To think that end of tenancy cleaners are a complete rip off?

[Byrdie]

Just about to move out of our rental. But seriously staggered at how much i've been quoted for the 'end of tenancy' clean. And I've had three quotes and they are all around the same price - one big company, two smaller ones. I find it really irratating that if you don't use the one on the preferred list that the estate agents will usually find some 'issue' and then charge you even more to sort it out. Like dust behind the kitchen cabinet tops or some other thing that takes 5 mins to wipe away but will cost a few hundred out of your deposit. It's a bloody racket. It's like sodding mafia where you need to use the 'family' or you get taken out. I'm considering doing it myself i'm so annoyed. Anyone out there with experience from the other side... Check out inventory people, estate agents?? My house is really quite clean - a point all the cleaners made so i feel even more annoyed at these crazy prices. Is it sensible thinking i can do it myself?

Gosh Byrdie where are you? Ours was nowhere near that amount. It was £150.

And our window cleaner is only £10!

Thanks meeps. So i'm not too far off. Even if i recon with 20 hours to clean this house (which is wouldn't be) that's still over £40 per hour. Is that the going rate for a good cleaner these days?

We're Surrey. It is a crazy area price wise for lots of things but i think this takes the piss. We're moving to get away from it! I think £30 is pretty good. We've got sash windows and there's a fair few so he's here for over an hour so i feel it's fair as the equiptment he uses is something i couldn't buy or do myself - some purified hot water system fancy brush/ hose thing. Does make them very very clean.

Hang on a min... Just read that properly... Your clean at the end if tenancy was £150?? Really? Where are YOU? I'm coming to recruit some cleaners!!

I wish!

We were in Bath so not a particularly cheap area!

So basically i'm just being fleeced by Surrey's estate agent / cleaning company racket. Time to go and buy some oven pride.

Cost us £295 on our last rent for a check out clean. Had to be the one specified by letting agent too. Did a great job though and we got back our deposit but we had also looked after the flat so i couldn't see there being a problem.

Even the army guaranteed cleans are around £300-£450 for a four bed. The army have ridiculously high standards, the place basically has to look like no one has ever lived there or used the oven. The gardens have to be immaculate too.

My EOT cleans are generally £80 per day, including the oven. Carpet shampooing is extra at approx £30 for a lounge/diner and £20 for bedrooms.

When my ex and i marched out of our army quarter we were pulled up on a little bits of limscale in the loo

I always cleaned rented houses i clean with stardrops then do a thin bleach wash in kitchen and bathroom

The OFT recognise insisting on a a professional clean as an unfair contract term, particularly if the cost has not been advised and agreed with you upfront. There is more info on their website. Best of luck!

Luis... Do you fancy a trip to sunny surrey?! I think my agent does actually want a standard close to army standards. I scrubbed the oven door last bight and got it to almost clean. I need some army training. And some miracle products!

Any bits of the oven that you can remove put in a bag with a sponge soaked in ammonia. Then rinse off in the bath. That's what's in oven pride.

(Ran a Forces Quarter cleaning business - have cleaned bed springs with bottle brushes and INSIDES of toilet cisterns!)

I have always done it myself but this last time we did pay an agency. They were the people we used as our regular cleaner anyway and as we were moving 100 miles away it just made it much easier. They did a cracking job and it was well worth it!

Whereabouts in Surrey are you? And how large is the house? We are landlords who use a number of cleaning companies and, if I understand correctly, you are being quoted about £700-800? That sounds either extortionate or a very large house. However, cleaning is very expensive and the inventory clerk will check everywhere for dust, like on top of lintels and in the opening of doors. I assume this price includes carpet and curtain cleaning, steam cleaning the oven and also cleaning not just the windows but also the window frames which a window cleaner doesn't normally do?

All our (central London) landlords have insisted on a full, paid clean and said they won't guarantee that part of the inventory unless it's the firm of their choosing (lo and behold double the cost of a local firm)...totally agree with a pp who said it's like the mafia. Shocking rip off

It is a five bed - but why it should be so much more than a 3 or 4 bed when it's only a couple of square rooms extra with little to clean. I could understand if u had five bathrooms or 2 kitchens (which would be weird). Also thinking about it, 2 bedrooms have laminate flooring anyhow. We have the same baths as other houses (2 with one wc). For almost £800 we don't even get steam cleaned curtains. We get them brushed (?). It does include the carpet cleaning (which is only in three of the bedrooms and the upstairs hall and stairs as downstairs is just wood) but it only includes the inside of the windows as my £30 window cleaner does the outside including all the window frames - which is pretty good as they are sash windows. I'm glad i'm not being stingy or tight - it is excessive for what they are offering. I actually spent the morning cleaning washing machine trays and seals. I am going to try the inside of the oven next so thanks for the tips - even if i don't end up doing it myself, at least a cleaner can quote me a few less hours if i've done a lot. Shower scrub tomorrow maybe!?

Fourarms - how on earth can you clean bed springs? Aren't they inside the mattress? Our rental is unfurnished so no stuff to clean - although i feel like i might want to clean my bedsprings now. If i knew what they were.