4 Reasons Why You Moved Into a Dirty Apartment

It’s a nightmare situation: You spend weeks packing and planning, and then when move in day finally arrives, you open the door to an apartment that’s far from perfect. We understand how frustrating this situation is. If it happens to you, here’s what you need to know.

Moving into a dirty apartment is a huge letdown. When looking for someone to blame, you might naturally point the finger at your property manager. Now, we’re going to give you the rundown on why it happens, and why it ticks us off too.

Why Did I Move Into a Dirty Apartment and What Should I Do?

Between the combined efforts from residents and professional cleaners, you might wonder how any unit could possibly seem to fall through the cracks. Here are four things you should understand about moving into a dirty apartment.

1. Don’t accept it – Every resident deserves to move into a squeaky clean apartment. If you live with Steve Brown Apartments and open the door to anything less, give us a call and we’ll send in a cleaning crew to polish the place up immediately.

Please don’t clean it yourself unless you take photos first and document damage. You simply shouldn’t have to – and beyond that, you should have evidence of the apartment’s original state upon move in.

2. Realize that owners hate this too – Unless you signed with a slumlord, your property manager is upset just like you. So why does it happen?

Vendors make a mess – Between general maintenance, painters, carpet cleaners and general cleaners, there are a lot of personnel trouncing through your apartment before you move in.
Often, the reason behind a dirty apartment is as simple as a miscommunication between these workers. For instance, the cleaners might do their work before the painters, and the painters make a mess.
Irresponsible residents – Some residents leave their apartment in shambles. It’s not uncommon for these trashed apartments to take up to 12 hours to clean.
Unwelcome surprises – We can’t fully predict an apartment’s condition until we go inside. At that point, if we find a plethora of appliances that need fixing, pet urine in carpets, or holes in walls we have only 24 hours – sometimes less – to fix it.

3. A dirty tour indicates a dirty move in – If the apartment was dirty during your tour, chances are higher that it will be dirty when you move in. A dirty apartment indicates negligent residents, and aged grime can be tough to clean up on short notice.

Don’t immediately write off an apartment if it’s dirty during a tour, however. Just call your property manager several days in advance of your move in, share your concerns and push them to inspect it before you move in. Placing it (and you) on their radar will help them prepare ahead of time so you’re not greeted by a mess.

4. Don’t be that guy – We know it’s unfair if you moved into a dirty apartment. But please, break the cycle and pay it forward. Cleaning your apartment before moving out is expected, courteous and greatly reduces the amount of time our professional cleaners need to spend on the apartment after you leave.

Of course, property managers strive to provide you an immaculate move in. If you unfortunately find yourself in a nasty situation however, we hope you have a better understanding of why it happens and how to handle it.