My tenant is almost moved out and lease not up until Sept. She said she bought a house (has been good about paying rent, but not good at taking care of the place).

I need to show the home but it has been trashed (reeks of cat urine, feces on floor, kitchen floor deplorable, walls have black film on them from who knows what). She is in no hurry to clean the place, and I have a prequalified tenant who wants to move in Sept 1st and needs to make a decision now (or I will loose them).

The question is whether I can clean the home myself now and charge her for it, or do I have to wait (give her a chance to clean, which she said she can’t get to until maybe next week, and I highly doubt that she will do the kind of cleaning that needs to be done if she did-and could be postponed for weeks). She only has a couple of pieces of furniture left, and she is not living there. She turned off the fridge so it’s all moldy inside, and when I got there, the back patio door was left open so anyone or anything in the world could have just walked right in. She hasn’t been to to house in days, and windows were left open also (she was trying to air it out from the horrible smell). Lawn is high and back yard is way overgrown with brush. I don’t want to wait around for her to clean it! It’s just lost time in getting it re-rented.

She is not living there, but possession has not been returned, and still has 1.5 months left (I’m assuming she will pay since she always has). I’ve offered her money back for rent for prorated days if we can get someone else in there before her lease is up, but it doesn’t seem to motivate her at all.

I just want to know if I can charge her for cleaning if I do it now before her lease is up? I need to show it; any input appreciated!

IN law says:

" Upon termination of a rental agreement, a landlord shall return to the tenant the security deposit minus any amount applied to:

(1) the payment of accrued rent;

(2) the amount of damages that the landlord has suffered or will reasonably suffer by reason of the tenant's moncompliance with law or the rental agreement; and

You can clean it, but you can't charge her for it. She still has plenty of time to get in there and clean and all she has to say to the judge is that she wasn't out and you didn't give her time to clean.

Lauren,

These drive me batty! Are they out, are they done, are they coming back...

At the moment, if she paid July rent she has possession until July 31 or until she returns the keys.

I suggest texting ‘Mary, Empty houses attract vandalism. The sooner you are out the sooner your responsibility for broken windows will end. Pls text me your plans.’

Don’t hold your breath on her cleaning the place

Your prospect: you don’t have a home available for them at this time. Maybe soon. Our biz is to match ready homes with ready people.

BUT

We NEVER hold a place and lose August rent! There are plenty of applicants out there. Your biz is not dependent on ONE prospect.

We leave the home on the market until they pay and sign.

Patience and communication

PS

My lease is clear: if the grass is long we mow and charge $100. Cheaper than the $276 city fine which becomes a lien on MY property!

I know you all are right and that I need to wait until she is all out. It’s just hard when I’ve got a qualified applicant and their move-in date would be perfect (and I know they would love the house-if it were cleaned). I spend a lot of time going through prospective tenants to find the right match (a good tenant who finds the house is perfect for their needs). I’d rather spend time cleaning the place and fixing it up than taking a bunch of phone calls screening applicants and setting up showings. Office work eats up so much time!