Professional clean curtains / carpets / oven: do i need to?

ollym_3

Guess what. Despite the curtains and carpets being near perfect my landlady has had them professionally cleaned and taken them out of the deposit. I'm pretty mad.

Some pople have mentioned as clean as when you move in, but there would mean that all properties when moving in would have a very near-perfect appearance. It is also wasteful to clean things that simply don't need cleaning. I knew this would happen so took several photos on moving out which you can see here: http://www.teentoday.co.uk/leavingphotos/

She also charged me £30 LABOUR for replacing 4 lightbulbs: surely this would come under the landlady's remit?

Where can i go from here or do i just pay up.

ollym_3

this is what she has charged:

Cleaning of curtains £55
Bedroom carpets £70
Sofas £59
Dining room chairs £26

And:
Lightbulbs £14.60
Bathroom Cabinet Handle £2.50 (needed one screwdriver turn)
Labour £30.

barrymung

I clean carpets, upholstery etc in my spare time.

You'd be really surprised how much dirt you can pull out of even a week old carpet!

barrymung

ollym wrote: »

this is what she has charged:

Cleaning of curtains £55
Bedroom carpets £70
Sofas £59
Dining room chairs £26

Arguably, this is reasonable, depending upon how much there was to clean.

And:
Lightbulbs £14.60
Bathroom Cabinet Handle £2.50 (needed one screwdriver turn)
Labour £30.

Lightbulbs..depends if they were energy saving but still expensive for 4! Cabinet handle doesn't seem too unreasonable (Perhaps the thread was stripped?). £30 labour seems a tad pricey to say the least!

Ask her to show you the original receipts/invoices for all the above before agreeing to the charges!

littlemissmoney

This is madness. You are only required to clean any items soiled above normal wear and tear. See here:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-3003.cfm

You will need to write your LL a "letter before action" and if she doesn't pay up then take her to court. I'm sure someone will be along in a min that can help you further, but you should NOT be paying for this cleaning, it is clean in photos!

dealornodeal_3

ollym

My advice is to spend up to £150.00p, and purchase your own Steam Cleaner, and do the job yourself. At the end of the cleaning, it will pay for itself; and you still have the cleaner!

ollym_3

Unfortuantely it has been done now..

olly300

As a tenant it is your responsibility to replace light bulbs and ensure all internal fixtures and fittings are in the same state as what you go them in. The landlord is only legally liable for ensuring the external fabric of the building is in good condition and a few other things.

The light bulbs are expensive but then unfortunately when it's not their money LL/LA can take the p!sss. Call out charges for doing simple things like fitting light bulbs vary and can be a lot someone else posted they were charged £15 for changing light bulbs. I think the LL was p!ssed off with you not cleaning the soft furnishings.

Was the charge just for fitting the light bulbs and turning the screw, or did it include taking down the curtains and putting them back up?

While hard furnishings collect visible dust whether you use them or not, soft furnishings don't collect dust you can see. That's why I advised you before to just clean them.

I would ask for a copy of any receipts immediately in writing and then take it from there.

BTW curtains particular voile curtains pick up a lot of dust even in rooms that are not used. The best thing to do next time is actually to take the curtains down and store them, then put them back up when you leave. If the LL sees that you are not using the curtains they can't charge you to clean them. (LA will try though.)

ollym_3

I did clean the furnishinga and every nook and cranny of the house for 48 hours. If you look at the photos at the link I posted you will see just how clean they are.

I can't believe they can charge £30 to change light bulbs. I didn't undertsand how to change the bulb as it was built into the kitchen unit... but surely part of the landlady's duty is to know things like that. Surely LL have some responsibility over things like this. I know most LL would have just done it themselves and charged for the bulbs.

Also, yes curtains and settees may gather dust but I still don't think if they have been properly cleaned each week by cleaners and on me leaving, they need another "professional clean".

You say "when it's not their money they can take the p!ss" but i don't think this is the case. I think they DO, but actually if people stood up to them more it would soon stop. Just because they normally get away with it doesn't mean it's right or more importantly legal.

littlemissmoney

This thread has got some good advice in it from olly300:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=498032&highlight=cleaning

[Deleted User]

Your LL doesn't know how lucky she is to have had such a caring tenant! I hope you get your money back Hun.