FamilyofSeven
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Washington
We moved into a first time rental home April of 2005 and did all the proper walk through requirements. There was significant pet urine smells in our dining room, which the landlord attempted to eliminate multiple times, but has failed to accompolish do the the amount of damage the urine has done. (It smells like we eat in a dog's bathroom). There were also initial cleaning issues with dirt, dust, and hair in places such as the oven, etc the landlord did not attempt to re-do. I have had to wash and take care of these things myself. There were also existing pet marks, scratches on the window sills, cedar walls, marks not from us we both agreed on.
We signed the lease to this property which they considered a "luxury home" by the landlord ( we pay twice the amount compared to other similar homes), with them knowing we have four kids ages 6, 5, 3 and 2 years old, now knowing I have another baby on the way.
The owner of the home (seperate from the landlord) requested a walkthrough recently as she would be in the area, and both the property manager and owner came to look through the house and to discuss other matters pertaining to landscaping needing to be assesed.
We had just returned rom a 2 week vacation out of state, and our vaccum cleaner broke down on us a few days prior to their visit, my husband was out of town on business. We also had water main construction on our road starting 2 days before their arrival which gave us intermitent water throughout the week forcing us to do washing and cleaning only before and after the construction hours.
The house was fairly organized, although I appoligized for 5 loads of laundry waiting to be folded on my bed and the fact I had been vacumming my house with a shop vac until my husband returned from a business trip to purchase a new vacuum (mind you, Im 5 months pregnant). They said it was fine to get a vacuum as soon as we are able to (we had minor crumbs cheerios, etc on the carpet), and only pointed out 1 spot where my son had scribbled a little on the wall with a ball point pen.
Our house is mainly cedar wood, but the area scribbled on was regular painted white gypsum wall- the wood has been untouched.
The windows also have crank handles that have fallen off occasionally, so we keep them up and out of the kids reach.
We recieved a letter from the landlord yesterday stating:
HOW many walkthroughs can a landlord actually do, and can they force us to PAY to have our carpet professionally cleaned if we only had crumbs on it from a day or two of no vacuuming and we are still living here?? Also demanding to know where the cranks are seems odd, when we would be responsible to come up with that anyway when we move out- regardless if we currently know where they are or not. They have already been through the house twice, our lease is not up until June of next year- we are not currently moving out and the house is not being sold.
This carpet is 7 years or so old- it's a Kelly Green color, and it's not brand new.
Thank you, and sorry for the length- I figured you needed more background.
Just a few pictures included:
http://www.jynmeyer.com/blog/Images/lvngroom.jpg
http://www.jynmeyer.com/blog/Images/wall.jpg
http://www.jynmeyer.com/blog/Images/window.jpg
*edited to add: We recieved this letter in the mailbox, Thursday evening the 1st of September. There is no way we can find professional cleaners to clean the carpet on Labor Day weekend, anyway- as the following day after laborday is the day they were requesting to come re-inspect. Usually it takes a week or so to book a cleaner on such a weekend anyway.
We moved into a first time rental home April of 2005 and did all the proper walk through requirements. There was significant pet urine smells in our dining room, which the landlord attempted to eliminate multiple times, but has failed to accompolish do the the amount of damage the urine has done. (It smells like we eat in a dog's bathroom). There were also initial cleaning issues with dirt, dust, and hair in places such as the oven, etc the landlord did not attempt to re-do. I have had to wash and take care of these things myself. There were also existing pet marks, scratches on the window sills, cedar walls, marks not from us we both agreed on.
We signed the lease to this property which they considered a "luxury home" by the landlord ( we pay twice the amount compared to other similar homes), with them knowing we have four kids ages 6, 5, 3 and 2 years old, now knowing I have another baby on the way.
The owner of the home (seperate from the landlord) requested a walkthrough recently as she would be in the area, and both the property manager and owner came to look through the house and to discuss other matters pertaining to landscaping needing to be assesed.
We had just returned rom a 2 week vacation out of state, and our vaccum cleaner broke down on us a few days prior to their visit, my husband was out of town on business. We also had water main construction on our road starting 2 days before their arrival which gave us intermitent water throughout the week forcing us to do washing and cleaning only before and after the construction hours.
The house was fairly organized, although I appoligized for 5 loads of laundry waiting to be folded on my bed and the fact I had been vacumming my house with a shop vac until my husband returned from a business trip to purchase a new vacuum (mind you, Im 5 months pregnant). They said it was fine to get a vacuum as soon as we are able to (we had minor crumbs cheerios, etc on the carpet), and only pointed out 1 spot where my son had scribbled a little on the wall with a ball point pen.
Our house is mainly cedar wood, but the area scribbled on was regular painted white gypsum wall- the wood has been untouched.
The windows also have crank handles that have fallen off occasionally, so we keep them up and out of the kids reach.
We recieved a letter from the landlord yesterday stating:
This seems ridiculouse to me. The house is not in bad condition, and we got a back-up vaccum the day the owner left. The only marks on the wall was the ball point pen and everything was clean.We were shocked at the condition of the home, we must ask you to have the home professionally cleaned for re-inspection September 6th, 2005 at 1:30 pm. Everything including marks on the wall must be cleaned, floord mopped, etc. We must know where you keep all the hardware for the windows.
The owners have told me they will be in the area mid-October and will be calling me to set up a time to inspect the work we are scheduling.
HOW many walkthroughs can a landlord actually do, and can they force us to PAY to have our carpet professionally cleaned if we only had crumbs on it from a day or two of no vacuuming and we are still living here?? Also demanding to know where the cranks are seems odd, when we would be responsible to come up with that anyway when we move out- regardless if we currently know where they are or not. They have already been through the house twice, our lease is not up until June of next year- we are not currently moving out and the house is not being sold.
This carpet is 7 years or so old- it's a Kelly Green color, and it's not brand new.
Thank you, and sorry for the length- I figured you needed more background.
Just a few pictures included:
http://www.jynmeyer.com/blog/Images/lvngroom.jpg
http://www.jynmeyer.com/blog/Images/wall.jpg
http://www.jynmeyer.com/blog/Images/window.jpg
*edited to add: We recieved this letter in the mailbox, Thursday evening the 1st of September. There is no way we can find professional cleaners to clean the carpet on Labor Day weekend, anyway- as the following day after laborday is the day they were requesting to come re-inspect. Usually it takes a week or so to book a cleaner on such a weekend anyway.
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