to think that end of tenancy inspections are just yet another way of ripping tenants off?

[Thisarmingman]

I mean, really, you can lose money from your deposit which afaik is supposed to cover damage because your extractor fan isn't taken apart and cleaned or the inside of the kitchen cupboards aren't pristine? Since when was that damage?

Seems like landlords aren't happy enough getting tenants to bankroll their lifestyle - they want tenants to prepare the property for the next person too which is surely the landlord's job.

People who own houses and sell them don't have to do this on pain of losing several hundred pounds. It's just a rip off.

singyourheartiut you can sue them for not using the scheme. And they have to justify why you don't get money back. ARGUE it

I had two mortgages and worked full time to pay one of them.

i recently moved house and received less than half my deposit back for "cleaning fees and other expenses". they never outlined any of the issues in the end of tenancy final inspection other than the professional clean (which i agree with) i have alot of other shit going on at the moment and couldnt be bothered enquiring, so just accepted.

i lived on the ground floor and passed by the flat on more than one occasion and i can categorically say it was not cleaned after we moved out. the extractor fan is still dirty, and so are the blinds. they werent clean.

furthermore a girl i know who works at the letting agent confirmed that they dont pay for professional cleans. she says most of the time the landlords clean it themselves.

Doesn't surprise me. This entire cleaning fee is just a scam. Back in the old days when landlords routinely kept deposits there was none of this as they didn't have to justify it. Now they do have to justify it so they just say it's for cleaning.

Before I couldn't really argue it before because we had another year to go.
I'm worried that if I argue I would get in trouble. But I have pictures so I'm some what safe.
The only problom is if you live with other people your liable for them as well.
But in my past experience landlord get whatever they can take. However there are good and bad ones.

Moved out of a place once and got 'mates rates' from a friend who is a cleaner. LL claimed he had to pay fir a deep clean and tried to rob me of 500 quid. Only claimed that he had paid the same company that my friend (who had actually cleaned the place and been paid by ME) owned That was a fun convo. I did get full deposit back. Lying robbing twat.

All others I have had no issue with though

mets The OP has said what the landlord counted as 'mess'.

I have moved out of places that were an absolute shithole when I moved in. I have made them habitable, cleaned everything, even (with permission) painted - and I still got grief when I moved out, even though the place was 10 times cleaner and nicer than when I moved in.

A lot of landlords are having a fucking laugh.

So dispute it OP. Make sure they prove every claim they make. Do they even have proof it was in decent condition when you got it?

I still don't understand how these cleaning fees can be deducted from the protected deposits with such apparent ease. My scheme were insistent (fair enough) on invoices from cleaning firms.

Didnt claim for it as that cost alone would far have exceeded the deposit.

Depends on the scheme. My son and daughter have used "MyDeposits" under which the scheme is that you register, pay and then you hold the money. None of us has ever not returned a full deposit by the way but if you are holding the deposit yourself I suppose you have a bit more scope to make deductions even if that is not allowed by law.

Whether it is insurance or custodial, the rules are allegedly the same. But I have had a look at mydeposits and blow me, if the landlord and tenant don't both agree to use the dispute resolution the only alternative is the courts.

It would have made no difference for the big trashing I got, and I suppose that should it get to court they would also expect proof of expenditure.

Most cases on mn seem to be unprotected deposits, but this is interesting .