Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask whether the council cleans the outside of your windows ever?

101 replies

TiesThatBindMe · 27/09/2017 13:45

I'm in a first floor council flat and the outside of my windows are filthy. It would probably cost me my life's savings to pay for a window cleaner with his ladders etc. to clean them. I'm just wondering whether anyone knows whether the council ever gets window cleaners out?

OP posts:
arethereanyleftatall · 27/09/2017 15:06

I'm clearly getting ripped off. I've been paying £50 for inside and out of my house.

Op - it might get cheaper if you can get together with your neighbours.

Firesuit · 27/09/2017 15:07

I highly doubt the council has the money to pay for cleaning every tenants windows.

For a block of flats, depending on the design, the outsides of the windows may not be able to be properly cleaned except by professional cleaners. (The ones for my building use a cherry-picker, among other equipment.) Doing this is part of the maintenance of the building, and it is perfectly normal for the owners/managers of the building to do it. The cost of it will be covered out of what the resident pays to live in the flat. (Even if they own it, there will be a management charge.)

Councils know their relationship with their tenants is such that they can afford to treat them like shit, so I imagine in this and many other respects, they are not very nice landlords. So I wouldn't be surprised if they don't care about clean windows.

Firesuit · 27/09/2017 15:12

To be fair, I think most of the council blocks I can think of around here have fairly traditional construction, with windows that should be cleanable from inside. Not many residential tower blocks are 20-story buildings completely clad in glass, which would be a different kettle of fish.

HelenaDove · 27/09/2017 15:17

We had new windows put in over 13 years ago which only open a few inches. So outside isnt cleanable from inside. We used to have a caretaker on site who did this and the guttering but he was let go about six years ago.

2014newme · 27/09/2017 15:19

I have 22 windows over 3 floors. I pay £15 for the outside.

sparechange · 27/09/2017 15:25

gazelda
Grin

Wauden · 27/09/2017 15:27

I am glad that our hard-earned money - tax - does not go on window cleaning for others... Sorry if this sounds brusque . Ppl here are advising on using the pole method - safe.

Groovee · 27/09/2017 15:29

We’re £7.50 a month for a 3 bed 2 floors. I thought that was ok for round here.

HelenaDove · 27/09/2017 15:30

FFS HAs are receiving service charges The word service is in there

FlaviaAlbia · 27/09/2017 15:30

yodelehoho GrinGrinGrin

Wauden · 27/09/2017 15:38

Gazelda - and everyone on this board - I think I will down a glass after 7.00 Wine Gin
My feeble excuse being that I have done a lot of gardening today. No window cleaning though - sorry OP, not going round to do yours. My fee would be £100 and I get to keep the pole.

Franklin77 · 27/09/2017 15:39

HelenaDove
FFS HAs are receiving service charges

FFS Why do you keep on going on about HAs, when this poster says it's a council flat?

5rivers7hills · 27/09/2017 15:39

Window cleaning in flats should be organised and paid go by the management company, paid for by the service charge.

Doesn't matter if that is the HA or a private block.

Wheelerdeeler · 27/09/2017 15:46

Do you want them to sweep your floor also?

wonkylegs · 27/09/2017 15:58

We pay £20 every 6-10 weeks (they do come reliably come, just when is not so predictable)
They do 20odd large windows and a large conservatory, the windows are high 2-storeys, it's a very tall Victorian house and some are awkward to reach but they do them all with long reach poles and they are good.
We got ours through googling although I often see people asking for recommendations on our local FB page.

HelenaDove · 27/09/2017 16:06

Franklin there will still be a service charge as part of the rent.

HelenaDove · 27/09/2017 16:06

Wheeler dont be facetious.

hibbledobble · 27/09/2017 18:51

Renting a property privately I have never had the landlord send someone over to clean the windows. Likewise, in a subsidised council property, it is the leaseholder's responsibility to clean the windows. Either do it yourself or pay someone, it will only cost about a tenner.

navyshoes · 27/09/2017 18:55

Do you want them to sweep your floor also?

Actually my council does sweep and mop the floors in the communal areas, lift and stairs in our block. They don't clean the windows though.

My sister lives in a newbuild private block of flats and the outside of her windows are cleaned every few months, so it often is organised by the management company in some flats. Her service charges are pretty high though.

SisyphusHadItEasy · 27/09/2017 19:00

I have a spray solution that is plant-safe that we use on all our outside windows. The bottle attaches to a garden hose, you spray the solution mixed with water (automatically) on the windows, then remove the bottle and rinse the windows.

Takes me all of 2 hours to do a good-sized house, and I can keep my money in my pocket.

Even better, I don't have to use a ladder, since I would probably fall and break myself in the process, anyways.

5rivers7hills · 27/09/2017 19:02

Do you want them to sweep your floor also?

In the communal areas, yes.

OhTheRoses · 27/09/2017 19:07

First floor flat doable by window cleaner. What happens in tower blocks though.

By the way, I am a landlord too. I have the outside windows cleaned and It's covered by the rent.

Louiselouie0890 · 27/09/2017 19:36

Do you pay service charges. If you do then window cleaning should be in with it.

Purplemac · 27/09/2017 21:23

Bloody hell OP's getting a hard time here Hmm if shes never had to deal with this before then how would she know?

elevenclips · 27/09/2017 21:34

You'd think there'd be someone managing the building if it's a block of flats and that all the windows would get cleaned at the same time. I mean what if Op's flat was 10th floor?! Do you pay a management charge to anyone? Could you ask a neighbour how this works for windows?