Depending on your living situation, that can determine who’s in charge of scheduling and maintaining regular cleanings of dryer vents. If you own a single residential home, away by yourself and no associations, then it’s all on you. What if you live in a place with an HOA or a Condo Association? What if you live in an apartment? Does it change if you rent or own? There are a lot of things to consider and you want to make sure that you know exactly what the cause is so that you don’t fall behind on cleanings or deal with one of the downfalls of a neglected dryer vent.
Who is Responsible for Cleaning Dryer Vents in a Condo?
If you are a condominium owner and part of a condo association; there may be requirements for regular dryer vent cleaning to be completed. No matter what; if you are the condo owner you are responsible for ensuring that your dryer vent is being cleaned. However, your condo association may specifically stipulate at what intervals this dryer vent cleaning needs to be completed. Conversely this service may be included in your condo association fees. You’re most likely paying some sort of fee, whether that be monthly, quarterly, yearly, or some other agreement. By paying that monthly fee there are certain things that you get taken care of by the association. Typically that’s lawn maintenance or if your community has some sort of common area or clubhouse, then that would be maintained by the association as well.
Dryer vent cleanings may be somewhat of a gray area when it comes to condo associations. While condo associations typically don’t govern much of what goes inside of the condo. It could be something that they take care of because it has somewhat of an effect on the safety of the community. A neglected dryer vent can cause problems for not only your home, but maybe the homes of your neighbors’ as well. You need to check the condo association bylaws or rules to see what they say. You may have to submit some schedule of regular maintenance and cleanings for certain things inside your home. That way the association knows that all of their members are getting serviced and they can stay out of it as much as possible.
We have recently completed a high number of dryer vent cleanings in Mt Laurel as part of condo association requirements.
Who is Responsible for Dryer Vent Cleaning in an Apartment Rental?
What if you live in an apartment that has dryer vents inside each unit? Typically you are not responsible for dryer vent cleaning as an apartment tenant. However, it is important to closely examine your lease to ensure that this does not fall under responsibilities of the tenant. At Dryer Vent Doctor, we recommend reading the lease first, seeing what it says there and then going to your landlord to double check and confirm. Especially if dryer vent cleaning is required within a lease, not having cleaning completed could leave you liable for damage resulting from clogged vents.
Who is Responsible for Dryer Vent Cleaning in an Apartment I Own?
Now if you own your apartment, it may be similar to living in a condo association. If you have an overseeing property management company or association, then it may be on them to regularly scheduled cleanings. The good thing about these groups is that they have everything written down. So it should be relatively easy to find out. It’s just something that you definitely need to know so you can make sure you’re staying on top of it.
Knowing who’s in charge of your dryer vent cleanings when you’re living in a condo or apartment can be tricky. Most of the time, places like these will have a property manager that you can reach out to; or a condo association president. If you do have one, give them a call or email and put them to work for you! It’s their job to make sure you have all of your questions answered in a timely manner. If you can locate any sort of documents about the rules of the living area be sure to have them stored somewhere that’s easy to access so you can keep this information on hand.
You don’t want to just think that it’s someone else’s responsibility and then have some sort of issue come up that now you’re responsible for. Keep good documentation and reach out to anyone that’s supposed to be in charge! If you do need to schedule a dryer vent cleaner, you can turn to Dryer Vent Doctor for professionally completed service.