AIBU to not want to pay for a professional cleaner?

[MakeHayWhileTheChalkDries]

I'm about to move out of my rental house and the LLs are asking me to have it professionally cleaned - apparently they had it done before I moved in. My contract says either clean to a good standard or pay for it to be professionally done.

Where do I stand on this? Relationships with LLs are not great (they are too controlling and intrusive, plus threatening me with illegal contracts due to a few weeds and a bit of chalk outside the house, which is why I am moving). I am confident in my ability to clean the house to a decent standard before I leave, which obviously I will do. What would a pro do that I cannot or wouldn't think to do?

Any advice gratefully received!

I don't think you're being unreasonable but bear in mind that they might get arsey over the deposit if they are prone to arsiness anyway.

My contract says either clean to a good standard or pay for it to be professionally done.

I would just do it yourself, to a high standard, and quote that part of the contract if they moan. Is your deposit is in a protection scheme so they can't withhold it without good reason?

As you are confident you can do it then do the cleaning, take lots of photos and arrange an accompanied hand over with the LL and any agent.

Were there photos of the house when you moved in? As an example, when we moved into our last rental, there were photos of everything and descriptions, e.g. stair carpet quite worn/ curtains good condition, no stains, etc. from the agent.

If your contract says clean to a good standard, then I'd do it. When I had to hire professionals, as per my last contract, I had to clean after them and they nicked something of the landlords' from the house!

Weve always done our own cleaning,at end of tenancy. We both don't like it, but we refused to pay almost 200£-700£ we were quoted (we aren't pigs, honestly! ), for something which was essentially a spring clean. Easy to do once all your stuff is out! It never took us more than morning or afternoon with me and OH being mrs.mops!

Having seen several different cleaning companies results... Not really worth it.

I think agents often call for professional cleaning services as it means they can tell the owners its been 'professionally' cleaned...

I would just say that you'll clean it to the standards as you moved in.

I think now with the new deposit schemes, you have to agree to them withholding deposits.

Make sure you don't have deposit witheld for stuff which is wear and tear! Some landlords do try it on!

we are going through this just now - and are opting for professional cleaners as we know our LL will be a complete tosser idiot when it comes to handing the house over. He is very hard work, he came round once and there was a black bin bag in the drive waiting to go to the skip - he had an absolute hissy fit, took photos of the bag and sent it to the agents complaining we were letting his house go to rack and ruin!
Going to stop now before I start ranting

When I finally bought a house and gave notice, my last landlady turned up out of the woodwork and proved herself to be completely bonkers. If it doesn't specify something in your contract then they can't insist on it. So we had:

You need to get this oven professionally cleaned, it only costs about £50. Any new tenant will expect it to have been professionally cleaned. (Well it hadn't been professionally cleaned when we moved in I can tell you) I cleaned it myself to a high standard and the house has since been relet.

You need to get the carpets professionally cleaned etc as above. Gave them a whizz over with a borrowed Rug Doctor and all surface fluid. Carpets hadn't even been hoovered when we moved in never mind cleaned.

We replaced an internal door because it was damaged. Got a professional joiner in for that one, she went back twice to measure the gap between the bottom of the door and the carpet. She was worried that the gap was too big and it 'could put a tenant off'. The new door was exactly the same size as the first and had been hung at exactly the same height. In the end we suggested she sent the agent round to adjudicate. When they pretty much told her she was talking out of her arse, she reluctantly backed down.

The ignition on the cooker had never worked. We were ordered to replace it because having to use a lighter 'could put a tenant off'. A qualified gas fitter confirmed that the cooker was so ancient that even he wouldn't be able to find parts for it. Which is probably why the previous tenants hadn't fixed it either.

I could go on. Took about 2 months to get (most of) our deposit back because she'd been 'busy with work' (not my problem ) and yes it was held by the DPS.

Good luck OP

I'll try and find out later where I got some extremely helpful info about defending your rights as a tenant and post links here in case it's any use to anyone.

I have lied before, and done it myself to a high standard, and said it was done by a cleaner.

Ultimately they (LL) want it properly clean, and not given a cursory wipe with a baby wipe (you'd be amazed at what people call "cleaning"!). So you'll probably be fine.

Fine to clean it yourself but do it thoroughly. That includes things like the oven, hoovering under the beds and wiping out cupboards. Having said which I've never had a tenant who cleaned the oven and have never withheld part of the deposit for cleaning.

I've always cleaned myself but make sure you clean the oven and the carpets!

Having read your previous thread I suspect your landlord will be an arse with giving back the deposit. I had much arseness with getting mine back - they initially wanted £900 out of a £925 deposit mostly for the grease left from some blue tack marks. I battled this to a level that was reasonable for me (I got £760 back in the end which is was a lot better than £25). I did all the cleaning myself which probably annoyed them but it was fine. Even did the oven myself.

It can be a horrible experience getting your deposit back and I was very grateful for advice I got on here.

I used a rug doctor on the carpets btw.

Thanks all. Pretty much what I thought. It's laminate apart from stairs so very little carpet problems - oven was vile when we moved in so will be an improvement whatever!

They don't really have any leg to stand on re: deposit, as the contract states that they had to pay for a proper inventory and check, and they didn't, just gave it to me to amend the one from 4 years previously (I wasn't clued up at that point and was still in shock from DH walking out on me so I went along with it). So I reckon that if they did try to get arsey I'd have good grounds for appeal as there is no actual proof. Obviously I'd leave it in as good as state as I found it - probably better - but I am certainly expecting some arsey behaviour and also expecting to be able to successfully appeal should it come to that.

NotGrumpy I'd really appreciate any links you have, thank you.

www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

www.thedisputeservice.co.uk/deposit-disputes.html

Our letting agents claimed our flat had been professionally cleaned when it quite obviously had not (cupboards full of the previous tenants crap, dust everywhere cupboards needed cleaning before anything could be unpacked) so on that basis they tried to charge me for a professional clean when we moved out. I argued this point and used the inventory to prove it full deposit returned to us in the end. Robbing gits

I don't know which scheme your deposit is held by OP but all of them are governed by the same code of conduct (I think) and all have the same sort of process for dealing with returning tenants' own money to them at the end of a tenancy. If your LL took your £ and gave you the keys without some massive walkaround photographing every single blemish on every skirting board then whatever state the place is in when you leave will likely be your word against his as to whether it was like that when you moved in. The key thing about LLs exercising their right to withold £ to pay for repairs etc is around the idea of 'betterment', forgive me if you're already familiar with the concept but put simply it means that the tenant has no obligation whatsoever to improve the property and the LL cannot use deposit £ to do so. LL also has to factor in wear and tear. So yes, if the dining room door is broken because DS punched one of the panels out of it (see above) then the tenant is of course required to replace like for like or the LL can deduct the reasonable cost of getting it repaired from the deposit. If the carpet is threadbare because it was laid 30 years ago, the tenant is not required to replace it or have anything deducted from their deposit because of it, because that would make the carpet 'better' which is the LL responsibility, not the tenant.

Thank you, that's all really helpful.