Final inspection costs advice

dboy69

I’ll try and keep it short!
* just finished a long period as a tenant
* at the final inspection, landlord and agent both there and listed a whole heap of things they want me to pay for
* I will begrudgingly accept these - incredibly petty, many of them. But I will suck them up, though they stick in my craw given length and value of tenancy

Concern is that their list of costs seems very amateur. Am I entitled to get multiple (say 3?) costs for every item on their list (mainly cleaning). Also, am I entitled to ask for the quote to be on letterhead, rather than included in the body of an email. At the moment, I’m getting one quote per item only and it is simply of the ‘for x, we use company y and they have quoted z’ variety.
Thanks in advance

G_M

Do you or do you not accept that the deductions are fair? ie
Did you leave the property dirtier than when you moved in?
Did you break things?
Are there items missing?


If not, raise a dispute with the deposit scheme.


Do you believe that the amounts being deducted for the various items are fair, bearing in mind both labour costs, traveltime, and replacement - subject to 'betterment'?


If not, raise a dispute with the deposit scheme.


* Deposits: payment, protection and return

m0bov

Was there an inventory when you moved in? What are the things?

dboy69

Thanks for the replies. There is nothing missing. It’s just generally a cleanliness issue. As we were going round the agent kept saying ‘I can tell you’ve cleaned the place, but it’s not to the required standard’, which basically means she wanted everything steam-cleaning, professionally done and the like.
Some of it seems fairer than others (oven, for example, we could only get about 90% clean .... I thought the hob was spotless, she didn’t), but my issue isn’t this as much as accepting the first quote she gives me. For example, for a full deep clean of rooms (not including oven etc) I’m being told it’s a 2 person job and will take a day, but am being quoted £350. This seems way too high (£25 an hour, assuming 14 hours), and I feel I must be within my rights to ask for alternative quotes and/ or to make sure the quotes are genuine.

tom9980

dboy69 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. There is nothing missing. It’s just generally a cleanliness issue. As we were going round the agent kept saying ‘I can tell you’ve cleaned the place, but it’s not to the required standard’, which basically means she wanted everything steam-cleaning, professionally done and the like.
Some of it seems fairer than others (oven, for example, we could only get about 90% clean .... I thought the hob was spotless, she didn’t), but my issue isn’t this as much as accepting the first quote she gives me. For example, for a full deep clean of rooms (not including oven etc) I’m being told it’s a 2 person job and will take a day, but am being quoted £350. This seems way too high (£25 an hour, assuming 14 hours), and I feel I must be within my rights to ask for alternative quotes and/ or to make sure the quotes are genuine.

You failed to answer important questions.

Was there a check in inventory?
What was the condition like when you moved in?

A full list of the deductions would help us rather than your vague description.

dboy69

There was an inventory. They checked it off and nothing was missing.
Regarding condition, I will accept that it was not returned at quite the level of cleanliness throughout in which it was received. I have said that throughout and I have said that I accept I will incur charges. I accept that I am in the wrong.
As I say, my only queries are whether I should have to accept the first cost I am given and whether I can insist that costs are on letterhead. I’m not interested in raising a complaint with the scheme; I would not win. I just want to make sure that they are getting me the best quotes and not marking them up.

[Deleted User]

you can get a quote for yourself and if the deduction comes through as a lot higher than this you dispute it through the deposit scheme as being unreasonable

from: https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/news/blog/ask-tds-is-it-reasonable-for-my-landlord-to-claim-money-from-my-deposit-without-a-cost-breakdown/


My landlord has claimed for cleaning costs but when I asked for a receipt they couldn’t provide one – is this reasonable?
Claims from the deposit are to compensate the landlord for a loss. For example if you broke the refrigerator in the property the landlord could claim some money towards the cost of replacing this, however as this sum is a compensatory amount, the landlord is not required to spend the money on replacing the broken item. We covered this topic in a similar blog about redecoration costs.

Therefore the landlord can charge you with an estimated cost for cleaning without needing to provide an invoice, as they are not obliged to spend that money on having the property cleaned.

dimbo61

How long did you live in the property ?
If your not happy with the deductions then take it through the deposit arbitration

dboy69

Thanks, all, for the info. Lived there 7 years, always on time with rent, had a good rapport with agent and landlord, put up with a chronic damp problem (raised at every inspection, never satisfactorily dealt with), paid well over £110k in rent. An unsavoury end but, as I’ve said, I shall chalk it up to experience and acknowledge that it was not quite returned in the condition we received it. Their next tenants will, I hope, afford them none of the goodwill that we did.

G_M

dboy69 wrote: »

....
Regarding condition, I will accept that it was not returned at quite the level of cleanliness throughout in which it was received. I have said that throughout and I have said that I accept I will incur charges. I accept that I am in the wrong.

Then the landlord can deduct cleaning costs.

my only queries are whether I should have to accept the first cost I am given and whether I can insist that costs are on letterhead.

No, if it is excessive you can dispute it.
No, there is no requirement for quotesor receipts to be on leterhead.

How much is the cleaning charge and is it reasonable? We cannot tell as
1) we don't know how much extra cleaning is needed
2) we don'tknow how big the property is
3) we don't know what the charge is

I’m not interested in raising a complaint with the scheme; I would not win.

then you must believe the charge is reasonable. If you thought it was unreasonoable, you'd know you could win a dispute.

I just want to make sure that they are getting me the best quotes and not marking them up.

So ring a cleaning company. Ask for a price for an 'end of tenancy clean' for a 1 (or 2 or 3) bedroom house/flat. Compare the charge with what they are charging. That willgive you a ball-park.

Lived there 7 years, always on time with rent, had a good rapport with agent and landlord, put up with a chronic damp problem (raised at every inspection, never satisfactorily dealt with), paid well over £110k in rent.

All irrelevant.