If the tenant is dirty and has food leftovers all over the house (attracting pests), then the one who is SOL is the landlord… Same thing if the tenant will keep quiet and not report minor breakdowns/problems to avoid having to shell out the 70 bucks.[/quote]
That’s were docing the security deposit comes to place.
My tenant reports everything, For things like appliance breakage/water leaks due to things just breaking, I don’t doc the $70 if I think it’s reasonable it just broke.[/quote]
That’s a good strategy; if the tenant knows it won’t cost him a dime to report problems that are due to normal wear and tear, then that’s fine. But the way you described the lease clause at the beginning made me think otherwise.
[quote=flu]I’m just was wondering if “ants” is more of the tenant’s responsbility than the landlord.[/quote]
This is tricky b/c ants could be due to the tenants’ being filthy or careless with water, or just a seasonal thing. I had ants as a tenant, and I think I kept the house clean enough not to encourage them to move in. Anyways, I didn’t call the landlord, I took care of it myself. Also, once the kitchen faucet system broke and I just fixed it myself–the landlord, who is the accidental type, is a FB and I got a sweet below-market rent, so I was happy to do so.
