Renting - muddy feet

hermum

Maybe the letting agents are showing a dozen properties in a day & I'm assuming that when you want to rent you get the similar 10 minutes to view as you do when buying, so I can't see that many people would want to waste half that time removing footwear. Maybe a good thick doormat for them to wipe their feet would have been a good idea.
If I were told that shoes had to be removed to view a rental I wouldn't go in as I would be concerned about all the other rules that could crop up. I would expect the LL to have put in sensible easy clean flooring.

tyllwyd

It might be inconvenient to remove shoes when viewing a house, but if the conditions were muddy it is only common courtesy. I would have thought a lot of the marks would come out when the mud dries, but I think it would be worth asking the letting agent/landlord to contribute towards the cost of cleaning the carpets at the end of the tenancy - if it was your own guests who had caused the damage you would pay, but if the letting agent has invited these people in, why shouldn't they pay? If the viewers had caused some other damage - broken a window or something while they were viewing - you couldn't be expected to pay for it, so why should damage to the carpet be different?

bristol_pilot

You won't be able to impose shoe removal on tenants, so better get used to it. Bit of mud on the carpet is fair wear and tear, there is nothing you can do.

Whether people take their shoes off going into their own or other people's homes in a matter of custom & practice and upbringing. I don't take my shoes off in my own home, my parents do but wouldn't ask a guest to do so and I have some very house-proud friends who ask everyone to remove shoes, no exceptions. But you can't really be too houseproud if letting out a property or you'll not sleep at night!

The letting agent may have a good reason not to ask viewers to remove shoes - to do so would be poor salesmanship and after all they are trying to 'sell' the property to prospective tenants. Certainly if I was asked to take my shoes off when viewing, I'd be disinclined to rent that property as I'd assume the landlord to be too picky re. wear and tear.

itzmee

Why don't you buy some plastic runners to temporarily lay over the carpets - it will protect them, keep them clean and are easy to mop over.

James_N

caeler wrote: »

I've viewed a few placed to rent and I'd never dream of taking my shoes off. Sorry. However I would make sure my shoes were not muddy, thats just respectful.

And I, having lived in Sweden, wouldn't dream of NOT taking off my shoes. To walk around a house in outdoor shoes is just plain filthy. Anyone calling at mine quickly learns!

poppysarah

Runners won't help on the stairs and the tenants when they move in will soon learn that traipsing mud in isn't a good idea.

However a bad road that is just mud is always going to cause problems. Remove the source of the mud for best results.

sonastin

I viewed a house with a view to buying it. The owner lived abroad and had left lots of lovely post-it messages for the EA - one of which was "no shoes upstairs please". EA's advice? "Oh just ignore that"! Might have had something to do with the fact that the property had been on the market for 2 years, the owner wasn't willing to entertain offers and she got cold feet and took it off the market as soon as she got a proceedable buyer!

tbs624

bristol_pilot wrote: »

You won't be able to impose shoe removal on tenants, so better get used to it. Bit of mud on the carpet is fair wear and tear, there is nothing you can do.

Nope - mud is categorically not FW&T, it's dirt. If the property is let out with that mud in evidence then the LL can expect to receive it back in a similar state.

Geenie

itzmee wrote: »

Why don't you buy some plastic runners to temporarily lay over the carpets - it will protect them, keep them clean and are easy to mop over.

The trouble with those plastic runners is that they don't absorb anything off the bottom of the feet, so if people go off them and still have mud and wet on their shoes it will still get on the carpet.


Quote
tbs624 Nope - mud is categorically not FW&T, it's dirt. If the property is let out with that mud in evidence then the LL can expect to receive it back in a similar state.

I agree with tbs624. If you let out the property with muddy carpets, you cannot expect it to come back better. Clean it before letting, and set the standard you expect your tenants to maintain......... within reason of course.

hazyjo

If it is mud, it'll probably just brush or vacuum off when dry - don't wet it! Don't think I've ever taken shoes off to view a house, but do always use the mat. If they had really light carpets, I'd take them off. Do think if a handful of people have been in and you're noticing dirt from shoes, the carpet should've been a bit darker. Don't think people have ever taken their shoes off to view my house either, now I come to think of it.

Jx