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!
So i should be prohibitted from entering my own apartment that i’ve paid good money for? Through no fault of my own? When she’s supposed to have the apartment ready? I’m not even asking for the full reimbursement.
i’m certainly not overly picky, i’ve never had a problem in over 10 years in new york, this is the first time.
And I’m actually on the landlady’s side (maybe I’m changing!) It’s too small an amount to quibble over principle, and the landlady Does have a point…tenant’s should not do anything w/o landlady’s permission unless it’s an emergency. And a cat allergy is not, regardless of how bad you think it is.
You sound like overly picky tenants and I predict there’ll be more issues to come.
btw, cgm, ‘previous tenants’ NEVER clean beyond minimally…what universe are you in?
Funny thing is, the previous tenant is the landlord! I moved into her apartment after she moved out of the city. Since she moved, she didn’t inspect the apartment before moving out, and just expected the cleaners she hired to do their job, and she didn’t. I don’t blame her personally, but she’s responsible for delivery of the apartment as promised.
We also took over 30 pictures of the apartment and sent them to her as evidence. She can’t realistically expect that food stains in the fridge is acceptable.
It also sets bad precedent to let this slide, i did nothing wrong here. How can i expect to contact her when she’s in a different state and we’re in the middle of moving and i can’t live with car hair?
for once i’m actually on the tenants side of this. i mean, the previous tenants are supposed to clean when they leave…so that in addition to having it professionally cleaned as the landlord claims, it should be spotless! that’s a pretty good amount of rent they’re paying…bare minimum is it should be clean!
I’m inclined to agree that you should have contacted the landlady when you arrived and found the apartment dirty. At the very least she could have taken photographs as evidence that the original cleaners didn’t do their job and get a refund. It’s kind of like deciding that a dripping tap needs fixing on a Sunday and calling an after hours plumber – you actually have to give the landlady the opportunity to rectify the problem before you go outlaying money and expecting a reimbursement. Given that it’s only $70 I would let it slide.
But was I in neglect?
Can you ask to share the cost since both parties were in neglect?
If you’re sticking around I would eat the cost. If you don’t care, I bet you could win in small claims court with that email in-hand.
The rent is $2600/mo, of course $70 isn’t substantial, but the fact remains she promised and didn’t deliver, the onus is on her. I understand she got taken, but that doesn’t absolve her of her responsiblity. I don’t want to start off on a bad foot either, but i haven’t done anything wrong here, i was just trying to make the apartment habitable, and i can’t clean up cat hair on my own, nor would i have been able to enter the apartment!