Is It Mandatory to Clean Rental Property Carpet?

In Australia, there is a legislation of the Tenancies Act, which defines legal aspects related to the rented properties. However, there are fewer tenants and landlords that are aware of these rules and regulations. Often, the decisions during the tenancy and after the completion of the rent agreement are followed with mutual consents and on social grounds. However, there are often certain disputes between landlords and tenants for some items. We are going to answer one of the important questions to resolve disputes as per the legislation in Australia. The question is, does tenant have to invest in rental property carpet cleaning.

Generally, professional carpet cleaning costs a significant amount, especially, when you opt for steam carpet cleaning services, it can be very expensive because of its quality of results. Many tenants often think about whether they need to pay for the rental property carpet cleaning or not. Even if your carpet is considered as a rental item, still whether to invest in rental carpet cleaning or not is a bothering question to many.

Of course, when one lives in the house, naturally, he/she takes care of the cleaning process, including, carpet cleaning. In some cases, the landlord pays for the professional steam cleaning of the carpet. Alternatively, the tenants can use regular vacuuming. If there are some stains because of the use of the carpet, then the tenants should pay for cost effective rental property carpet cleaning services to take off the stains without adding any hole into the pocket.

What About Rental Property Carpet Cleaning When The Rental Contract Ends?

Some landlords and property agents insist tenants to pay for steam carpet cleaning which is expensive compared to other types of rental carpet cleaning services. So do you, as a tenant, have to pay for it?

As per the tenant rules by Victoria Act, the tenants have to leave the property, residential or office, in a sensibly dirt free state. It means if you have not added stains or mess in the carpet, then you are not liable to pay for steam or any other type of professional rental carpet cleaning services. Of course, you need to clean the complete property, including, carpet to make it reasonably clean before leaving.

There are some agents and property owners that put a clause in the rent agreement that the tenant needs to pay for steam carpet cleaning from professionals. As per the law, all you need to do is you need to handover the property in a reasonably clean condition. Thus, the clause mentioned in the rent agreement can be considered as an invalid clause until and unless you have added into major damage to the property.