To think that this end of tenancy clean is too expensive?!

[boffin9207]

OH and I rent a 1 bed flat and moving soon. Asked the agency if they had any recommended cleaners as wary of just picking someone off the internet and both places they have recommended have quoted £250+VAT. Is this steep or am I just naive?

Would also be grateful if any recommendations can be sent for end of tenancy cleaners in London!

[Helloitsme88]

We paid 100 for a 4 bed house. We are in the south west

[RomanticWalksToTheFridge]

3 quotes Rocky, but it was in Fulham and one thing you always notice is the price of things go up when they get the postcode.

[LadySalmakia]

Does that include carpet cleaning? We've usually paid about £100 less than that without carpet cleaning, in London.

[RockyRoadster]

😬

[DanglyEarOrnaments]

It sounds about average to me, at least for an insured and fully equipped service from a cleaning company, end of tenancy is a heck lot of labour for a company to pay for in order to provide the service.

We used to do those cleans (excluding the oven or carpet cleaning) at similar pricing (North of England) but we don't sell that service anymore, we focus on regular domestic cleans instead as I find the demand for just that too high to fit in any one-off cleans at all, let alone EOT cleans.

They should leave the place as clean as if nobody has lived there hence the lengthy amount of time these cleans can take.

[Hissy]

A proper EOT clean is WAY deeper than a good domestic clean

basically, no dust on doors/skirting, clean oven, appliances, carpets

If you use the company that the letting agent recommend, they know what is expected and tbh, if they missed things and the letting agent had cause to come back to them and get them to do it to the standard, it would be down to the cleaning co, because they know what they are supposed to be doing and anything less is unacceptable.

£250 is a good price for a proper deep EOT clean especially if it includes carpets, curtains, ovens, appliances

[MusicToMyEars800]

I am a cleaner and get paid £120 end of tenancy cleans, depends on the size and how much needs doing too, but I think that's a bit much, I am in Reading, so not much further from London. When we moved I did clean the place but they still took £60 from our deposit for cleaning, cheeky sods, it didn't even need much cleaning, just doing up as the landlord was slack on getting things fixed and sorted.

[hiimmumma]

We just moved out of our 1 bed in london and our usual cleaner just did a few extra hours at her usual rate after we have moved all of our stuff out.
She did work hard and did a fab job so I payed her a bit extra but still only cost me £70 and had no problem getting my deposit back!
I wouldn't pay £250 when most cleaners charge £10/hr.
have you looked on hassle.com?

[MusicToMyEars800]

I forgot to say that's if it's just me if I am with another cleaner it is split and we get £60 each

[Hissy]

The problem is the ridiculous jobsworths that are inventory clerks

Scribblegirl I think that is unfair tbh, it's a tough job to be an inventory clerk and it generally ( or should say at check in) to make sure things are put in their original rooms

the amount of detail and things a clerk has to check is mindblowing, and thankfully the photo evidence prevented you from being charged, yes they should have double checked etc.

The job of an inventory clerk at check in is to make sure that YOU are not taking on a responsibility for an existing issue/damage/defect

At check OUT it's to make sure that the LL doesn't get saddled with dealing with damage/defect that YOU have caused, with allowances for fair wear and tear.

If a property has been cleaned professionally, the clerk will know, and the tenant can ask for copies of receipts to prove that the property was cleaned specifically for the beginning of the tenancy. If it is proven that there has been subsequent access to LL or builders or any third party before you have taken possession, it may be possible for the tenant to prove that the check in was compromised, Or certainly they can insist on the condition update is added to the report. Likewise check out, if the property was cleaned but a builder or LL/agent entered the property before check out

The main issue with tenancies is usually the LL or letting agent are considering the deposit as theirs and they are trying to hang onto as much as possible of it.

the deposit belongs to the tenant. full stop, if a LL/Agent wants to keep any of it, they have to prove it.

If a property has been cleaned professionally, the tenant is frankly foolish to return it in any other condition than professionally cleaned WITH RECEIPTS.

[Kewcumber]

I paid £250 for a two cleaners to do a complete house clean in SW London for a three bed house . Not including an oven clean or carpet cleaning.

For a 1 bed flat:
say £15 each per hour for two cleaners = £15x2x 4hrs = £120 plus oven clean about £60. Tops £180.

If you find independent cleaners you rarely have to pay VAT.

[Scribblegirl]

Sorry hissy, that may well have been a bit much. I'm just smarting from a bad experience a few months back.

