On the subject of carpet cleaning that seems to be coming up a lot lately

Tenants doing it or LL. /. Portable machine vs truck mount

I believe The reality with truck versus portable machines is that portable machines will never do the same quality cleaning as a truck mounted machine.

Every carpet that I have ever seen that was cleaned with a portable machine even by professional companies. while it may look great for the first week or two, generally after one or several months, it starts to get generally dingy and pre-existing stains. Come back up.

Part of it is residual detergent, too much detergent not proper rinsing and generally not enough suction.

Residual chemicals in carpet will reduce life.

Require truck mounted machines

Under CA law, LL may deduct if tenant does not turn over unit "the same level of cleanliness it was in at the inception of the tenancy". Otherwise, he cannot deduct. Thus, the tenant may accomplish his cleaning however he pleases and landlord has nothing to say about it, except by mutual agreement.

Don't expect a judge to be very sympathetic to any claim that if the tenant cleaned, that he didn't clean well enough, except on basis on REAL evidence.

Note that Moshe has included "except by mutual agreement."

In CA, are you able to modify your lease such that the tenant prepays for truck mounted carpet cleaning, such that it is not a deduction from the security deposit?

Or can you put in a clause such that tenant agrees that the level of cleanliness for the carpet at the inception of tenancy is truck mounted on an empty residence, and that the tenant agrees to return the residence that way along with documented proof? And failure to do so is damage that can result in a deduction from the security deposit.

Or can your REAL evidence be the prior to move-in receipt from a truck mounted company, that uses some certified method of cleaning as the level of cleaning (some ANSI standard, or carpet and rug institute deep cleaning test method TM 118, 119, 120, blah blah blah)?

Or add some other clause that gives you, the tenant, and a potential judge of the real damage caused by the tenant not turning it over at the same level of cleanliness, e.g.

"Furthermore, improper cleaning or failure to provide proof of proper cleaning to this level via receipts or other acceptable methods will void the carpet warranty, and voiding of the carpet warranty is considered damage, and such damage can be deducted from the security deposit. Furthermore, the tenant agrees to have professional truck mounted carpet cleaning done at least once a year to avoid voiding the carpet warranty, and to otherwise maintain the carpet in a way that does not cause damage the carpet or void the warranty, even if such damage is not observable to the naked eye, blah, blah.

Moshe, thoughts?

as stated earlier. Paragraph in lease states: carpet has been professionally at move it and shall be professionally cleaned on termination. (spot on lease)

That keeps the rental machines from grocery stores or H-depot form doing it. Gotta be a pro-- show receipt if you need to be sure.

My last foreclosure purchase was a B&B ... EVERY room had carpet. And what a STENCH ... after being in receivership for 18 months. Eyes watering, nose running as it was ripped out.

Back in olden days when I still had carpet TRUCK MOUNT STEAM CLEANING was the only way to go. My lease even specifies the service company by name. No other cleaners or rental cleaners accepted.

Carpet free changed my life and bottom line plus my homes rent easier! Carpet is out of fashion.

BRAD

A few years ago I learned the hard way. I let a departing tenant clean the carpet - what a mess - AND I had to get a professional carpet cleaner to fix the mess.

Its in my lease. After the tenant has finished moving out, I have my choice of carpet cleaner in and the cost comes out of the deposit. Tenants like it because they don't have to fuss with carpet cleaning or try to schedule their move-out to still have time to clean carpets.

I use a truck mounted steam cleaner, They get the water back out and use better chemicals.

I used to have a policy: Upon 1 year that a tenant has successfully paid their rent on time, the landlord will professionally clean the tenants carpeting for free.

Robert, I'm curious:

What was the substance of the challenge?

That, having made the promise, tenant wasn't obligated to actually pay rent on time for a year in order to avoid payment for cleaning carpet upon vacation?

Yes, I believe that would be illegal.

Okay Moshe, I would provide for my low income and challenged tenants a free rebuild metal up right hoover vacuum, bag-less, and easy to empty. Some of my tenants were raised by their grandparents and lever lifted a finger to help out around the house. So getting pregnant at 14 and then having 2 or 3 children by the time they turned 18, was their challenge.

So with the help from Section 8, they could rent one of my nicer double apartments in Koreatown (North New Hampshire between Beverly Blvd. and Third Street. On Beverly and Vermont was the Redline Subway. On Vermont, Beverly Blvd and Third Street ran buses every 15 minutes. They did not need a car.

