Landlord of our 2 bed room flat insists we pay for professional cleaners even though we cleaned the apartment better than any cleaner we’ve had and he is stating that because he payed for a cleaner (not a professional end of tenancy job) that we must now pay for one. the flat is spotless and not sure what we can do to ensure we don’t get forced into paying for one if we don’t need to. the contract says to leave the unit as received which we received with a std cleaning service and we’ve cleaned it
take pics and stick to your guns
He’s not able to insist as its in breach of the Tenant Fees Act. If he tries just tell him you want the deposit scheme to decide.
The cleaning at the end of tenancy is always a contentious matter. I got it in the contract that I want a professional local to do the cleaning to avoid any argument at the end. You might have done a good job but every one things they do.
You are not an experienced cleaning professional and as such I cant withhold payment if I am not pleased with the job
Regardless of what any contact states it is not enforceable as mention above due to the tenant fees act
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Thanks, he has sent pictures of a dusty light fitting and says as he paid for cleaning when we moved in (not before) that we should pay him at least that which was £150. I refuse to pay £150 for someone to wipe a light fitting. We still had to wash the fridge the dishwasher and the bathroom after they cleaned when we moved in.
Do you feel you left the property as good as when you took it over? This is when a property inventory comes into play.
Remedial work cost is enforceable, forcing a tenant to use a professional cleaner isn’t. He can use a pro cleaner if warranted though.
Thanks Julie,
i just checked and you are absolutely right.
I will just increase the rent at the earliest opportunity to cover for that.
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Yes the flat was spotless barring potentially missing out on wiping down the light fittings (there are only two light fittings) it would have taken us two minutes to wipe down which was an honest oversight and as such I don’t believe a full clean is required (£150-£250) to wipe a set of light fittings
We are also landlords and understand the value for a clean flat, we cleaned the flat to the level that we would want our tenants to hand over. If we were the landlords and received the flat in the condition we left it in we would not have held back the deposit or even have requested additional cleaning. Our landlord also does not live in the country and feel like if he is using that he needs to hire someone to even wipe down the light fittings but I don’t feel like that is our problem.
Technically no work should need to be carried out once you hand it back (besides what is landlords responsibility), and a landlord is within his rights to pay someone to get anything needed doing. I wouldn’t not for something as simple as wiping down a light, this would be unreasonable. Perhaps theres more and he hasn’t sent details? Bare in mind there would be a minimum charge for a cleaning service.
Things like this bug me though. My tenants never clean everything to the standard it was when they moved in and any criticism makes me look petty or unreasonable in their eyes. If not too bad I just clean it and move on….
Just be careful that increasing the rent takes you above what the rents averages for the area. There is a landlord who owns a one bed flat in my apartment complex and yes they are very high quality in a very rural and peaceful area and he has his up for £120 more than mine and mine is a 2 bed other one beds are £150 lower than his and it’s been empty for about 5 months the previous ownerless it in line with the neighbouring properties.
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I think this the problem Mark. Cleaning or should I say level of cleanliness is subjective what one person sees as spotless does not mean that’s everyone’s idea of spotless. I am a bit of a clean freak so I’m literally one of those people that clean the join lines of kitchen appliances with a this pallet knife because you’d be amazed what gets trapped in those and people think I’m mad but if you have white kitchen appliances you can see that the jointing lines look black or dark if you know what I mean but my point is some people do the same as me and others would never consider it. However I have always insisted that the landlord comes out to inspect it before returning the keys so they can check fully and tell me what’s what ever had an issue but I totally understand why landlords should be allowed to charge for a professional clean.
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Exactly we are clean freaks and scrubbing between cracks and cleaning grout was the level that we went to. To miss a light fitting that is dusty that can easily be cleaned and is not worth a whole cleaning crew.
The law states otherwise and if there are damages because of the lack of cleaning then that needs to be taken out the deposit but how do you quantify dust on a light fittings as £150
Personally I would offer £60
Your landlord won’t be able to charge you (Tenant Fees Act). I would let the deposit scheme decide what is appropriate, they have a dispute process for these sorts of issues. Ensure you have inventory reports for both at the start and end of your tenancy.
I do that too with the joins in appliances plus I would have cleaned all the light bulbs etc!
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