Allergies in Rental Home

I do not believe there is any legal recourse... One thing I can share with you, so that you can help yourself (if you decide to stay) When you get into all your "crazy lady" cleaning (this is what my children call it:) You can take off each register vent and cold air return.... vacuum as far as you can, on top, bottom, and sides of the duct work and the inside of the vent, itself...after having done that take a dryer sheet and tape it to the inside of the vent cover. It smells great and works remarkably well for trapping lots of stuff...I've even seen it aid in trapping smoke residue in a fire. Hope this helps.

I am not 100% sure, but do not believe there is a law requiring landlords to shampoo the carpet. My husband and I are getting ready to list our home, what was our "first home", as we have now built a new home and have had our 1st as a rental property for nearly 3 years. What a stressful situation! My point in this was simply to say that I am so proud of you for cleaning the home! Sounds silly maybe, but with all 3 of our tenants, they have destroyed our "home" and it causes a great deal of stress. I wish we could have found a tenant like YOU!

Go rent a rug doctor, you can do it yourself. They cost like $30.00, plus the cleaning detergent and it's very easy to use. I have white carpet and it always gets my carpet very clean. I always use boiling wather though, not hot tap water, like they reccomend.

hello
I agree that there must be some type of laws.. however.. SADLY enough, some peoples idea of clean is another person's mess and vice versa..
Frankly, I can't tell you all the times my husband who does work in people's homes has had to work in hugely messy homes.. digustings homes where people do not clean up after their pets or children for that matter, let alone themselves. Therefore, it wouldn't surprise me in the least IF your landlord thinks the home is already clean enough OR that he/she is used to perhaps having tenants who are slobs and therefore may not see the point in cleaning up.. However, I document all that you clean and advise your landlord and hopefully cut a deal whereby he/she takes money off of the first month's rent..
best of luck

Hi Tishie,

The landlord let you do a walk thru and that is where it ends. There is no way, especially if the landlord doesn't have allergies, that he or she would know. The walk thru is specifically for you to approve the premises and make sure it is in the same or better condition when you leave.

With that in mind, I have been in a similar situation and paid for the carpet cleaning out of pocket. Call the landlord and tell him your dilemma and ask him if he would be willing to split the cost with you. You want him to know that you are a good tenant and that you will take care of the place. As a former landlord, I would absolutely agree to that in order to keep a good tenant.

You can also go to Petsmart and get a blacklight to see where there is any cat urine or other fluids. They cost about $9 and well worth the money to find the problems and work specifically on them. We have not only sanded sheetrock down but completely detoxed the house we are in now because the last person that lived here had a very angry male cat. There is no cat smell or any allergy related problems.

Hope I helped!

M.

Anyone who has cat allergies can have a problem if they move into a house that has the same carpet a cat has lived on. You didn't mention the smell of cat pee, so I can only assume you are like most people with cat allergies and are allergic to cat dander. If you knew there had been a cat living there--and it doesn't sound like the landlord attempted to hide it from you--then you should have known there would be a chance you'd have allergy symptoms. Hopefully your air purifier will take care of the allergy issues for you. As far as the filthiness of the place, if you did a walk through and accepted the place as it was, I don't believe the landlord has any liability. My husband and I own rentals, and I deep clean ours between tenants, but most tenants are not good housekeepers... and some are just flat pigs. Kansas has a landlord-tenant act, and I'm guessing Missouri does, too. You can find it on the internet and see if there are any sections that cover your problem. And, if the allergy problems are not resolved by your air purifier, just go to the landlord and see if he'll let you out of your lease. If you've left the place cleaner than when you moved in, and he doesn't have to do anything to it, perhaps he can rent it out quickly.