Letting Agents demanding we get carpets professionally cleaned upon moving out

DancingQueen93

We are moving out of a rented property at the end of the month. We moved in in June 2020 and the property is a new build (we were the first tenants/people to ever live in the house).

I have read the Tenant Fees Act 2019 and on page 21 it states “ Q. Can I charge a tenant for a professional clean at the end of a tenancy?

No. You cannot require a tenant to pay for a professional clean when they check-out. However, if the tenancy was entered into before 1 June 2019 and a tenant agreed in their contract to pay fees for cleaning to be provided, you could continue to charge these fees up until 31 May 2020. From 1 June 2020, the term requiring that payment is no longer binding on the tenant.

You may request that a property is cleaned to a professional standard. Tenants are responsible for ensuring that the property is returned in the condition that they found it, aside from any fair wear and tear. Fair wear and tear is considered to be a defect which occur naturally or as part of the tenant’s reasonable use of the premises.”

On the move out checklist document they just sent through it states :“carpets must be professionally cleaned upon vacation, and proof in the form of a receipt/invoice must be produced. Hiring of a carpet cleaning machine is not satisfactory.”

Before signing the tenancy agreement we noted the same clause had been put in there and we asked the agency to remove it based on the Tenant Fees Act 2019. They refused, saying they were not prepared to alter the contract as normally no one asks for changes and it was a set template they always use. So we signed it knowing they couldn’t enforce this point anyway as it directly contradicts the Act.

We will of course make every effort to clean the property thoroughly - given it had never been lived in before us, the contrast in the carpet wear will be more obvious as it’s no longer brand new…but they can’t possibly demand a professional cleaning with a receipt can they? It fully goes against the Tenant Fees Act!

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation?

pluto261

Does it say anywhere in your contract that the carpets have to be professionally cleaned?

If not, they can get stuffed.

elsien

pluto261 said:

Does it say anywhere in your contract that the carpets have to be professionally cleaned?

If not, they can get stuffed.

Have you read the OP? The answer is in there. 

pluto261

Ah, missed that bit in the OP.

In that case, they can get stuffed regardless. If they try to make a claim for professional cleaning through the deposit protection scheme, you can just dispute it by pointing to the Tenant Fees Act.

Letting agents will try to get away with putting all sorts of !!!!!! in tenancy agreements. They're just hoping that tenants won't know their rights. They could put in the tenancy agreement that you have to sacrifice your firstborn child to them under the full moon at the end of the tenancy, but it's not binding if it contradicts the law.

GDB2222

DancingQueen93 said:

We are moving out of a rented property at the end of the month. We moved in in June 2020 and the property is a new build (we were the first tenants/people to ever live in the house).

SNIPPED! 

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation?

Your post is absolutely accurate, regarding the law. As you already knew.

You did take on a brand new flat, with brand new carpets. There's only so much wear and tear that is acceptable. By challenging them on the point about professional cleaners, you may push the agents in one of two ways:

The most likely is that they reckon that you are !!!!!! hot on the law, and they leave you in peace.

The other is that they take umbrage, and they examine every single item in the flat minutely. They are almost bound to find something that you broke!

I don't think you should hire a carpet cleaner. Fair wear and tear includes a modest amount of dirt, after vacuuming. If it's worse than that, get a professional firm in.

Sazzy1253

We rented a house for a year ( a very old worn house - carpet was 14 years old!) and we still had to pay for someone to clean the carpets. It was ridiculous but wasn’t worth losing our deposit over

dimbo61

So you have lived in the property for 12 months and I guess everything was brand new when you moved in.
Cream or light coloured carpets ?
Why not hire a carpet cleaner for the weekend and clean the carpets yourselves.
Email the receipt to the Lettings agents and if you have left the property clean ( Fair Wear and Tear ) dispute any and all deductions and take it to the deposit arbitration scheme 

grumiofoundation

DancingQueen93 said:

We are moving out of a rented property at the end of the month. We moved in in June 2020 and the property is a new build (we were the first tenants/people to ever live in the house).

I have read the Tenant Fees Act 2019 and on page 21 it states “ Q. Can I charge a tenant for a professional clean at the end of a tenancy?

No. You cannot require a tenant to pay for a professional clean when they check-out. However, if the tenancy was entered into before 1 June 2019 and a tenant agreed in their contract to pay fees for cleaning to be provided, you could continue to charge these fees up until 31 May 2020. From 1 June 2020, the term requiring that payment is no longer binding on the tenant.

You may request that a property is cleaned to a professional standard. Tenants are responsible for ensuring that the property is returned in the condition that they found it, aside from any fair wear and tear. Fair wear and tear is considered to be a defect which occur naturally or as part of the tenant’s reasonable use of the premises.”

On the move out checklist document they just sent through it states :“carpets must be professionally cleaned upon vacation, and proof in the form of a receipt/invoice must be produced. Hiring of a carpet cleaning machine is not satisfactory.”

Before signing the tenancy agreement we noted the same clause had been put in there and we asked the agency to remove it based on the Tenant Fees Act 2019. They refused, saying they were not prepared to alter the contract as normally no one asks for changes and it was a set template they always use. So we signed it knowing they couldn’t enforce this point anyway as it directly contradicts the Act.

We will of course make every effort to clean the property thoroughly - given it had never been lived in before us, the contrast in the carpet wear will be more obvious as it’s no longer brand new…but they can’t possibly demand a professional cleaning with a receipt can they? It fully goes against the Tenant Fees Act!

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation?

Long story short. Don’t get professional cleaners, you will be fine if you clean thoroughly. 

We moved into a rented flat that had (actually) been professionally cleaned. 

We had the same “professional cleaning” clause in the contract which we also ignored as we know it’s lack of enforceability. 

After 18 months when we came to move out we cleaned ourselves. Despite having received multiple emails and letters saying we ‘have’ to clean professionally and suggesting cleaners to use we cleaned ourselves. After the agents check out we get a request for the receipt for professional  cleaning (we took as a compliment  Implying no issues and that our cleaning was ‘professional’) 

Having spent a 40 min commute drafting a ‘firm’ email (well most of the time was spent making it less ‘firm’) to the agents explaining why  their clause was unenforceable and that the property had been returned  to the standard required we (surprisingly) heard no more about it and deposit returned in full.

breakfast_epiphanies

Our letting agents asked if we’d had a professional clean, I just quoted the Act and asked them why they were asking. They didn’t mention it again. 

elsien

Sazzy1253 said:

We rented a house for a year ( a very old worn house - carpet was 14 years old!) and we still had to pay for someone to clean the carpets. It was ridiculous but wasn’t worth losing our deposit over

You’re not necessarily going to lose the deposit though, that’s why there’s the dispute resolution mechanism. 

Antman27

We don't have that clause in our agreement but we've already done it twice in the past year anyway because we've got two messy kids. Cost us less than 100 quid each time, so probably easier than getting into a dispute.