Clarifying End of Tenancy Cleaning

darkvader

Hi,

I've got a weird situation to tackle at the moment, would not have thought twice but if the landlord wants to deduct £2 for a light bulb then I have a right to ask about the £160 cleaning charges

1. We were never given a professional clean receipt when we moved in
2. Checkout report says house is in good condition and a light clean required
3. Landlord says £160 for cleaning and I say fine, its high, but need a receipt
4. This is all done via DPS and the letting agency. Letting agent now says landlord already has new tenants so he will clean later but wants to hold back this amount because we did not do a professional clean

So, it all sounds silly to me but dont know the legal line here
1. If we were not given a bill for professional cleaning when we moved in, why should we now have to pay for professional cleaning now?
2. Yes, we know it has to be cleaned because the checkout report has mentioned it and since we have moved out, we cannot have another go at cleaning it. We lived there for 2 years
3. Can the landlord charge for professional cleaning now that the letting agent has said he has new tenants in so he 'may' clean later but just docking us £160 for a professional clean?

If it's not worth contesting then I dont want to but if it is not right then I dont want to pay up

Many thanks
DV

BitterAndTwisted

What did the check-in report have to say about the cleanliness? If it was spotless when you moved in and needed a light clean after you left then £160 is pretty fair.

olly300

If I was in the area first I would go and collect my post and at the same time ask the tenants if the place needed cleaning when they moved in.

If the tenants said "no" then I would contest it as unfortunately too many (and this doesn't mean all) landlords' try scams on where they charge each tenant around £100 of their deposit for random things and never do them.

And yes I moved in to 2 places which hadn't been cleaned but the landlords managed to get cleaners to go around the houses an hour before we moved in. In fact one lot of cleaners were cleaning as we moved in.

darkvader

Well, the check in report was a basic inventory check list stating everything was in a good, fair or well used condition. We pointed out few repairs, dirt patches and carpet stains that had to be done which was recorded and addressed.

I am admitting that a light clean is required because there was slight salt deposits on the tap and oven had to be cleaned, again light and our mistake WE did not point these out when we moved in.

The £160 is for a 2 Bed Flat excluding carpets and light clean which seems more as I found places that do it for £120 and less. My question is if the landlord can charge without providing us with a professional clean bill when we moved in and if yes, now that he has new tenants in he wont use the £160 to do a clean so can it be charged? If its irrelevant when he uses the amount he holds back then fair enough I will pay up

DV

olly300

If you are happy with him taking the £160 let it be.

If you are not contest it.

I've already given you an idea of why you should contest it.

darkvader

olly300 wrote: »

If I was in the area first I would go and collect my post and at the same time ask the tenants if the place needed cleaning when they moved in.

If the tenants said "no" then I would contest it as unfortunately too many (and this doesn't mean all) landlords' try scams on where they charge each tenant around £100 of their deposit for random things and never do them.

And yes I moved in to 2 places which hadn't been cleaned but the landlords managed to get cleaners to go around the houses an hour before we moved in. In fact one lot of cleaners were cleaning as we moved in.

Unfortunately, we have moved far away. The agent has said the landlord cannot clean now as new tenants have moved in but, thinking out loud, surely he must've had to pay for the clean from his pocket before the new tenants moved in and he's just getting it back from us now?

DV

wannahouse

they don't have to provide you with a receipt...
someone will need to clean it, (which SHOULD have been you) and someone will need to be paid for their time to do it.

£160 is cheap.... i would just pay the money, and be done with it...
we got ripped of £50 once, (place was spotless when we left and we recorded her secretly telling us that it was all perfect and we'd get a full refund!) because "we " had left rubbish behind. the "rubbish" was a broken fridge shelf from their fridge that was in the storage cupboard before we even moved in...we did n't own a fridge...i was livid, but it wasn't worht the time or hassle fighting it, and i think the agent knew that and tried the saem on with every one just to glean a little extra money, but it sounds in your case, that it is justified, sorry to say.

wannahouse

darkvader wrote: »

The £160 is for a 2 Bed Flat excluding carpets and light clean which seems more as I found places that do it for £120 and less.
DV

i just wanted to bring up these companies that say they do a clean for £120...
our last tenants left the flat an absolute pigsty, and we were left having to find someone to clean the flat before the new tenants moved in..i was 32wks pregnant and not in a state to be able to clean up myself after the pigs moved out..it was awful...so along came 6 different companies to "quote" ,all who advertised on the net that they'd do a 2 bed move out clean for £120...and none of them actually do, when it comes time to booking them!
the cheapest was around £500, and the most expensive was £650...
when i asked why it wasn't only £120 as they all claim, they all had varying excuses, but the long and short of it, is ,unless your house it almost pristine anyway when you move out, and all that needs to be done is wave around a duster, then they always charge much more than they advertise they will!
we were panicked, as we had gone to the lengths of getting 6 different quotes so the tenants couldn't claim we didn't seek out a competitive quote, and were left in the position where we had to pay the large amount out of our own pocket and wait to claim it back, hopefully from the tenants deposit...
even after the expensive cleaners left, we had to re-clean alot of it, as it was still under parr! they charge alot, but didn't do a great job..

darkvader

Yeah, not arguing with it. Yes, we should have done the clean and from what everyone has said, the price is fair and not really in question what the landlord does with the money coz the report says it has to be cleaned

Thanks All
DV

darkvader

wannahouse wrote: »

i just wanted to bring up these companies that say they do a clean for £120...
our last tenants left the flat an absolute pigsty, and we were left having to find someone to clean the flat before the new tenants moved in..i was 32wks pregnant and not in a state to be able to clean up myself after the pigs moved out..it was awful...so along came 6 different companies to "quote" ,all who advertised on the net that they'd do a 2 bed move out clean for £120...and none of them actually do, when it comes time to booking them!
the cheapest was around £500, and the most expensive was £650...
when i asked why it wasn't only £120 as they all claim, they all had varying excuses, but the long and short of it, is ,unless your house it almost pristine anyway when you move out, and all that needs to be done is wave around a duster, then they always charge much more than they advertise they will!
we were panicked, as we had gone to the lengths of getting 6 different quotes so the tenants couldn't claim we didn't seek out a competitive quote, and were left in the position where we had to pay the large amount out of our own pocket and wait to claim it back, hopefully from the tenants deposit...
even after the expensive cleaners left, we had to re-clean alot of it, as it was still under parr! they charge alot, but didn't do a great job..

So sorry to hear your experience but I can say you get people to do a good job for much less than £500. Our letting agent is one of popular ones in town and also charge the most in town, and the company they use quoted the £160 price. Dont think its part of a corporate deal because they gave a similar quote when I called. If the flat needs a thorough deep clean across all rooms, carpets, oven, curtains, linen wash etc then it will come closer to £400 or so and just depends on the extent of mess left behind for them to clean up.

DV

wannahouse

darkvader wrote: »

So sorry to hear your experience but I can say you get people to do a good job for much less than £500. Our letting agent is one of popular ones in town and also charge the most in town, and the company they use quoted the £160 price. Dont think its part of a corporate deal because they gave a similar quote when I called. If the flat needs a thorough deep clean across all rooms, carpets, oven, curtains, linen wash etc then it will come closer to £400 or so and just depends on the extent of mess left behind for them to clean up.

DV

it was in london, so probably part of the reason it was more expensive, and yes, even the blinds, wondows oven ,everything needed to be degreased and cleaned, and limescale almost had to be removed with pwoer tools as the guys hadn't done a domestic clean all year!