Does the landlord have to clean?
Just moved into a brand new apartment in Brooklyn Heights, where i’m renting from a private owner. The cleaners (supposedly hired by the landlord to clean the apartment) did an awful job. There’s stains on the appliances, dried food stains in the fridge, dirty windows, a grimey shower stall, grease stains on the stove, and…
Just moved into a brand new apartment in Brooklyn Heights, where i’m renting from a private owner. The cleaners (supposedly hired by the landlord to clean the apartment) did an awful job. There’s stains on the appliances, dried food stains in the fridge, dirty windows, a grimey shower stall, grease stains on the stove, and cat hair everywhere. Upon our move in, we didn’t believe we could unpack given the condition of the apartment and went ahead and used our housecleaner (who we originally brought with us to help us unpack since i was working and my wife was handling the move alone) to clean. Given that i had specifically asked for professional cleaners becuase of my severe cat allergies (we had agreed to this over email) i think it only fair that the landlord defray some of the cost for our own cleaner. We are asking for $70 for the cleaning. The landlord is currently refusing to cover this as she feels we should have contacted her prior to engaging our housecleaner so that she could contact the original cleaners she (supposedly) hired and get them to re-do the apartment.
I see her point, but, ultimately, it’s not our fault that her cleaners screwed her. She should be responsible for the cleanliness of the apartment (especially in regards to the cat hair which i could not clean myself) prior to us moving in. Further, it’s not reasonable to expect us to stop our move-in and wait for her to contact cleaners, etc, especially not on a Friday afternoon, and especially given that i can’t even live in the apartment if there’s cat hair everywhere. I think it’s only fair she covers this reasonable expense, and handle the issue with the cleaners she hired herself.
If she continues to refuse, do i have any recourse?
Any thoughts welcome!!!
Thanks!
I’m also severely allergic to cat dander so I understand how you feel. But I think it’s not really setting a precedent to eat this cost. This precise situation is not ever going to happen again and there’s no need to begin a renting relationship with this level of conflict. I know, it’s the principle of the thing, but escalating this means more difficulty in getting repairs done in a timely way, having her mediate conflict with other tenants, etc. It’s just not worth it. And also, why fill a new home with bad memories? If you rented a $2600 apartment with old appliances and cat hair, there must be something you *really* liked about it because you certainly had other options. Enjoy your place and let it go.
Pay the 70 bucks.
I think the landlord is right. You should have alerted her immediately so she could rectify the problem. At that point she could have agreed to use your cleaning person. How does the landlord know that your claim is correct?
You could have just told her as an FYI the apartment wasn’t clean and we had our own cleaner do the work and given her the chance to pay you back, before demanding reimbursement. Considering she is a private landlord, this is off to a bad start.
i agree with denton. ro isn’t really here to debate, just to keep airing same grievances. i can just see ro punching a pillow, blind with rage, thinking my throat could have swelled up. well it didn’t.
you need to chill the fuck out. i agree that your landlord did something lame but if you are getting this worked up over 70 bucks, you have the problem. If you can afford a 2600 apt, you probably make almost 70 bucks an hour so it’s not about the money and if it’s not about the money, be the bigger person, and move on to the next injustice that surely awaits you and bore someone else with it.
Actually, you shoud take that money that you are so pissed about, deduct it from your rent, and pay a therapist to listen to you complain. it’s annoying.
boy, am I glad I didn’t rent to you.
Dave said it perfect in the first post. For a $2600 rent, $70 is not worth getting a relationship with your new landlord in a tizzy over.
I am pessimistic about any kind of good relationship between you and the landlord going forward. Aside from being duped by her cleaners, she is foolish to not eat the $70 in order to maintain harmony with her new tenant – I mean really! But – the $70 is probably not worth driving yourself nuts over. Just pay it and turn the page. And I guess you probably *should* have said something before taking action.
“life is not always fair” — move on
ro, you ain’t listening to anybody’s opinion anyway, so just deduct the $70 from the rent and tell it to the judge.