I agree, use the dispute service of the deposit scheme. They are much more on the side of the tenant than the landlord and they expect wear and tear and won’t allow LL to overcharge for that. I am a landlord and LLs have to expect reasonable wear and tear.
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As a landlord, I always make sure my checkin report says professionally cleaned and the contract requires tenants to clean to the same standard. I insist on a professional clean only because it was at check in.
Any disputes should goto arbitration but only if both landlord and tenant agree as generally it is very hard to make excessive claims.
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You can’t legally insist on a professional clean, but you can insist that the property is cleaned “to a professional standard”, although getting a deposit scheme to agree that this hasn’t happened without a proper definition of the term can be tricky.
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It’s actually really easy to make excessive claims. The government do it all the time.
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Can I say that ‘cleaned by a professional’ is not usually clean enough! I wanted it cleaned to the standard it was when you moved in & professionals generally don’t do it as well as I do!
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That’s where a professional checkin/out comes in, they insist on seeing receipts from a professional cleaning company before they report professionally cleaned , otherwise it’s just cleaned to a good standard.
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That policy could cause you to breach the Tenant Fees Act because any payment you require the tenant to make to a third party where there is no alternative (such as cleaning it themselves to the same standard) is a prohibited payment under the Act.
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all these LLs expecting show properties to be returned to them 
t’s a lived in property for x number of years, and our Ts have enough stress as it is moving their entire home to another dwelling without worrying if the LL can see his precious reflection in the lino.
Trust me when I say that no one ever cleans to my standard, and that’s the same in my own family for goodness sake, let alone a rental property. As long as it’s good enough for someone to move in, that’ll do for me. Never had anyone viewing ever turn a place down because it hadn’t had a “professional clean”. The only thing I’ve ever charged for is for an oven clean which came out of the deposit… and even then, it wasn’t up to the standard I would have done! Just saved me the time though.
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No if the checkin report says professionally cleaned then they have to leave it professionally cleaned.
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Stephen63 - You can’t insist on any paid service - that is illegal under the tenants fees act. You can however ask for it to be cleaned to a professional standard.
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You,re wrong Stephen63 and your tenant could sue you and Trading Standards could prosecute you.
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The latest is that TDS said further clarification is required because agent and LL said I hadn’t asked for my deposit back. 
What was all the negotiating that went on for 10 days then with me at first countering 0 on their charges asking for my deposit and telling them I’d not agree to their demands?? I did start to negotiate little bits after that, but isn’t the fact I said no, 0 allowed off my deposit at the very start enough to show I asked for it?
To be safe I sent the agent a letter today via email asking for my deposit back so that I meet the TDS requirement. Ridiculous.
Edit: I realise this starts the 10 day time limit.
It’s not a fee that I am charging so the act doesn’t apply. It’s a contractual requirement. Talk to you inventory company if you don’t understand
Stephen63 - Its illegal. Your contract cannot overrule statute & requiring a paid service is illegal. If your inventory company are required it they are breaking the law.
erm… and the contract is… [drum roll] your tenancy agreement… which the Tenant Fees Act stipulates must not require tenants to pay fees. How hard is this to understand?
Listen, they can pay for professional cleaners if they want to, but you can’t make them pay for professional cleaners any more than if you required them to pay a window cleaner to “professionally” clean their windows prior to checkout. This kind of behaviour from LLs is exactly what the Tenant Fees Act was created to prevent.
Read the following and try to spot where it says you can levy a fee for professional cleaning. Good luck! 
From 1 June 2019, the only payments that landlords or letting agents can charge to tenants in relation to new contracts are:
- rent
- a refundable tenancy deposit capped at no more than 5 weeks’ rent where the total annual rent is less than £50,000, or 6 weeks’ rent where the total annual rent is £50,000 or above
- a refundable holding deposit (to reserve a property) capped at no more than 1 week’s rent
- payments associated with early termination of the tenancy, when requested by the tenant
- payments capped at £50 (or reasonably incurred costs, if higher) for the variation, assignment or novation of a tenancy
- payments in respect of utilities, communication services, TV licence and Council Tax
- a default fee for late payment of rent and replacement of a lost key/security device giving access to the housing, where required under a tenancy agreement
You don’t mention how long you were in the property because if it was for more than a year, I think it reasonable wear and tear for there to be a few scuff marks on a painted wall. If you lived in the property for several years, there is bound to be a fair amount of wear and tear damage that your landlord should have anticipated.
You also mention that your pet was permitted so I assume the level of rent reflected this permission.
We recently had tenants move out from one bedroom flat in Bristol after 18 months and we anticipated that the walls would be repainted before the new tenant moved in.
I feel your description for the hedge should also be reasonable and the number falling off the front door should surely come under normal wear and tear.
If I were you, I’d lt it go to arbitration and make sure the arbitration service have a copy of the costs you have already incurred.
Some landlords are simply greedy and it gets us all a bad reputation.
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I asked earlier and @Nichole said two years. This has been going on for some time @judith1 on more than one thread. Welcome to the party! 
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I was going to say the same Tricia. As a landlord, I always end up cleaning myself in between lets, after the ‘professional’ cleaners sent by the letting agent.
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Thank you Judith. Tatemono is correct, I was there 2 years and your assumption is correct that I paid a higher rent to account for our sweet Italian Greyhound. I’ll let the thread know when it does go through arbitration. It’s going to be a several weeks for TDS to make any decision, I’m sure.
The agent is returning to me the undisputed amount, although it took me to apply to TDS for arbitration for her to do it. She should have done it to begin with, don’t you think? They are keeping the disputed amount until TDS has made a decision which is fair. It will be a while now until I hear when it’s my turn to submit evidence. Will update in future.
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