OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!! - Landlord Forum thread 352277

OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!! by Anonymous on May 21, 2017 @14:56

We rented our townhouse to 3 International students from China attending one year MNGT course here for a year lease. These young people seemed very polite and nice with some communication problem. I felt sorry that they couldn't get any rental property because they are International students and don't have any transportation/car to look for other houses. So agreed to rent the house to them for one year. The house was painted freshly last year and one of the new tenants came to see the painting even. The house was also cleaned impeccably at the same time by a professional cleaning service.

In the mean time, my mother passed away and due to my job problems, I got so busy, I couldn't inspect the house condition time to time.
Now that the lease is coming up, I wanted to show the house to the new prospective tenants, we went to the house this morning. To make things worst, we took a bunch of new prospective tenants with us. To our surprise, found out that the whole house has turned into a big dumpster.
There are trash bags, junk/boxes, old food take out boxes, shoes everywhere. Smells so bad!
The white tiles kitchen floor has turned into dark gray color. It's beyond livable condition.
The new tenants freaked out of the house and asked if we are serious about renting the house.

The bathroom floors are so filthy with muddy footprints.

Seemed that these students didn't want to invest in any vacuum cleaners since they will be leaving the country soon.
When I asked if they have a vacuum cleaner/mop, one girl told me that a friend of theirs has borrowed the vacuum cleaner which still could be true, but the house doesn't look like it has ever been vacuumed.

We are now back home very disappointed! of course there is no point of showing the house to new tenants now. we are just thinking how to approach this situation legally and tactfully so we can recover the house.
I have the following section in my lease:

"a) CLEANING. Tenant(s) is responsible for cleaning all areas of the Premises, including but not limited to, living/dining room, kitchen, hallways, laundry room, bedrooms, closets and bathrooms. Carpets and Rugs, and Tile floors must be vacuumed at least once a week. Bathrooms must be cleaned regularly, and as frequently as needed, to prevent unhealthy living condition. If Tenant(s) does not clean adequately and regularly, Tenant(s) will be liable for reasonable cleaning charges, for that are soiled beyond normal wear. Landlord reserves the right to hire a recurring Professional Cleaning/Maid Service if Tenant(s) are not keeping the Premises in clean/sanitary order at Landlord’s own judgment. This expense will be the responsibility of the Tenant(s)."

Need your advise to come up with a complete plan.
Please advise.
Thanks much

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Re: OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!! by hell no on May 21, 2017 @15:58	[ Reply ]

Hopefully you collected a large deposit. If the T are here for one year and then heading back home your stuck with taking care of the problem and cost on whatever the deposit collected was. One solution for the future would be to hire someone to go monthly to replace AC filters or have a manage company to keep up with the property. I learned the hard way to. Never expect what you don't inspect. Tenants say they will change AC filters. Not unless they know you will be coming by to see.

Re: OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!!

Re: OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!! by Garry on May 21, 2017 @16:26	[ Reply ]

Please treat this as a learning experience for you, no different than paying to go to college for a year. You have just learned what many of us long-term landlords have known for years-----never try to show a place until it's vacant, clean, and no damages to it. I'm sorry to hear of your mother's passing, and problems with your job. But this is your other "job"----your business of being a LL. Yes, your Ts are very poor house keepers, but part of the blame goes on you for not doing at least 1 inspection 30-40 days prior to the end of the lease. For now, just forget about the showing of the place, and the cleaning of it. You need possession back, ASAP. You need to get a hold of, and follow , your state's LL/T laws regarding termination of your lease. Get a lawyer if need be, but get possession back. THEN worry about cleaning and repairing damages in your townhouse. Once you get possession back, take pics of everything, just as you find things as you walk in for the first time. Take a witness with you, also. Then start cleanup and repair procedures, and change locks. Any costs involved to do all that, can be charged against their deposit. Just be sure to get the security deposit settlement statement out within the 30 day time frame. If you wish, in a separate letter to your tenants, about 2 weeks before they are to be out, you can tell them what you want cleaned, and how to clean it. Then all you can do is wait for them to be out when you told them to, and hope they have left your place in better shape than when you first saw it.

Re: OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!! by Katiekate (New York) on May 21, 2017 @16:54	[ Reply ]

Oh my, Never rent to college kids and then leave them alone. I always have someone around the property every couple weeks. Honestly, I sometimes wonder how these kids managed to pass the SATs with decent scores and not know to take the trash out. Anyway, Make sure you stay on top of them. Whenever you find a mess or damage...fix it right away and bill them. Seriously, you can post a "cure or quit" over the dirty conditions. (Make sure you have pictures). Nothing fixes that problem faster than the idea that they could be out of Housing ... especially when you look at the cost of that tuition. I have been renting to college kids for years. It works rather welll...but... Stay on top of them. You are the new "house Mom".

Re: OMG! my townhouse is in terrible condition!!