Can a Landlord Tell You How Clean to Keep Your House?


Just a reminder, just again, depending on the rental agreement, yes, the landlord may be telling you how to clean the place. For all tenants, it is a tenant’s right to be told by the landlord how clean you should keep your rental home or unit.

Landlords can usually tell tenants how clean they are expected to keep the house or apartment. This is because unsanitary conditions produce property damage, and landlords must bear the cost of this. Tenants who fail to meet cleanliness standards are often forced to pay for a cleaning crew to improve their abode.

Because it is their personal property, if it is related to potential health risk or violation of the terms of your lease, the landlord may be able to tell you how to properly clean the home that you are staying at.

Keeping your home clean as a renter is not just good for your landlord, but also good for your own health. In this article, we discuss the rights of both tenants and landlords when keeping the home clean. Whenever we are renting a home or an apartment, we should always ensure we keep it clean and organized, to avoid having the landlord come at us about it.

Keep Your Apartment Clean. Just Do It.

If you are facing an issue with cleaning your apartment, we are going to show you how to properly clean your home or apartment in this post. So, now you know which issues may cause your landlord to send you a notice for cleaning, and will get you in a good mood for cleaning the whole apartment or home. If an apartment or rented home that you are living in is already in those conditions, then it is perfectly fine for your landlord to tell you to fix that right away.

In either case, a landlord may ask the tenant to remove the source of the stench and clean up the unit. If a landlord believes the tenant is violating the health code or the fire code, is damaging himself or her or other peoples property, then yes, a landlord can definitely tell you to better clean your place. Yes, a landlord may conduct an inspection of a rental unit while it is under COVID, particularly if an apartment or home could potentially be becoming a dangerous place to live for other tenants.

If you are not living up to your lease in some way, most landlords will probably opt for just eviction. Some people renting a house often wonder whether a landlord may give tenants notice to clean up their properties.

Landlords’ Rights Are Sketchy

While it is possible your landlord could instruct you to clean, there are certain things that a landlord should never, ever, instruct you to do. You should be cautious if your landlord is already hounding you about telling you to clean your home, as well as the other issues. Keeping your home dirty lowers its value and makes it uninviting for other tenants to live in the future, so it is right for your landlord to check on it and tell you to clean. If the property is not yours, or if you are living in an apartment, keeping the house dirty also impacts others.

If the dirty apartment has created an unhealthy living environment for others, then it is your landlord’s right to evict you from the property. If the landlord allows their tenants to have pets on their rental property, this means you, as a tenant, are responsible for your furry friends and any clutter they may cause. When renting a condo, management or your landlord will expect that you will leave it in the same condition as you found it.

When renting an apartment or home, the language of the lease likely includes a clause regarding inspection rights for the landlord, aka the right to enter. As a tenant, remember it is critical that you read the lease agreement carefully with your landlord because this will contain all of the requirements you are expected to comply with during the entire duration of the lease. Landlords have an itemized list of what is allowed or prohibited in a rental, so thoroughly review this before signing, because the landlord has the right to advise you about any potential health hazards.

Landlords May Make You Pay for Cleaning

One thing to keep in mind as a renter is that the landlord has to provide a notice prior to checking out a property under a clean-up provision. Upkeep of property and keeping the rental units clean as a tenant is also a requirement you will find in the cleanliness clause. Landlords may give tenants instructions to keep the property tidy and make sure that any cleanliness standards are written into the lease.

The standards to which a landlord might hold you will vary depending on the terms of your lease, but one standard provision could say the house must be left in a broom-clean or broom-swept state.

Depending on the terms of your lease and tenant laws in your area, it is possible your landlord may be required to take care of even small repairs.

Leaving the Premises Usually Requires an Eviction Process

If you plan on moving out of a rental home or unit, or you must undergo an eviction process, the landlord can ask that you cover cleaning costs as well as repairs prior to new tenants arriving. If your landlord notices clutter, dirt, clutter, or trash inside your unit during your regularly scheduled check-ins, they may ask that you immediately clean up your rental unit.

The landlord can request that you clean up urine or pet feces, wash dirty dishes or put dirty dishes into an enclosed area, or fumigate the property. The landlord of the rental unit can require tenants to clean mold growth off walls and to clean the shower tiles and the toilet lining.

Tenants are often surprised to learn that the way in which their home should be cleaned is one of the most common topics discussed between the landlord and the tenant in the course of lease negotiations. How clean your home needs to be, or whether you can take advantage of some amenities at your condo, is a common source of contention between landlords and tenants.

If there is too much clutter in your apartment, which could be considered a fire risk, limit the accessibility of emergency personnel, create an odor, attract vermin, etc., then a landlord has a right to compel you to clean up. While most landlords will not directly prosecute you for a substandard unit, you may get a warning depending on the conditions.

Dr. Deevil

Dr. Deevil is the chancellor of Supervillain U. He's devoted his life to a career of deevilry and is an expert in the fields of grandiosity, revenge, and not-niceness. The deevilish mission of the doctor is to empower aspiring supervillains with the expertise they need in order to crush their enemies - and his.

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