Tenants moved out but the property not cleaned

Our tenants moved out on Friday evening and their rental paid to Friday. However I went to check the property on Saturday and found the house was messy. The RE said their cleaner couldn't clean the house on Friday because the tenants' still got stuff everywhere. On Monday the cleaner hired by the RE cleaned the house. So offically I took over the property on Tuesday.

My question is: should I charge the tenants for extra three rental?

I remenber that I had to pay extra rental when I was renting because a landlord believed the stove needed to be cleaned.

 

What did your PM say?

 

Laws differ from state to state. The short answer is that you probably cannot charge them for extra rental but may be able to deduct some or all of the costs of cleaning from the bond. Standard procedure is to advise the tenant that the property is insufficiently clean and give them a brief window of opportunity to rectify this themselves before a commercial cleaner is sent in.

 

The story is missing the part about how the tenant's stuff was removed from the property and in what circumstances.

The stuff being there kinda suggests vacant possession wasn't actually granted until after Friday (but maybe before Tuesday?).

 

The tenants were moving their boxes by themselves. They didn't finish moving out their belongs till Friday evening.

Friday was their last day to stay at the property as their rental covered (technically) till the 12AM. Their rental didn't cover Saturday (from 12AM), Sunday and Monday.

 

This is the PM no landlords should deal with. Here is my previous story: Friday afternoon story

I have sent two emails to the PM, she didn't reply.

 

Well then its hard for me to see a legal basis for claiming more rent. They weren't continuing to hold possession of the property or anything like that.

Remember a claim needs to be linked to a breach of contract, negligence or some other legal cause of action.

 

Probably can't claim the additional rental, but can claim cleaning and junk removal costs.

 

But when they returned the property, it wasn't in the same state as they moved in. I could have had new tenants moved in on Monday, if the property was tidy and clean.

 

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that

 

Firstly, depending on the state you're in, I doubt the legal standard is "same state as as when they moved in" - its probably "reasonably clean", which can be a big difference.

Secondly, if your cause of action is failure to keep the premises reasonably clean, claiming the loss of potential rent you could have earned is almost certainly too remote for you to be successful.

I'm guessing you didn't have new tenants lined up for Monday did you? Why not? Was it available for rent?

 

There are some water damages to the kitchen and vanity because of careless of the tenants. I had to get it repaired.

 

Yes that's fine. Do you get my point though? How do you prove you've actually lost out on rent because of these tenant breaches?

I'd imagine its hard unless you actually have a signed lease agreement for those dates that's been frustrated.

 

I do get your point.

When I was renting many years ago, I always cleaned the property on the last day, before returning the keys. I have had the IP for19 years and have had many tenants. These tenants who just moved out are the only one who didn't clean the place before handing over the keys.

Here is the background: These tenants initially wanted to sign another 12 months lease. I said I preferred to sign 6 monthly. So the PM found another house for them in the same location. The PM sent their cleaner to help out the cleaning on Friday but the cleaner couldn't do anything because there were still boxes everywhere (The tenants were moving all their belongs by themselves because of the short distance from the new rental house).

 

So charge them for the cleaning. Its just that you probably can't charge them for extra rent as well.

 

I hope you charged them for the cost of this then?

 

If they've returned vacant possession of the property, you can't charge them rent for the time it took you/them to rectify the exit issues. That would open up a whole new can of worms....!

Besides which, why was the cleaner engaged to clean the house before the tenants had vacated? They had every right to be there until midnight on Friday night.