Rent Deposit, cleaning costs

seh567

Hi, I recently vacated a 1 bedroom flat from a private landlord. My rental agreement says I should receive my deposit back within 4 weeks. The landlord has paid back 50% and has agreed he will pay the remainder less costs, when he has received the bills. He claims to have had the carpets professionally cleaned, ie small bedroom, lounge & hallway and had the ceilings in the bedroom & lounge painted which is fair enough since I lived in the flat for 4 years. I had cleaned the carpet with a Vax machine before I vacated but I agree that it still probably needed professional cleaning and fair enough about having to paint the ceilings as I did smoke occassionally.

Can any tenants or landlords out there give me some idea of the costs for doing this work?

stevetodd

seh567 wrote: »

Hi, I recently vacated a 1 bedroom flat from a private landlord. My rental agreement says I should receive my deposit back within 4 weeks. The landlord has paid back 50% and has agreed he will pay the remainder less costs, when he has received the bills. He claims to have had the carpets professionally cleaned, ie small bedroom, lounge & hallway and had the ceilings in the bedroom & lounge painted which is fair enough since I lived in the flat for 4 years. I had cleaned the carpet with a Vax machine before I vacated but I agree that it still probably needed professional cleaning and fair enough about having to paint the ceilings as I did smoke occassionally.

Can any tenants or landlords out there give me some idea of the costs for doing this work?

Hi I am a landlord and would comment as follows:

Not sure about the carpets, I think a really good clean with a vax would suffice, but maybe not.

Now painting the ceilings I see as unfair, I redecorate every 4 or 5 years anyway and you were there for 4 years, even if they were painted just before you moved in I still think this is taking the p*ss. I think that cost is entirely down to him, painting ceilings is wear and tear not damage done by a tenant.

So I reckon you shouldn't have to pay much more than about £200 for cleaning (proper clean) and a carpet clean as you should not be paying for the painting. How much is he charging you? You could always ask for the invoices.