As it was our LL agreed it was a really bad check and thankfully she had been to the flat and knew they were talking bollocks. I will chalk it up to a bad experience!

[Enko]

I think that sounds a lot. We are in SE and moved last year end cleaning was quoted at £350 for a 4 bedroom 2 story house.

[ZilphasHatpin]

I'd rather go out, do no cleaning and spend £200 than spend a day scrubbing and risk still spending £300! grin though obvs that's a personal call.

Good point!

[Needmoresleep]

Sounds about right, as I would expect them to shampoo carpets, clean the outside of windows as well as inside, run product through the dishwasher and clean the oven and fridge, and clean marks off shower screens, clean light fittings etc. It would be more if the flat is fundamentally dirty.

This cleaning thing is weird. I like tenants to use a firm I know rather than finding someone off the internet, as I have had a few real disasters with the latter. I don't want to take money out of the deposit, I want the flat clean ready for new tenants. I ended up in a bizarre row with the tenant in a Central London flat who argued that the price of my cleaner was too high. The knob was a hedge fund manager earning a silly salary, yet could not comprehend that the rate he was being quoted from an internet firm, along with the hours they suggested, meant that staff were probably only earning about half minimum wage, and so effectively the firm was dishonest. The money meant nothing to him, yet he was prepared to exploit others.

[chitofftheshovel]

When I moved into my current house it was filthy. I spent an entire day cleaning it. I e-mailed the estate agent giving two options: when I moved out I would leave it in the same state (I had photographic evidence) or to be reimbursed my time and materials, but did not name a price. They chose to pay me £200 plus paid my first months council tax for me.

I would have thought £250 was about the norm for EOT cleans.

[boffin9207]

Thanks all. There is a clause in our contract that stipulates that the flat has to be professionally cleaned when we leave the property and we are happy to pay for this as 1) we don't want to do it ourselves and 2) wouldn't want to be lumbered with a bill for it anyway if they nit picked. When we moved in it wasn't cleaned properly but hey ho. It just seems that £300 (£250+VAT) is a lot of money for not a very large space.

Of the places the agents recommended, they had really mixed reviews when I googled them. One had one 5 review, the other has 2 reviews and averages as 2.5. When I rang them the first was professional and the second was just a bit off and it felt like I was disturbing them. Has anyone used end of tennancy cleaning who may also be referred to as end to end tenancy cleaning and moving services? I got a quote from them for about £170/180 inclusive of VAT and they seem to do all of the same stuff. They have lots of positive reviews but again still a bit wary of just picking someone off the internet because they seem ok.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

boffin - do you have a local Facebook buying/selling group or a Local internet forum? I am sure you could get recommendations from there. Ask them how many hours it will take ... if you are paying more than £20 per hour, it is definitely too much!

[Unpropergrammer]

Manchester City centre here and we were charged for our one bed £100. And our landlord was always trying to stiff us for extra money! I think 250 is way too much.

[Majorgoodwinschickenbeatstrump]

Why can't you do it?

[LuxCoDespondent]

Seems about right to be honest. Moving out is expensive. I cleaned out my last flat myself and it took a day and a half to get everything clean enough. £250 for a day seems reasonable - provided they offer a guarantee that they will do it to a standard that means you get your full deposit back.

[bibbitybobbityyhat]

£250 for a day, even in London, is almost the price you would expect to pay for a plumber or an electrician. It's too much for cleaning.

We've just had external painting and decorating done in London - that was £180 per day.

Don't be hoodwinked into thinking that £250 is reasonable to clean a 1 bed flat just because other people have paid it.

[DontTouchTheMoustache]

Make sure to check Groupon, Livingsocial and Wowcher as you can sometimes find local cleaners at a discounted rate.

[Majorgoodwinschickenbeatstrump]

Cross posted earlier- sorry!

[singme]

Ended up paying 200 pounds for our latest end of tenancy clean (2 bed flat including windows). It looked brilliant when it was done and I went through it with the manager of the cleaning company to check I was happy. Lo and behold on inspection the letting agent said the property needed a "light clean" due to fluff on the mattress and that the hoover was full (had no idea as always used my own hoover, but my cleaner must have used the landlords one at some point). Charged 50 pounds for that!

Still, after a stressful couple of days years ago cleaning a flat myself (got one of those carpet cleaners and took ages to dry!) I'd always rather pay someone and maybe do an extra shift at work to pay for it!