Carpet Cleaning Provisions in a Residential Lease

[Point Beer Is Best]

We sold our home in February and are living in an apartment while our new home is being built. It's been a while since we've lived in an apartment, but the following lease provision regarding carpet cleaning made me raise my eyebrows. I told the representative that I believed this provision was illegal at the time of the lease. She just smiled and said, "You'll have to take that up with the landlords."

 

Provision:

 

Upon vacating, Tenant agrees to leave the premises in a clean and tenantable condition. Tenant agrees to be responsible for the costs of cleaning at $25 per hour. Landlord will professionally clean the carpets, however Tenant will be charged accordingly, and additionally for anything beyond normal wear and tear. Tenants have the option of having the carpets professionally cleaned themselves, but will be required to provide receipt of such cleaning upon return of possession. Rental machines or other substitute is unacceptable.

 

I'm a CPA so my law knowledge is not that extensive, but my research skills are pretty good. From what I can tell (and other landlords have told me), this provision is absolutely illegal. As long as we don't harm the carpet beyond "normal wear and tear", we should not owe anything for any sort of carpet cleaning at all.

 

Here's the Attorney General's interpretation. It seems to indicate that the provision itself does not make the lease void, but the landlord is not allowed to deduct these expenses from the return of the security deposit. But could they try to send me a bill instead?

 

What Impact Does the Attorney General's Opinion have on Carpet Cleaning?

 

The Attorney General's opinion may be found here. The Attorney General was asked two questions which were answered as follows:

 

Question: Does routine carpet cleaning at the end of a tenancy fall within the landlord's duty to keep the premises "in a reasonable state of repair" as prescribed in Wis. Stat. 704.07(2)?

 

Answer: No

Question: Would a provision requiring the tenant to pay for professional carpet cleaning, in the absence of negligence or improper use by the tenant, render a rental agreement void under Wis. Stat. 704.44(8)?

 

Answer: No. Because routine carpet cleaning is not a statutorily-imposed obligation of a landlord, assigning this responsibility to a tenant through a contractual provision does not render a rental agreement void.

 

So, even though the rental provision would not make the lease void and unenforceable under Wis. Stat. 704.44(8), it is still illegal to withhold from the security deposit. The opinion notes:

 

Finally, I note that the permissibility of provisions requiring tenants to arrange or pay for carpet cleaning at the termination of their tenancy does not mean that landlords can deduct carpet cleaning charges from the security deposit of a tenant who has failed to comply with such a provision . Under your agency's present rule, ATCP 134.06(3)©, landlords are expressly prohibited from withholding security deposits "for normal wear and tear, or for other damages or losses for which the tenant cannot reasonably be held responsible under applicable law." The accompanying note cites carpet cleaning as an example of an impermissible basis for withholding a portion of a security deposit. My conclusion that carpet cleaning provisions are valid does not affect the prohibition against deducting carpet cleaning expenses from a tenant's security deposit as a means of enforcing such provisions.

[trwi7]

I have never heard of that before. When I moved from my apartment I was charged for a black light inspection (for a dog) and responsible to pay for it (I think it was like $20 or something) and I found that to be reasonable enough. When the black light inspection came back clean, I got my entire security deposit back.

 

Other than that, all I had to do was just vacuum the place like you normally would and that was fine.

[jjkoestler]

PBIB - I have a good friend who does a lot of work in landlord/tenant law. Shoot me a PM if you'd like his contact information.

[young guns]

I think I have something like that in my lease as well. I believe I have to show a receipt from a professional carpet cleaning place.

[RockCoCougars]

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/sites/default/files/2013-news/oag-04-13.pdf

[Point Beer Is Best]

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/sites/default/files/2013-news/oag-04-13.pdf

 

This is the entire opinion, I had quoted only a portion in my original post from the website I was looking at it. So it looks like an about face from previous rulings... sort of. While the provisions no longer seem to be illegal, they still can't withhold or deduct from your security deposit if you don't pay to have the carpet professionally cleaned. Is that correct? Clear as mud.

[RockCoCougars]

http://www.doj.state.wi.us/sites/default/files/2013-news/oag-04-13.pdf

 

This is the entire opinion, I had quoted only a portion in my original post from the website I was looking at it. So it looks like an about face from previous rulings... sort of. While the provisions no longer seem to be illegal, they still can't withhold or deduct from your security deposit if you don't pay to have the carpet professionally cleaned. Is that correct? Clear as mud.

 

That's what it seems to say. It looks like your landlord has no basis in law to deduct $25/hour from your deposit. The lease clause itself seems to be a bit ambiguous as well. They refer to cleaning, which I assume is for those who do not leave the unit in clean condition (you'd be surprised how many people just 'leave' an apartment full of personal effects/junk). The carpet cleaning is mentioned in the next sentence. Have you confirmed with the landlord that the standard cleaning is included in the $25 hour clause?

[Point Beer Is Best]

I haven't, so I'll ask for clarification.

[RobDeer 45]

I've lived in places where we had to pay for a carpet cleaning when we left. That said, the people in there before us had to do it, so everything was nice and clean.

[rwa12]

I had to pay for carpet cleaning when I left as well. I could clean the apartment, or opt for a $25 hour service as well. When, on final inspection, the landlord discovered that the ceiling fans were dirty (they were on when I got the place, and I could never figure out how to turn them off; it turns out, they needed an oddly timed series of pulls to turn them off...they treated me like an idiot for not knowing this. I had never had a fan that required 3 second pauses between chain pulls). Anyways, I didn't have any cleaning supplies, and was done cleaning. I told him to go ahead and pay someone for an hour of cleaning the fans, take it out of the deposit. It turns out, he was his own cleaning service, and he was furious that he had to do it. He was a jerk for the entirety of the lease, so I didn't really care. I told him that the option was available in the lease, and that I was taking it. This has little to do with your post, but I wish I had taken a picture of the guy when I told him I wasn't cleaning the fans. He was livid, totally worth the $25.

[Nottso]

You could just burn the place to the ground and be done with this nonsense.

[jerichoholicninja]

You could just burn the place to the ground and be done with this nonsense.

 

This.

[Point Beer Is Best]

Well the letter I received today as a response to our Intent to Vacate notice at the end of June expressly said that they will withhold from our security deposit if we don't have the carpets professionally cleaned, which is still considered to be illegal. But if the requirement to clean the carpets is no longer being interpreted as the owner's responsibility and I have to do it anyway, it's a moot point I guess.