Old tenant moved out but left some large items and didn't clean the place well, and new tenant needs to take care of contacting cleaner, moving out the big items and getting rid of junk.

Old tenant is OK with deducting actual cleaning fee from my security refund to him. However, new tenant wants to charge 8 hours at $80/hr for time he spent to contact cleaning service and coordinate for junk removal and wants me to deduct from their deposit.

In addition, new tenant wants to ask for one day of free rent from me claiming he can't move in as place is not fully ready.

I think I'm OK with one day of free rent, but the $640 for coordination of work seems unreasonable. Please advise how to handle this situation.

8 hours seems a bit much for making some phone calls. $80/hour seems a bit much, but you are in CA. I have no clue what a secretary would make there.

Tenant said they want to handle the coordination junk removal/cleaning service themselves but never mentioned they will charge me for it. I would have handled it myself had I known.

Can I tell them that they didn't get pre-approval from me to charge $80/hr for coordination, else I would do it myself.

Letting the new tenant do your job will result in future problems. Did you offer an inspection with tenant present to identify charges to their deposit? If you did not you already made a legal mistake.

You are already having problems. New tenants wants an unreasonable amount and old tenant will probably not accept the charges.

Hire it done by a new person and pass the costs on to the old tenant.

Amy,

$80 is a joke. Free day is OK because the home is not yet ready.

The times I’ve “worked with” the incoming res have backfired on me. I would grant. $100 credit for them to clean the house sounded great but later, at eviction time they showed up with photos of the filthy house they had to clean.

The judge would not let me charge for exit cleaning because I did mot provide a clean house at move in, even with the $100 deal documented.

Most of property management is heading off problems by dealing with procedures in advance. YOU call a cleaning company and handle this.

Cleaners are the easiest people to hire.

Call a local realtor and ask for some names.

BRAD

I'm sorry to say you have a major issue. Unless you offered your old tenant a "Pre-move-out" inspection two weeks before they moved and gave them an itemized list of "cost" you were going to charge them against their security deposit -- you can not make deductions.

This law was designed to allow tenants to take care of issues themselves for "less" then the landlord will charge them. For example:

a) Cleaning the carpeting, shampoo by professional - $175.

b) Hauling away trash left behind by tenants - $500.

c) Replacing broken window screens - $50 each, total $250.

You tenant could rent a shampoo machine and clean their carpets for less than $50. Or get someone to haul their trash for $200. And replace the screens for $25, or $125. You did not give your tenant that opportunity, just hired the old tenants who want to over charge.... This is your fault for not knowing the rules, codes and laws of California.

In this case, the old tenant and new tenant were in touch with each other as new tenant bought some furniture from old tenant.

When I saw the place was not cleaned correctly, old tenant said he will work directly with new tenant to get the place taken care of.

Old tenant asked new tenant to coordinate the cleaning and junk removal and old tenant said they will pay for the charges. Old tenant was OK for the actual cleaning charge and junk removal charges to be deducted from security deposit. However, old tenant was not aware of the $80/hr "coordination" fee new tenant has asked to short pay me in rent to deduct from security deposit.

I appreciate you explaining things to me and you did a good job considering what the situation called for. However, if your new tenant wants to push the issue because you didn't offer them the "pre-move-out" inspection, you may have to pay back the full damages plus three times the amount as a penalty -- if this makes it to court.

Again, you would offer to cover some of the costs and make the new and old tenant happy -- this is better than taking a chance at court.

I never mind helping here with those asking questions that at LEAST have a clue and have done SOME homework. I'm sorry I just can't do these types.

CA code says that you can deduct from SD for: "The cleaning of the premises upon termination of the tenancy necessary to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it was in at the inception of the tenancy."

SO:

1, There is no requirement for old tenant to clean upon leaving, but he is liable to reimburse LL for cost of appropriate cleaning.

2. If you did not clean after old tenant left, then you cannot charge him for cleaning.

3. You do not owe cleaning to new tenant upon move-in, but you will have to consider that within the framework of welcoming a new tenant. You don’t actually owe him for his cleaning. Did you promise him a clean apartment to move into?

4. Payment or not, he will not be required to clean when he returns the property to you, beyond “the same level of cleanliness it was in at the inception of the tenancy”. You will not be able to deduct from SD for further cleaning.

5. 8 hours seems to be a little bit of a long time to clean, but you must relate that to the amount of work that there was to be done. $80 per hour seems a little high. In L.A., I have a professional cleaning crew (2 persons, 3 hours) do a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment for about $250, making the property ABSOLUTELY SPIC & SPAN, including carpet shampoo. That’s about $40 per hour, per person, and they have to split with the painting contractor that sends them.

6. Free rent is not owed unless you made any promise about what condition to expect when they move in, or property was not habitable when you turned it over to them.

The moral of the story is, of course, that you would be better off to take charge of such situation yourself and to ensure that the property is clean to welcome the new tenant and to provide an initial baseline for expectation on the new tenant when he leaves. I offer to departing tenants the cleaning service of my usual cleaning crew at whatever they charge me, I contribute one turnover day to have the cleaning done, and I turn the property over spic & span.

I spoke to the new tenant and he agreed to waive the "coordination fee". I apologize to him for not being more involved and left the old and new tenant to work things out. I gave him one day of free rent. Definitely a lesson learned to be directly involved in move out situation and not have this happen again. Thank you for all your help to have a happy ending.

Who is the LL? What I am hearing is you are assigning your responsibilities.

Where that sounds all good, it does set the stage for you to get yourself into even more trouble later on. What will happen if this stuff doesn't disappear after these new tenants move out?