...to think that tenants might hoover once in a while?

[silverten]

OK, so if you rent a house it's your home, you have the right to live how you choose, etc. etc. etc...

However if you'd been given an immaculately clean house when you took on the tenancy, the landlord had pretty much left you alone for the duration of your tenancy, save a couple of phonecalls to check all was well and an inspection after a couple of years, you'd think that you might think to run the hoover around and give the place a quick wipe over before he visited again, giving you plenty of warning and a fairly mild request to try and clean the place up a bit from the last visit?

No? Just my little foible?

What IS it about some tenants that they are happy not to bother with this stuff?? I don't get it. It can't be a 'tenant' thing, surely- I know loads of people who didn't live in a tip when they rented.....

I think YABVU to expect tenants to have an immaculate house whenever you want to pop in and inspect it. Different if it's dirty enough to cause permanent damage. I certainly don't have the time to hoover and clean on demand and it gets left until I or DP do. Of course when tenants leave the property it should be as clean as when they entered.

Of course when tenants leave the property it should be as clean as when they entered.
yes, but minus reasonable wear and tear.

Yeah, you're being really unreasonable. If you were my landlandy and I knew you thought that way, you'd be tenantless pretty sharpish.

It's your property, not your home. Your attitude sucks, to be honest. Your argument about being annoyed about them not hoovering is disingenuous - if it's really concern for wear and tear / having to replace fittings, put some bloody laminate down FFS! You're running a business not a hotel service. Why bother keep on replacing carpet? It's pretty idiotic to continually do something that puts you in a position to keep having to pay money out.

Our landlady put cream carpets down. We will have them professionally cleaned when we leave but it's not going to do too much to the grey track in the hallway now, even with no shoes in the house, after four years! It's not our problem she was foolish enough to carpet the entire flat in cream that she will have to replace when we leave. We hoover every week but there had to be the reasonable expectation of residual dirt on CREAM!

And just a thought, how do you think it makes us feel that we have no rights to decorate, no point in doing it, so we have to live with less than great carpets - and knowing when we leave, she will make improvements for the next people?

We left our last place FAR cleaner than when it was when we moved in, yet the fucking wanker of a landlord kept ALL of our deposit. Why? Because we put up some stairgates and a gate on the kitchen door (dangerous stone steps down to the back garden) to keep DS, who was only 8 months when we moved in, safe, and a few shelves as there was no storage. We also put up with a carpet that was 10 years old by the time we moved out, no fresh paint in the 6 years we were there and no roof for most of the month of our last November, due to builders having to fix it, but NO deduction in rent for the inconvenience it caused us, and found out he entered the house without our permission when we were on holiday (the builders told us).
Two and a half years on, my blood still boils when I think about it, or anything reminds me of it.

I hoover at least twice a week, I did so yesterday, there are already black spots on the floor from socks, by midweek if i haven't hoovered again it by mid week it will look like I have emptied gravel on it.

Its a cream carpet and its a bloody nightmare.

The fact that desposits are no longer held by the landlord does protect tenants from unfair deductions for wear and tear.

bettybat, don't worry about your carpets. Four years is a long time for a let. It is not reasonable to expect the carpets to be show home standard.

We picked heavy duty biege carpets. They clean up really well with shampooing.

I think replacing rental property carpets every 5 years or so is to be expected.

Our LL tried to get us to pay toward carpets that were very old and not that clean when we moved in and we were there eight years!

We said we'd go to the arbirtator and he backed down, so yes, we were pleased the deposit was protected.

If they were pissing and shitting on their carpets then you may have a point. however if they pay the rent and the flat is clean and undamaged when you leave, it is frankly none of your business when they vacuum.

If the busybody of a landlady made that request of me I would politely ignore it and any further requests would lead to me telling her that she needs to start looking for a new tennant

Really tired, thanked but I'm not too concerned. Thankfully our LL is lovely and has realistic expectations.

I would like to hear why OP hasn't thought to put laminate down, to prevent her having to pay out for carpets every year because of her dreadful non-hoovering tenants. It's really very simple...if a section is chipped, you replace that particular slat.

Your attitude irritates me so much. Until the culture to renting in this country becomes more like in europe or the states, renters are never going to feel like they're actually living in a home. To have a good LL is a rare thing in this country.

YABU it is not your home, therefore it is nothing to do with you. I have properties that I have also let out for over 10 years. One which was my home when my babies were small. BUT it is not my home anymore, it is nothing to do with me and I have no right to dictate how other people live. I also do all the things you said, and them some. AND I leave my tenants alone!

I rent a house through a letting agent and am inspected every three months or so. Last but one inspection I hadn't cleaned as much as I should have done as my letter after the inspection said I needed to remember that all rooms should be clean abd tidy at all times. So i presume that it is fine for landlords to comment on it. Still feel a bit bad about that letter and it was over 6 months ago (which suggests another inspection is due soon).

I felt things were clean by the way. And had used the Hoover. But it's part of renting knowing that basically you are living in someone else's house.

It's very irksome when tenants don't clean, and it goes far beyond dusting. Bathrooms that don't get cleaned regularly get build up of calcium and soap deposits that ruin enamel baths, tiles, taps and grout. Carpets that aren't vacuumed regularly get imbued with dirt that cuts at the base of the wool tufts and wrecks the carpet. Etc etc.

bettybat, you seem to have a particularly bad landlord. I, however, am not one of those. If you'd read my posts on this thread you'd know this.

