Move out carpet cleaning suggestions

Posted by Capt-Reckless@reddit | plano | View on Reddit | 10 comments

I am moving out of my 1 bed 1 bath apartment next month.
The management says it requires professional carpet cleaning and will need a receipt. They gave us an option for “Express cleaning “ which is $150 plus tax, includes range, oven, bath, closet, cabinet and carpet cleaning. I am looking for suggestions if opting in makes sense or are there any cheaper options available?

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itchysweatersdaw@reddit

Crazy how they want you to clean the apartment after leaving. You basically paying to get it ready for the next tenant. Which used to be their responsibility. $150 seems fair to be honest though.

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Paulsur@reddit

Crazy how they want the apartment returned to them like they issued it.

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Beautiful-View-8670@reddit

The crazy part is that in any case, they want the carpet pro cleaned with receipts. Some people are never home and don't get their carpet messy.

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Capt-Reckless@reddit (OP)

They mentioned that in lease agreement so I was expecting it. I was thinking to do it myself but they want it done professionally and need receipts.

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AnxietyDepressedFun@reddit

It's pretty standard these days for the apartment to contract with someone for the turn clean and for it to be the tenants responsibility (a major change that happened about 10 years ago).

Industry insider info, use the company they recommend or they'll find a reason that it's not up to their "cleaning" standards and take it out of your security deposit anyway. Do I agree with this practice? Fuck no - it creates a monopoly for residents and used to be something we legislated against, but it's pretty much understood that this exists now and is a way to make extra money on a unit that's going back on the market.

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dohspc@reddit

That’s wild apartments are requiring you to do professional carpet cleaning on the way out. I guess just pay them the $150 geez.

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AnxietyDepressedFun@reddit

Yeah this change happened about 10 years ago when third-party cleaning companies started popping up (sales pitch: eliminate your staffed porters, use our XYZ service and put it in the lease as an addendum, we charge you $90, you charge resident $150). It worked and by 2020 it was pretty much universal.

It's a really fucked up way of ensuring you have extra money on the books for a unit that has to go back on the market & because it was so profitable in the early days, it became standard operating procedure. We used to legislate against forcing residents into a single vendor (Internet/cable was a huge landmark case) but property owners will almost always find ways to make money on absolutely nothing.

I actually quit a job over the request that "Marketing find a way to charge $5 for a service free to residents that wouldn't piss them off"... Like I actually said out loud "is this actually a joke or are you guys being serious, it's a free service everywhere else, you want us to come up with a lie as to why it costs $5?" They said I could choose not to participate but it would reflect on my performance so I quit.

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