sharona

I am in San Diego right now in my first rental by an owner. When we have rented in the past we have always rented through either a resort or a management company. I found a nice condo in San Diego through HomeAway that met our needs and the description listed a cleaning fee, which I expected. What I didn't expect, nor was it spelled out in the description, was that we are also expected to wash all of our sheets and towels before vacating. This actually presents a small challenge as check-out is 11:00 and we will have 4 sets of sheets and 5 sets of towels. That's a lot of laundry to do in one morning. My question is is it normal to have the tenants do their own laundry if there is a cleaning service and cleaning fee associated with the rental? I'd like to know as I'll be sure to inquire in the future should I ever rent through another rent by owner site again.

Thanks.

Brian_in_Charlotte

Does it say you have to wash and dry all linens and towels yourself? I have not run across this. In my experience renting from owners (more than a dozen different places) it ranges from leave the linens on the beds to gather them up and place near the front door.

Are you sure they don't just want you to start a load before you leave? That wouldn't seem so bad.

MmePerdu

I'd be inclined to let the cleaning fee cover the laundry too, especially as it wasn't mentioned before you booked the place. Isn't that what a cleaning fee is for, among other things, to relieve you of that responsibility prior to departure? Unless there's a clause by which you pay more if the laundry isn't done I'd say ignore it. I think it's an unreasonable request.

I dislike cleaning fees in general. Why not just include it in the rental rate? It's a given that the place will be cleaned along with other "goes without saying" items in a vacation rental.

HappyTrvlr

No! We have rented multiple homes and condos in the US and Europe and have never heard of that.
Usually it isn't possible due to early flights. In fact we just completed a Home Away rental and it was expected that the cleaning staff would take care of stripping the beds, washing the sheets and towels, remaking all beds.

sharona

No, the instructions inside the condo say specifically to wash all sheets and linens in addition to the cleaning fee. I was surprised as I thought the cleaning fee would cover the sheets and towels. We had to leave a $500 deposit and I'm worried they will take it out of the deposit if we don't wash up. I'm so thankful we decided to go back to Los Angeles for a few days instead of taking an early flight out of San Diego back to the east coast. What do they expect people to do in that situation?

Thanks everyone. As I said this was my first rental by owner and I thought in my naiveté I was wrong in my thinking I shouldn't have to do laundry in addition to a cleaning fee.

Ackislander

We have run into it in France, once. Now we enquire, and it is a deal breaker for us.

If you paid the deposit with a credit card and this requirement was not disclosed, I would photograph the card and dispute the charge. If you paid the deposit by cash or cash equivalent, you may be hosed.

I would still complain firmly but calmly to both the owner and the agency. I am not familiar with Homeawy because we use VRBO, but it reflects badly on them if this is typical.

longhorn55

Is there contact information on the HomeAway site so that you can call them and mention this? If so, I would call them ASAP and say that you were not made aware of this "requirement" before booking and your travel plans do not allow you to stay that morning to do laundry. (I've done several rentals with VRBO and never come across a situation like this.)

I would also do as Ackislander suggested--photo of the "notice" and dispute the charge on your credit card if they end up charging you. I would also make mention of this laundry requirement in any reviews you do to warn other potential renters.

sharona

I was able to do all transactions by credit card, which was a requirement for me. Before I booked I made sure to read all the information about the condo and nothing was mentioned about laundry in addition to a cleaning fee. I surely would not have booked here knowing how many beds and towels we would be using. If it had just been my husband and me it wouldn't have been so bad. I have the owner's contact info so I'll send a message.

This is a lesson so I'll inquire in the future. It'll be a deal breaker for us going forward.

Thanks everyone.

mlgb

How much was the cleaning fee? We actually have rented before where we were expected to do laundry, but the owner was an acquaintance and that was part of the agreement. I do think if they didn't disclose it, it isn't fair. I'd ask how much they plan to take out of the deposit (if anything) and decide if it's worth getting up a bit early.

nelsonian

I am another one who hates that the cleaning fee is not part of the price. In some cases it is an exorbitant fee in my opinion.

longhorn55

Sharona, I certainly wouldn't beat yourself up over having booked this without inquiring about having to do laundry. That is such a RARE thing to be required, especially when a cleaning fee is assessed.

Do come back and let us know how it turned out. I do hope you'll consider getting the word out about this requirement. If I were a prospective renter, I certainly would appreciate knowing that in advance, because I sure wouldn't have asked about doing laundry either!

maria111

I can't understand why the owner is asking you to clean all the sheets and towels as the cleaning fee is associate with the rent itself.

schmerl

We have rented from acquaintances who requested we wash all the sheets and towels before we leave. We usually do it the night before and sleep on top of the beds rather than in them that last night.
The fact you didn't know in advance is not right.

Gretchen

Well, it seems to be a requirement, one way or the other. In our personal beach condo we have to do this--leave sheets and towels clean. And our dryer is very inadequate!!
SO my answer to our personal problem is I bring towels to use and wash the unit towels the day before. Then washing the sheets is quite doable by 11--our time also for the cleaning people to come.
We also have taken the "bed pods" (that are being sold to keep from getting bed bugs!!) and slept on top of the bed.
It IS too bad that it wasn't spelled out and should be complained about.

MareW

I ran into this once at a condo rental in Florida, and they didn't even provide laundry detergent. I thought it was ridiculous. I also didn't like knowing that the person before me might not have washed the towels and sheets in an adequate way--did they wash them in hot, etc?

Underhill

A cleaning fee that has to be paid in cash on departure is especially unpleasant.

NeoPatrick

MareW finally hit on something I was thinking. If this is what they require, you can make a good guess that some of the sheets you've been sleeping on were not properly washed before your arrival.

MmePerdu

This whole thing, paying for the place to be cleaned and, by the way, do the laundry before you leave, is hard to believe. I believe everyone, I just can't imagine how this kind of custom got going. I guess if it's required of one tenant then why not the next and on and on. I must shock easily.

StantonHyde

I had this happen on a Flip Key rental in Hawaii--got the notice 2 days before the trip!! We were even expected to take the garbage to the dump!!! I got in a very lively dispute with the owner. And we had paid a $300 cleaning fee as well. I'm sorry--I'm on vacation, I am not cleaning the house before I leave!! And, heck yes, the thing "did they really wash the towels/sheets the last time?" totally skeeved me out!! This very bad experience has made me stick to renting from property management companies.

socialworker

This is really lousy, sharona! And, yes, I saw this same requirement mentioned by another poster sometime in the last year or two, altho I have never run into it myself.