I would share your frustration about light cream carpets though. Stupid choice for even the most houseproud. My house, however, does not have cream carpets- in fact the colour/texture was chosen to hide a bit of dirt; I accept that tenants may not hoover as often as I might. My aim was to provide a comfortable home that is reasonably easy and cheap for tenants to maintain and heat. However, no carpet will stand up to not being cleaned, ever, for a year or so.

Why don't I put laminate down? Several reasons:

It doesn't work well on uneven floors: it starts to bend, chip, crack and lift in a matter of months, which looks rubbish and forms a trip hazard. My house is 300 years with the higgledy-piggledy boards to match. Laminate is simply not going to work, I'm afraid.

It stands up to bad tenants even less well than carpet: basically if there is loads of clutter and a tenant does something normal like spill a glass of water, they either don't bother to move the clutter/furniture, or simply can't move stuff because there is no room, to wipe up. So the liquid gets underneath, stays there, and wrecks the floor.

It is a pain in the arse to repair. First, you have to match it, or buy extra (how much? who knows?) on the off-chance your tenants are the sort who don't do much housework, plus of course the extra needs storing somewhere... Because of the way it fits together you have to remove all the strips from the edge inwards, plus the edging strip(s). After having inserted a new section, you have to re-install the rest of the floor, which doesn't go back together as well as it did in the first place (so it wears badly under normal use...), re-install edging strips and re-paint skirting where necessary. Basically, it is not a quick or easy job! On the other hand, a carpet can be professionally cleaned or replaced in a couple of hours. No contest in terms of practicality on that point.

The last reason relates to more aesthetic points. My house is 300 years old- laminate, frankly, would look weird in it. Sort of like the Queen in a mini skirt. Also, tenants tend to like a bit of 'comfort' in the areas where they kick off their shoes and relax, ie, lounges and bedrooms. I'm not renting an impersonal office block, I'm renting a home. I try to produce somewhere that tenants would actually want to live and relax in, and carpet helps achieve that. On a related note: laminate on stairs? I don't think so.

It is also worth pointing out, although it is not applicable to my house, that many flats have rules about floor coverings to prevent noise transferance between floors. So landlords may not have any choice in the matter; they may be obligated to put carpet down by the terms of their leasehold.

If landlords can't bear the thought of carpets not being hoovered and bathrooms not being cleaned regularly perhaps they should move into another 'business'.

I can't believe what QED's letting agents have said about 'all rooms being clean and tidy at all times'. How dare they? It's the tenants' home.

I'm not a tenant FWIW, but I do rent out a room in my house to a lodger. While they're living there it's their room and I wouldn't dream of 'monitoring' their tidiness. As long as they clean up behind them in spaces we all use (kitchen and bathroom) I'm happy. What they do in their own space is their business (as long as it's legal!) If they do anything that causes lasting damage the cost of remedying it will come out of their deposit. That's what deposits are for. In fact, when one lodger ruined a rug by upending a cup of tea all over it, we agreed that she should pay a contribution to a replacement, not the full cost of replacement, in acknowledgment of the fact that it wasn't new when she damaged it. I accept that curtains will need cleaning periodically and the room will need repainting from time to time due to wear and tear.

It's pointless to be over-precious about these things. No wonder so many landlords have such a bad name.

I think you sound like a very good landlord. Of course landlords should be allowed to inspect their property- not all tenants are responsible. I think it's probably sounds a bit cheeky to ask them to tidy up- that's what the inspection is for. Once you've been round and seen the place is a tip you can warn them if they don't hoover or whatever more frequently then they are at risk of losing their deposit as the carpet will have to be replaced. People seem to be have been very hard on you OP when you actually sound quite responsible- you are giving the tenants a chance to redeem themselves, other landlords would've chucked them out.
I rented many flats as a student and beyond and we always made sure the place was sparkling for an inspection.

The tidying comment was actually to do with the build up of festering bin bags in the garden (we actually provide a small shed to store these because we know how nasty it is to have to move wet bin bags on bin day, never mind dealing with the fall-out if the seagulls/rats get at them). Even with fortnightly collections, twenty is too many. I didn't detail that because as far as I'm concerned a build up of rubbish that attracts vermin is absolutely not on and doesn't need debate.

I am a landlord and I expect to have to redecorate, clean in a major way, reseal bathroom and have carpets profesionally cleaned (and in areas of heavy use maybe even replaced) after every let. I 'll bet you have more expensive carpets in your own home which wear better.
You should be incorporating these costs into your rental income and putting down cheap carpets that you can afford to replace or hard floors

I remember another recent post of yours about these (if they're the same?) tenants. I was on the same thread "filthiest houses" or suchlike. Was the seagulls and bin bags reminded me

Yanbu, but it sounds like hoovering was the least of your problems judging by the other post.

I do have a very nice Landlady thanks - who wouldn't dream of sticking her nose into my living quarters the way you seem to think you have a right to.

Like I said, if I had a Landlady like you, I would terminating the contract at the earliest possible time.

You would make me feel very uncomfortable in what would supposed to be my home.

Perhaps you shouldn't continue in the property business if you can't handle some of the common problems associated with people living?

bettybat if you're simply going to ignore anything I write I'm not going to engage any more.

Different tenants I'm afraid MrsBovary, this lot are much, much better than the ones who left footprints on the ceilings. The bin bag thing seems to be fairly recurring, which I find mystifying, not understanding why anyone would pay council tax to get their rubbish removed but not actually put it out.

Although it appears that some people think that I should be ignoring that as well, and just let my tenants piss off all their neighbours too...