Did you do periodic inspections on the property?

 

[depreciator]

I'm with Dazz. I reckon you've done really well. Amazing that the new tenant pitched in and helped.

 

[Ed Barton]

Hi all,
I clean up the house for two days, till 8pm in the evenings.

How much money I should charge the previous tenant for the final clean up?

i'll assume that is two days at twelve hour days. my cleaner charges $30 ph. so 24 x 30 = $720 + sanding costs.

 

[Sez]

normally I would suggest you contact 3 local cleaners and get a price per hour quote (in writing, via email if you wish) then average these per hour costs and charge the previous tenant that amount (e.g quote 1 = 42ph 2 = 35ph 3 = 37ph Average = $38 per hour). Unfortunately as you did the work yourself you will find it VERY difficult to prove this if it comes to tribunal and it would be almost all of their bond. For the sake of a bond claim you really need to get professional cleaners through because receipts are everything. I would claim approx. $400 for the cleaning as compensation to you and also claim 3 days rent from the previous tenant for the time that the house was not able to be occupied due to the state it was left in (if you like I am able to give you the daily rate from the weekly rent). Have you had the stain sanded out? If so you can add this to your claim too.

I hope you have no issues with the claim and your new tenant sounds amazing!!!!

 

[jaycee]

.....I presume the previous Tenants fully paid their rent during the 3 years. You didn't mention anything untoward in that department so it's a valid assumption.

If that is the case, I believe after a 3 year Tenancy you have got off extremely lightly, and all of what you complain about could be put down to 'fair wear and tear'.

If it took you 2 days to clean up, ready for the new Tenants, and they even helped you, consider yourself extremely lucky....and your old Tenants even said take it out of the Bond ??

Missed out on rent for only two days....then straight into another Lease with what sounds like a brilliant Tenant.

I'd be deleting that angry red scowling face and be popping on one of those green smiley faces.

As a residential Landlord, you got off extremely lightly. That is almost "best case" scenario.

Your troubles are small indeed.

Understanding this reality

Allows you to accept that it's a necessary skill required to play the game, syou accept it as such.

Just like any game / job, those who are "good" at it, develop this & then "do it" as part of the normal day to day


It's a rude awakening when it hits us for the first time though

 

[Aulyna]

Thanks for all replies. Feel much better now..

Have taken some photos, but not much.

I should take a cleaner to do the job... only next time though ; -)

No, the floor is not sanded yet. It would be a BIG cost, as after sanding, it needs to be oiled, too...

The new tenant has a 2 month old baby, it might not a good idea to sand the floor while they living there... will discuss with them...

 

[Aulyna]

Did you do periodic inspections on the property?

I did get in a couple of time... saw it was messy... but though that's just their lifestyle... and hoped they would clean it up when thy moving out ; -(

 

[DaveM]

As above without receipts from a cleaner you cant claim much that would stand up at a tribunal should the tenants fight the bond claim.

But as it sounds like they probably wont contest, claim a day for a 2 person cleaner team at $66 an hour, $462 + GST.

Also claim the 2 days of lost rent due to it not being adequately prepared for next tenant.

 

[Lil Skater]

As Sez mentioned, buy it may be hard to claim.

Regarding your inspections, never put it down to their lifestyle as they will think it's okay to live in a mess and that you don't care. This is why you conduct routine inspections to ensure there are no maintenance issues and the tenant is taking care of the property - If you've allowed the mess, then I believe you have dug your own hole.

I have taken some properties off a previous PM of my office, who do not like me as the old PM wasn't fussed about the condition of the property. So when you have tenants living in a dump for 5+ years they don't get it when someone else breaches them.

 

[spludgey]

I wouldn't give them back any of the bond. Getting the floor sanded and oiled/sealed is likely to cost more than the bond.
I would even go as far as getting a quote and requesting more money from the tenant if the costs are higher.

 

[wylie]

I would do what spludgey has suggested, but if they don't pay more than the bond, I'd at least try to keep that, and not push things, or you may get nothing. If they have agreed to paying for the cleaning, then I would try to get as much as you can and if they take you to tribunal, what have you lost?

It's not like you are scamming them, and they might just accept the loss of the bond in total.

We had tenants agree to us keeping enough from the bond when they removed the hills hoist from the yard and drilled pencil sized holes in a VJ wall to put up a shelf. They signed the return of bond form with no hesitation and we paid a painter to patch the walls that we had painted ourselves before the tenancy began, and installed a new (but different style) clothes line.

It comes down to what your tenants decide is fair and whether they dig their heels in, whether they know the rules etc. Cannot hurt to give it a try.

 

[cjandlj]

From what you've written I dont know the legality of charging them for cleaning at all if you've done it yourself. And I dont know how a tribunal will feel about paying for floor sanding either given it wont have been done straight away???

 

[kathryn d]

One of our properties was left in a disgusting state. The new tenants wanted to move in and offered to help. I offered to pay them. I wrote them a cheque and used that as a receipt for cleaning against the bond.
Former tenants never even requested their bond back....they would have ended up paying lots more, and they knew it.