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Not renewing lease and moving out

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kklblue

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ramsey County Minnesota.

I am not going to renew my lease for several reasons. First being the landlord is not responsive at all to repairs.

I currently rent a side by side home and rent the 1 side. When I moved in it was not painted, cleaned or the carpets washed. The owner had previously lived there and bought a new house and moved into the new one leaving this one to rent. He also left some of his stuff under the steps that he never came back to. I have repeated asked the landlord to take care of things such as running toilet, and tub, bathroom faucet not working right. Also the bathroom is a damp bathroom and the caulking around the tub it turning black.

By law, what am I responsible for to clean. The place needs to be repainted, the carpet is awful and was before I moved in. I plan on doing the routine cleaning, stove, fridge, scrubbing floors, toilet etc., But what is the landlords responsibility. I may even shampoo the carpets.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
Our statutes do not spell out tiny details of cleaning , cleaning should be reasonable, SO when I had the 4plex down in mpls before re renting a unit , all cabs and drawers were cleaned inside and out. Windows all were cleaned on the inside at least if it was not warm enough to be outside to do them. any blinds were washed ( they were all vinyl if I had any ) (windows that could be removed like storms yes I cleaned them) tub , sinks, inside & out of fridge and stoves were cleaned as well as under. wood work ,trims and any doors that needed more than dust of were at least washed. (I normally painted in between if they had stayed at least a year or so) but washing off finger prints and various marks on walls is normal, carpet cleaning it is reasonable to have carpets cleaned but best to use a local established carpet cleaning firm this way if something goes wrong they are the target and it would give you reciept showing whom it was you hired even if the carpet appears to be old. Light fixture glass, heat vent covers radiators should all be cleaned. Burned out light bulbs swapped even if its with super cheap ones. garages & basements swept , basement concrete floors can be mopped same with linoleum or vinyl or ceramic tiles. PICTURES taken to show how clean the unit is ( its easy to clean if during the 4 to 6 weeks before moving you take all your non essentials to self storage , then they are out of the way and make cleaning easier) Nail holes well I allways filled but most of the time was gonna paint anyway but if you had nail holes in walls I would say only fill if you can do reasonable job and filling matches pretty good. Trash hauling well if your city has no local ord dictating how many days before trash day then id say make sure you put it all out ahead ( placs like NorthOaks may have tighter rules ) Make sure you read your elect and gas meters and write the reads down beside calling in cancelation orders. Yard well if your still there when the snows melt at least pick it up and leave it in reasonable order inc picking up dog piles. Again document every thing you did via photos. Leaving every thing clean and keeping records of it you should be fine but if LL is not fair with deposit disposition your records ,pics will assist you alot in court.
 

kklblue

Member
Thanks very much, that was the type of cleaning I was going to do.

My concern is the landlord did not clean the carpet or paint before I moved in and I have lived hear 5 years. There nothing more then normal wear and tear but I would assume he can try and keep some of my deposit.

Normally he has been fair to work with but I think is mad because I am not renewing my lease.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ramsey County Minnesota.

I am not going to renew my lease for several reasons. First being the landlord is not responsive at all to repairs.

I currently rent a side by side home and rent the 1 side. When I moved in it was not painted, cleaned or the carpets washed. The owner had previously lived there and bought a new house and moved into the new one leaving this one to rent. He also left some of his stuff under the steps that he never came back to. I have repeated asked the landlord to take care of things such as running toilet, and tub, bathroom faucet not working right. Also the bathroom is a damp bathroom and the caulking around the tub it turning black.

By law, what am I responsible for to clean. The place needs to be repainted, the carpet is awful and was before I moved in. I plan on doing the routine cleaning, stove, fridge, scrubbing floors, toilet etc., But what is the landlords responsibility. I may even shampoo the carpets.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Why did you move in if the place was not to your liking?

The running toilet is something you could have taken care of yourself. Google it. Of course the bathroom is damp. It's your job to take measures to combat the dampness such as cracking a window, running the bathroom fan or keeping your door open a little. Wipe down the walls. Use mold fighters like Lysol. There are crystals you can buy in a tub. Left open, they absorb the moisure for weeks. Of course tenants can shampoo the carpeting. There are plenty of products to do just that.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
5 yrs on same paint job WOW make darn sure you take some of your wall pics down and take pics to show the fade marks to help show the paints aging. Carpet cleaning If you hire someone try to get them to also estimate the age of the carpet in writting on the reciept . That paint job has seen all the useful life it had to offer and even if you patch nail holes I know I never would have charged for repainting on a +5 yr old paint job And If your LL attempts to charge you for it sue. Carpet Id say most of the useful life of it is gone but since you lived there that long go ahead and send LL written request to tell you if they have a carpet cleaning firm they have used in the past to give you the firms name and phone number. If they dont answer you and you do not clean it (Even if they didnt clean it before you moved in they still may attempt to charge you for cleaning it). SO again in court the thing to do is use written statements on carpet cleaners invoice about its age and condition as reason you should not be charged for re cleaning it or replacing it if LL attempts to charge you for that. In court what courts tend to accept is whose proofs are more convincing , thats why pics of every thing. (many years ago as a teen I worked for a couple of carpet cleaning firms in the phone rooms , I routinely saw on old invoices notes about carpet condition before jobs were started and customers had to initial or sign the notations before the job was to be started)
 

divona2000

Senior Member
...the landlord is not responsive at all to repairs...I have repeated asked the landlord to take care of things such as running toilet, and tub, bathroom faucet not working right. Also the bathroom is a damp bathroom and the caulking around the tub it turning black...

Did you make written or verbal repair requests to landlord?
 

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