The baby's daddy could not officially live with his children or the baby's mommy, or Section 8 would cut of their housing fund. This is planned parenthood at it's best (worst) --keeping the father away.

So the tenant would forget to file a copy of their lease with section 8 and rent would be withheld for months. All she had to due is ask me for another copy of the lease and file a paper to get free rent. I call this women a lazy ass, 20 years later.

So when I did not give her a free carpet shampoo, I got reported and was hauled into court. Section 8, the Judge, the City Attorney and Free legal aid told me what they think of me. I replied go F yourselves too! Now I got a jury trial. My plan.

The tenant was late to court by only 4 hours. Testimony was I never gave any tenant a free vacuum and I never would shampoo a carpet for a single minority women with children.

So when my tenant showed up, the judge told everyone to keep quit so he could question her.

Judge, did Robert ever lend you a vacuum.

Tenant, yes, he gave me 3 vacuums over a 2 year period. She said she forgot to pick up her children's toys and they broke the first

Robert J,

Thanks for your response.

But a couple of things are still unexplained.

I am skipping over all of the put-downs of the tenants' character and trying to distill out what was the legal challenge to your policy, I'm still a little confused.

First, I thought that, in exchange for "Upon 1 year that a tenant has successfully paid their rent on time, the landlord will professionally clean the tenants carpeting for free.". I didn't know anything about any vacuum(s). I still don't know what was the dispute or the cause of action that brought this into court, but thats OK because I guess that I can see where this is going.

The problem that I was thinking about would have been, if the tenant had not "Upon 1 year that a tenant has successfully paid their rent on time" and then tenant vacates the unit and wants his free professional cleaning in lieu of tenant cleaning the unit upon vacation.

Los Angeles Rent Control requires that Landlord may NOT decrease services (professionally clean the tenants carpeting for free). Whats more, payment of rent has as its sole remedy, eviction in Superior Court, or payment of debt by Civil lawsuit including Small Claims court. If tenant ultimately pays rent debt, on-time or not, that obligation has been discharged and no further consequences ensue. So Landlord CANNOT make the promise of free professional carpet cleaning dependent on what he [landlord] may have thought was a fair bargain.

I didn't know anything about any vacuum cleaner, nor is it relevant.

All the put-downs about the tenants' character and location are also irrelevant.

I think that the moral of this story should be, not to write a home-made lease. If you have an idea that you think might help you, write it up and then PASS IT BY A COMPETENT ATTORNEY.

Lease states a portion of their deposit prepays the cost of professional carpet cleaning when they vacate. Saves them time and stress dealing with carpets.

Residents are never allowed to clean their own carpets. Never.

On Move Out inspections I have a blue light and I pull back the carpet at the corners. Any urine stains and the carpet goes. Period. Resident has carpet replacement costs against their deposit instead of carpet cleaning.

I replace a lot of carpet due to pet issues. In 2022 every carpet replacement for pet accidents was reimbursed by the resident even if it took payments over time after they vacated.

For April in February:

In CA, ALL money received (other than advance payment of rent) upon leasing is considered Security Deposit and landlord can deduct only for expenses to clean to the level of cleanliness at inception of the tenancy. Prepayment of carpet cleaning is subject to SD limit, and tenant can get this carpet-cleaning fee refunded.

You are right that for landlord to simply take over the function of carpet and other cleaning saves tenants time and stress. My own policy is to suggest to departing tenants that I clean the unit instead of them (at their expense) because unit needs to be sparkling clean for next tenant, and I therefore need to be extraordinarily fussy about the cleaning. So to avoid possibility that I might have to re-clean at their expense, I suggest using MY CLEANER and I will not make any fuss over the level of cleaning. Over more than 30 years, I have not had A SINGLE TENANT who did not agree, saving us both time and stress.

A huge benefit of not having residents clean carpets is that step can be saved until the make ready and the repairs are completed. Carpets should be cleaned AFTER drywall repairs, sanding, painting, cleaning baseboards, dusting shelves, etc,..

It doesn't make any sense to clean the carpets before you make the unit ready. All the dirt, dust & debris falls into the carpets during the make ready.

I figure if I have to repair drywall, sand nail holes, repaint walls, re-texture ceilings,.. those are tenant damages. The carpet gets covered in dust, dirt & debris while performing those repairs so the carpet cleaning required after the repairs are completed is REALLY an expense related to repairing tenant damages.

April,

Makes sense to wait. I have been explaining to tenants that my guy is better at carpets then their guy will be. Most have let me use him at cost. Others don't get a choice because of eviction.