Recently I was reading a social media post from a landlord asking about what they can do when a tenant isn’t keeping the unit to a standard of cleanliness they expect. 

Renting a property you own brings many emotions and feelings. My experience has seen many people who own a property they live in and then rent, struggle seeing other people reside at their property. Owners have asked me to instruct tenants how to decorate the property, don’t let them put too much furniture in the unit, tell them they are not allowed to hang pictures on walls, and how to clean the unit. All good intentions.     

The definition of a home is “a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence or a person, family or household”. Landlord’s own the property, but when a tenant occupies a rental unit it becomes their “home”.  Each person will arrange a home differently and tenants have the right to make the rental unit feel like home. 

If tenants are keeping the rental property dirty or making minor damage to a wall they have until they vacate the unit to correct this issue. You can have a cleanliness clause in your addendum, though that is hard to enforce as it is subjective. Tenants with kids may have lots of stuff in the property, and marks on the wall that tenants without kids don’t have. 

You should be performing regular inspections, and during this time you could discuss the issue of the cleanliness of the property with the tenant, expressing you would like to see it in a better condition. This can be tricky as some tenants may take offence to this suggestion, as an indication of their lifestyle. 

As a Landlord it may be difficult viewing your property when other people live there. In this  case it would be prudent to utilise a property manager eliminating emotions and feelings of managing your property. When Landlords allow emotions into managing their property it can lead to mistakes and errors which could violate tenants rights. When a tenant occupies the rental unit and it becomes their “home” they have rights a landlord must adhere to. It has been my experience that when both parties follow the law and respect each other’s rights Landlords and tenants have a successful tenancy.         

Need assistance managing your rental property, Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com