I’m currently in the process of moving out of my low-rent, one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood that, in the wholesome small town in which I live, passes for a “ghetto.”
My rental property just sent me an amusing (although it’s really more of an inside joke) list of pre-move cleaning tasks I’m expected to complete. Apparently, if I ever want to see my security deposit again, I’m to do things like “wash down the walls and baseboards”, “wax the kitchen floor”, and “have the carpet professionally cleaned, if necessary.”
This list should be titled “excuses for us buggering off with all your money” because we both know (me and my property manager) that that kitchen floor will never see a can of floor wax in all of it’s long and and inglorious existence. In fact, in my experience, a tenant is just as likely to get their money back spending days furiously cleaning, as they are if they kick holes in the walls and defecate in the vegetable crisper before dropping off the keys (which is to say, not very likely at all.)
It would seem to me that, while initially profitable (actually VERY profitable, since my rental company deducts $25 AN HOUR for cleaning that we all know they don’t ACTUALLY do…..the place wasn’t particularly clean when I moved in, either) this little scam has got to stop paying out at some point. Mostly because, knowing we’re never going to see our money again, a lot of tenants just say ‘to hell with it’ and go buckwild painting the walls orange, adopting a few reeking, incontinent pet ferrets, etc…..
If your landlord is going to cheat you no matter what, junking up the apartment before you leave almost feels like the only way to reduce the unpleasant feeling of cognitive dissonance that comes about when you know you’re getting taken advantage of and there’s really nothing you can do to fight it (…..nothing except making sure they actually HAVE to shell out a few hundred bucks to cleaners and painting companies to fix it.)
