Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplace
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Kansas
We would be grateful if you can tell us what our options are about the following:
In six years of renting one part of a duplex, we never touched or used the fire place, but the Move Out Statement has a $70 Fire Place Cleaning charge... are tenants really responsible for cleaning of Fire Places that they never used in six + years?
We left the place pretty pretty clean, just had not vacuumed and for that were hit with:
• $160 vacuum duplex charge
• $25 Clean upper entry floor
• $40 Replace filter and sweep garage
• $275 kitchen cleaning charges
• $220 bathroom cleaning charges
• $150 Kiltz walls, 2 bdrms (H.B. stains)
• $100 mow yard
• $25 weed eat around duplex
Again, we were pretty clean, no pets or children - this was all normal wear and tear after six + years.
Re: Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplac
Look at your lease. What, if anything, does your lease say about cleaning fees, both generally and in specific relation to the fireplace?
Re: Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplac
That appears to be $1065 total charges.
If you don't agree you can sue in small claims court and try to dispute the charges there.
Study the security deposit statute at:
https://law.justia.com/codes/kansas/...ction-58-2550/
Re: Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplac
Interesting question. If we had a completely empty apartment some level of dirt would get inside over time, presumably some through the chimney. And if the lease requires returning the apartment to the original condition, that could involve some fire place cleaning (in theory). Does the lease explicitly exempt "normal wear and tear".
Past that, the previous answer was a lot more specific. And it would be interesting to see how a small claims court would call the chimney issue. The contract can make you responsible for ending Global Warning in the small print, but Small Claims Court tend to use Common Law standards where your argument would likely have more traction.
Re: Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplac
Quote:
Quoting
Mr. Knowitall
Look at your lease. What, if anything, does your lease say about cleaning fees, both generally and in specific relation to the fireplace?
The Rental Agreement with personal info removed is not that complicated:
http://www.c627627.com/IMG/Other/RentalAgreement.pdf
I get that we live in a world where if you don't know the law / answers to exactly the kind of questions you are asking, that you don't stand a chance in court. But do we have a prayer in small claims court as far as any of the charges go and also what can we say in writing to them to demonstrate to court we tried before going to small claims court - if all there is to the Rental Agreement is in that .pdf file I linked to.
Re: Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplac
Dirt is not normal wear and tear. It also sounds like your failed to maintain the landscaping or change the filters as agreed to in your lease. Did you happen to take photos before you left? How would you prove that you never used the fireplace?
Re: Can a Landlord Charge a Fireplace Cleaning Fee if Tenants Never Used the Fireplac
The pics you took at the beginning of the lease and at the end will be used to prove your case. However, I note that you say you left it "pretty clean".... but was it as clean as it was when you took possession of the place?
• $160 vacuum duplex charge - you admit to not vacuuming.
• $25 Clean upper entry floor - did you clean this area before vacating?
• $40 Replace filter and sweep garage - did you do this?
• $275 kitchen cleaning charges - did you clean out the frig and stove? Wipe out cabinets? Mop?
• $220 bathroom cleaning charges - How clean were the showers/toilets when you left? Did you vacuum/mop?
• $150 Kiltz walls, 2 bdrms (H.B. stains) I don't know what HB stains are, but if they had to Kilz on top of painting because you left stains, then this seems reasonable.
• $100 mow yard - did you mow/weed the yard?
• $25 weed eat around duplex
You're going to have to defend the charges as unreasonable -- can you do so?