We rent a house and our landlord has put it on the market. The landlord’s realtor said we don’t need to keep it in pristine condition because a) it’s a short sale, and b) we live here, with two little kids.
I have been trying to straighten up a bit before the house is shown, mostly because I’m embarrassed if my house is slovenly, but also because I think it’s the right thing to do. My husband thinks I should leave it in whatever condition it’s in, and that if I clean up, I’m helping the enemy.
There’s more to the situation than that. Have I give you enough to answer the question? If not, I can flesh the situation out a bit.
It sounds like the landlord has enough problems as it is - has he done something to make you want to screw with him? If not, clean the place as if your mom was visiting, or, if your mom is a total slob, a prissy maiden aunt.
IF you want to be as helpful as possible, clean up as much as possible. Maybe even more than you’d do if you were the owner yourself.
IF your goal is to prevent the sale, then do all you can to prevent the sale. Be the worst tenants possible.
Sounds to me like you & your husband don’t yet have a common goal. Whatever goal you settle on will have good & bad ethical points. Which *you’ll *have to handicap per *your *rthical standards.
*My *worldview is pretty much tit-for-tat. I try to be the best most helpful person I can be to everybody. Until they demonstrate they deserve a punch in the nose; then they get one of those instead. So *if *I was you, I’d evaluate the history with the landlord & be guided accordingly. But I’m *not *you; you’re you, and your approach may be different.
Yes, because all landlords are different, just as your relationship is to that landlord.
There is one type of landlord that will always hire someone to clean up after you no matter how clean you leave it, and will charge you for the cleaning, too, taking it out of your deposit.
elfkin477 - I’m not sure. I don’t remember if we needed a former landlord’s reference to rent our current place, but my husband would remember. I’ll ask him.
alice_in_wonderland - We had a perfectly friendly relationship with the landlord until his realtor called to tell us that the house was going on the market. That was a bit of a shock. It seems the landlord tried to email me several weeks earlier, letting us know that he had to sell, but he sent the email to the wrong address.
I have no desire to screw the landlord, but neither do I want to go out of my way to help him. My husband has been out of work for nearly a year and we are in debt. Moving would be aggravating and expensive at best, so we are hoping no one wants to buy the place right away, at least until we are in a more secure financial position.
The house has been shown four times in the past few weeks. Each time, I’ve straightened up and tried to get the place fairly orderly. I haven’t done any deep cleaning, or really, any more than I’d do for a close friend’s visit.
So basically, you and your husband are in the same (apparent) situation as the landlord - i.e. having money troubles? Really, given thats the case I can’t see any reason for being adversarial with the guy - I’m sure he would rather not have sell on a short sale either, but sometimes shit happens.
I assume if the place doesn’t sell (which it won’t if it’s totally disgusting - there’s just too much on the market right now) and your landlord is forced into foreclosure, it won’t make things much better for you and your husband, and will make things quite a bit worse for him, which seems a bit douchey if he’s been decent to you.
That being said, this:
seems reasonable. I would also make sure that the place smells fresh. As the owner of a little one and a diaper pail, I know this can take a bit of effort.
One thing to consider - if a potential buyer is also a potential landlord, you don’t want to be told your lease won’t be renewed. I wouldn’t move the furniture to vacuum every time the place was shown, but I’d make it look like you care about your home, even if it is a rental.
Yes, I agree with both of you. The landlord is having money troubles and he is a good guy. As much as I don’t want to be forced out, I think it’s common courtesy to keep the place in decent, if not pristine, condition (and smelling acceptable!)
Both the seller’s agent and I are guessing that the new owner won’t be a potential landlord, but I agree that we should keep that in mind as a possibility. (Oh, and we don’t have a current lease. Ours lapsed so we are month to month).
Not keeping it reasonably clean to sell is a jerk thing to do, especially if your landlord has been good up to now. Someday you’ll be the landlord with tenants who aren’t keeping things clean for you to sell, and you’ll wish you hadn’t been jerks.
If you have a good relationship with your landlord, talk to him directly. Maybe he can offer a “closing bonus” to help you move.
I had a complete jerk of a landlord suddenly trying to sell our place and break the lease. He started with a not unreasonable offer to break our lease so he could hit the selling season, but then completely backed off when I tried to discuss details. Landlord threatened legal action as there was a clause in the lease about cooperating with to rent or sell the place. I was proactive to offer 2 hours a week when the place could be shown so as to be cooperating with the sale. For me a huge invasion of privacy and hugely inconvenient. My sister in law ended up buying the house as an investment but we were quickly going down the adversarial path.
People will understand a messier house if they know there are small children around. But perhaps the landlord or realtor could engage some sort of cleaning service to visit before prospective purchasers? Just to straighten up, vacuum, and clean. After all, you’re busy with the children.
