To spend £500 on a clean

[Nixpix1]

I'm fuming. I've just moved and my old landlord has sent me a bill for £500 for having my old flat cleaned professionally and a carpet wash. A bit of a rip off no. I refuse to pay that amount. I literally scrubbed that place clean before I left down to the point where I even painted the place for him. There are a few omissions in the leaving inventory, those being one hand size piece of skirting board not being cleaned, and the blinds not being dusted and a few window sils not being dusted. I forgot to clean one kitchen cupboard too. But this is not worth £230 worth of a professional cleaning service and nor is it worth £160 worth of a carpet wash.

And here's the worst bit, after living thru an ordeal of an extremely cold flat, putting up with mice running around and even finding some dead, he has the cheek of asking for all this.

Argh, what a moron!

Is your deposit protected? Did you take pictures after you cleaned?

What does your tenancy agreement say? Can you offer to go back in to remedy the missed bits?

Your deposit should be registered, do you have a inventory and check out report with photos? If not your LL doesn’t have a leg to stand on. Tell your LL you don’t agree and you will dispute it with the deposit scheme, if they don’t back done log a dispute.
£500 sounds a lot for a flat unless you’re in London & it was a large flat. How many bedrooms/ bathrooms?

Your deposit should be protected by an independent company.
You can disagree with his deductions and provide your own evidence to how clean the property was when you left if you have photos? The company will act as a "go between" on this between you and the L/L

£500 is excessive for a cleaning bill (I work in property management so deal with these bills on a regular basis)

Unfortunately I am in London. However, still 500 is a lot. The cleaning is probably worth not even 100. The flat was a duplex, unfurnished. I will have to check up on my contract about the deposit as I can't remember but I think it was held in a scheme. I lived there for roughly 10 months and then decided to leave as estate agents and landlord didn't do much about the mice situation. There was a break clause I used to get out

Check your agreement. Some of them stipulate that the carpet must be professionally cleaned once you move out.

Your deposit should have been protected. If it wasn't, you can claim 3 X the value in compensation. If it was, dispute the amount providing any dated photos you hopefully took as evidence. You'd need to check your contract for details on cleaning costs etc as pp mentioned.

Having rented in London for several years before leaving (partly to be able to buy) this doesn't surprise me.

In our last flat a professional clean was in our agreement unfortunately. This ended up being a few hundred pounds. Now I think about it though they could have easily said it would be the amount you're talking about and we would have been powerless.

I've always found shelter give excellent housing advice. I'd give them a call. You could also try doing some research into going rates for end of tenancy cleaning to see if the amount they've charged is way over the odds or not. Good luck.

When we moved out, I cleaned the flat to within an inch of its life AND asked the agency to recommend a pro cleaner and booked them with the agent cc'd in to every email to cover myself (£150 for a 900 sq ft 2 bed, no carpet cleaning, central London).

I would 100% query the HELL out of this because £150 was about right for the clean and carpets would be about the same again if it was fully carpeted.

That is actually Over the top. I paid £450 to have my 5 bed house cleaned including the fridge and oven and professional carpet cleaners. That was starting from a very messy condition too - I hadn't cleaned it at all.

Does seem a bit steep (and I'm a landlady). It should be in your contract. Check with the agent.

@Nixpix1 regardless of what it states in your contract about the deposit, it is a legal requirement for it to be held in a scheme (we use the DPS) and your landlord or agent acting as your landlord would be breaking the law if they have not protected it with a scheme

I can’t work out your sums, was it £390 or £500?

I’m assuming if he’s sent you a bill and you’re saying you won’t pay then he’s not taken it out of your deposit?

As PPs havevsaid, check your deposit and your contract.

I am in the process of finding out how it can cost 500. I need to go back home, am my mums, and find out the terms and condition of the cleaning / leaving conditions. I am ready to go back and clean up the last bits and pieces but I don't seem that fair as when I was complaining of the mice situation, the sent pet control but never followed up with pest control or me, and when I did call and inform them of the situations they didn't really follow up on the builder guy that was supposed to come and see what work needed doing. And the builder guy didn't gt in touch, and in the end I got told that I wasn't at home and I missed him... Fact is that he didn't turn up and when he did, he didn't bother telling the estate agents what he planned on doing. Failure on all ends from estate agents and builder.

I should have held rent back for that whole mess for the last 5 months. My one year old could have ate rat droppings. My kids were being sent home every week from stomach aches....started only since we moved.

Same happened to me. I left the flat pristine. They insisted on shampooing bedroom carpets. Crazy as second bedroom had hardly been used and both carpets were immaculate in both bedrooms. It is a massive con.

Take it to a deposit dispute. They will laugh at your landlord. Don't worry about it and don't pay it!

Just checked tenancy and it says professionally cleaned. The estate agent has dropped the cost to 295 after cleaning company had a look. Im still not happy for this to go a head at that cost. What shall I do next?

Bump

Any advice anyone?

Dispute it with the deposit scheme your money's in. They virtually always find for the tenant.