Landlord charging for a deep clean

My tenants moved into a new build. They left it in an appalling state. I had to get cleaners/clearers in, and they said that they didn't know how the tenants could have lived like that. The garden had become a scrapyard so it cost a fortune to clear and dispose of it all.

I began the process of retaining the deposit (about a third of what it cost me to get the house and garden cleared and black mould removed etc) but the tenant kicked off big time and said they'd left it immaculate.

Thanks to the incompetence of the agent, there are no before photos or an inventory, so despite me having photos of the tip they left, and proof that they were the first to live in a new build, I didn't have a cat in hell's chance of the DPS retaining the deposit.

Say yes, the DPS definitely favours the tenant.

To protect tenants from landlords who see deposits as their money to keep

It's much less common for landlords to win on things like this now with the deposit protection schemes.

Which is exactly why they were set up.

I think it all depends on the landlord, I’ve had one who didn’t require the house to be cleaned etc or returned to how it was prior to moving out. Got the deposit back and all was fine. We did ofcourse clean and all decor was neutral.

Our next let the landlord was terrible and the estate agents even worse- infact our local council got involved and demanded the repairs to be done. They tried to charge us for a broken window. We had overlooked the window and it was actually on the inventory when we moved in so they’d argued they wouldn’t repair as we accepted the house with that. So that backed us up, the next thing they tried to claim for was the garden wasn’t upkept… there was literally nothing to upkeep. It was a concrete square 🤣

Then it was the house wasn’t cleaned. It was& I actually had pictures of when we first moved in of the deep clean I done and pictures that the loft was full of the previous tenants stuff. I mean the tops of the kitchen cupboards were so thick with grease and dust I really doubt they’d been cleaned since they’d been installed!

Safe to say we got our deposit back!

We moved out of a rental and cleaned it ourselves but i also paid for a cleaner for 4 hours to help me so it wasnt a proper deep clean but it was super clean. We also paid for a proper oven clean. They were going to charge 400 for the deep clean but with the receipt for the cleaner and the oven clean receipt we agreed on 150.
I think you can negotiate if you think the clean was good enough but missed some bits. I would definitely negotiate if you do really think you did a good enough clean that say only 50 percent needs a redo then start with that

You can’t win honestly, there is always kinda a deep clean on the charge if the tenants.

By all mean, check they don’t charge you over but agency would have good contacts and good price so it should’nt take all your secured money.

Be nice about it so they don’t make it difficult for you.

Charging for a professional clean is a tax dedutable business expense. I suspect that after having rinsed the tenant many landlords do exactly this kind of double dipping, ptherwise known as fraud. Unless there are a full set of photos for check in its worth disputing as the LL has no way then to prove condition when you moved in.

And?

If the other party is on here, what would be the consequences of you conveying what the actual issues are to get more relevant advice?

I was in your shoes 5 years ago, OP. We cleaned before we left but we missed a few things. They gave us a list of areas that were not clean to their standards. It was things like washing machine soap tray and dust on skirting boards. We disputed the £300 for a deep clean. We argued that the bits they listed could be cleaned in an hour, being super generous. We asked for a few quotes locally and attached the quotes and offered to cover £50. The mediator sided with us and they could only keep £50. This was in England.

My friend is a professional cleaner and has her own business. Did it herself. LL tried to charge for professional clean as it said on check in there was a clean. She didn’t have to pay

Yes, just wait. The onus is on the LL to prove anything that falls under an acceptable deduction, and then to evidence a reasonable cost. If it gets to the stage of discussing cost, you can then argue whether their full clean including carpets is reasonable (unlikely to need to - DPS will know what’s reasonable).

LL cannot withhold deposit for fair wear and tear - so whatever your mystery improvement is, they can’t charge for it being worn down. If they can prove you installed it without permission, they could charge for putting it back to how it was - but without photos they probably can’t prove anything.

LL cannot also not charge for betterment - ie to improve something like charging you for a shower screen to replace a mouldy curtain.

Finally, even if something is damaged and needs to be replaced / repaired, the age of the item is taken into account. So say you had stained the 5 year old carpet, and it needed to be replaced - they can’t charge you full price, they can only charge you for what a 5 year old carpet is deemed to be worth. Items are generally given a lifespan of 7 years.

loads of info here: www.depositprotection.com/learning-centre/disputes/in-disputes-be-fair

Yep

The DH is “generally” ok at cleaning

They “improved” something which has “worn away” and would take “a few seconds to remove”. But cagey on what this “improvement” was

OP did not see the property post clean

and the “issues”…. Well, shared one but that’s all we’re getting.

So I think we can be fairly confident, the DH left it in a pretty poor filthy state

Sorry just seen you have 😁

@Mamma182838 read this and do this

I run a cleaning company. We do end of tenancy cleans fairly regularly, the most recent one was this week. The tenant swore blind that she had cleaned everything before she left and it was fairly clean on a surface level, but as soon as we started digging it became clear that it hadn’t been deep cleaned. We pulled everything out, skirting boards, sink drains, there was cat hair deep in the oven and the hinges of microwaves and cupboards etc. we ended up being there for a total of ten hours.

I don’t doubt at all that your husband cleaned the property, but professional cleaning is different to every day living cleaning, if that makes sense.

Yep. Scummy landlords pocketing the cash are absolutely the norm.

If we rent again I will certainly document with timestamps every little thing that shows it wasn't clean when we moved in.

We are long term renters and have had to do two end of tenancy cleans in the last 18 months.
Except mentioning the tops of doors - you have not said what cleaning was questioned in the inventory.
I can say though that legally you only need to do two things - a) clean the house to the level you found it in and b) clean it to a professional standard rather than have it cleaned professionally.
The tenant is innocent until proven guilty by the landlord - they would need to show photos of the standard of the house when you moved in and photos of why they think it needs a professional clean. Our professional cleaners forgot a few bits on one property and we were charged to clean those bits but not the whole house. I would as you are doing leave it for the deposit scheme to decide.

Mine charged for a deep clean despite me being on hands and knees scrubbing top to bottom for 2 days. I've heard it's pretty standard, might as well fleece your tenant for a bit of extra cash at the last hurdle.

There's some serious vague-booking going on!

Apart from top of doors you still haven't said what was missed, you clearly are avoiding that question so you obviously have something to hide

If your husband missed some things, consistently, as a landlord I’d assume he hadn’t done a good enough job overall. I would want it done professionally. But, as they can’t ask you to do it, I’d do it myself and just adjust rental costs to cover it over the period. It’s only a couple of hundred pounds.