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Original poster

Rental house and end-of-tenancy professional cleaning AIBU

68 replies

WellWhyNot · 09/02/2020 14:34

Hi all,

Could you help me out with a house rental cleaning query, please?

My housemates and I are arranging a professional clean for a rental house as we are all moving out.

I’m on a shared tenancy contract with the other tenants (I’ve lived in the house for 6 months and the longest-staying tenant, tenant ‘A’, moved in 4 years ago).

The cleaning company visited yesterday evening and refused to clean, saying that the house was too dirty to clean. They took photos to send back to their colleagues

(For added context, we are now trying to arrange for a new set of cleaners through the same company to clean the house instead. They have seen the photos sent by the previous set of cleaners and will let me know soon if they can come to clean.)

Anyway, I found out today - completely off the record and in confidence - that the house hasn’t been cleaned professionally in 8 years. I was told this verbally by a contractor hired by the estate agent to do some work on the house after we all leave.

I don’t want to mention this info to the estate agent as I’m concerned saying this and attributing this to the contractor could get him fired or lead to problems for him.

Tenant ‘A’ (mentioned above) has said now he didn't know when moving in when the house had last been cleaned professionally.

’A’ says that, when each of us signed the tenancy agreement, this was our legal acceptance of the state of the house at the time when we moved in.

So, now, we are responsible for the state of the house even though we all moved in at different times and even though it’s now been a very long time after the last professional clean.

’A’ says, in hindsight, he would have asked for the house to be cleaned professionally when he moved in and a new inventory to be issued for the house.

Realistically, we cannot get the house back to the same standard of cleanliness that it was 8 years ago.

However, we have no written proof from the estate agent or landlord that the last professional clean of the house was 8 years ago.

Where do we stand on this? Do we have to just accept we will not get back our full deposits from the estate agent, even though the last professional clean took place before any of us moved in?

OP posts:
Original poster
WellWhyNot · 09/02/2020 14:36

For extra info, the inventory we are using is from 2014, which is after the last professional clean took place.

OP posts:
PhonicTheHedgehog · 09/02/2020 14:37

Just clean the house! Do it really thoroughly. Then call the professionals again.

I’ve cleaned some filthy places. It takes time, hot water and elbow grease.

Most people live in their homes for years and never have a professional clean.

TooleyVanDooley · 09/02/2020 14:38

I’ve lived in my house for 20 years. It’s never been professionally cleaned. It not dirty because I clean it myself Confused

Original poster
WellWhyNot · 09/02/2020 14:41

Thanks for replying Phonic and Tooley. We have cleaned the house weekly since I moved in but I don’t know how thoroughly the house was cleaned before we moved in.

My query is how to prove to the estate agent that the house hasn’t been cleaned professionally cleaned or maintained for 8 years.

OP posts:
Chage · 09/02/2020 14:41

"End of tenancy professional cleans" are one of the biggest scams going.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't do it yourself.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/02/2020 14:43

Clean the house. All if you. Every room, every inch of it.

Stop looking for excuses, ways to reduce the work done.

Clean it and then get a professional company in to do the bits you will have missed.

Original poster
WellWhyNot · 09/02/2020 14:45

Didn’t meant to drip feed at all - completely forgot to mention this earlier - but our tenancy contract mentions that we need to show receipts as evidence of a professional clean at the end of our tenancy.

OP posts:
Bunbunbunny · 09/02/2020 14:46

Is it the original tenancy agreement that you've been added to? Is there photos to demonstrate the house was professionally cleaned at the start of the tenancy?

Bunbunbunny · 09/02/2020 14:46

Humm that would classed as an unfair term it should say cleaned to a professional standard

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/02/2020 14:48

Why would you need to prove that? There is no legal reason for you to do so.

If you have an inventory then it will have cleaning comments. If you don't then nobody can prove you have left it more or less dirty than when you moved on, so just clean it.

But if it is as dirty as you seem to say it is you would be best advised to get professionals in after that anyway. Then you have some control over the cost...

Nifflernancy · 09/02/2020 14:49

What examples did the cleaning company give of it being too dirty to clean? Is it? I’m surprised they turned the work down so it must be pretty bad. Are certain areas awful?

CuriousaboutSamphire · 09/02/2020 14:49

And yes, professionally cleaned is very rarely upheld if disputed. It just has to be as clean as it was when you moved in... evidenced by an inventory.

Lunafortheloveogod · 09/02/2020 14:50

So what made it so bad a company wouldn’t clean it?

Surely it’s time to gut it back as much as possible and then call them back in. We had a clause like this in one of the places I rented, we physically done as much as possible and had a cleaner nip back for an hour to run over every last inch once we were 100% out. That got us the receipt for a “professional clean” and it meant we didn’t have to get a bus with a hoover n kit after the van had left.

Original poster
WellWhyNot · 09/02/2020 14:53

Bunbunbunny I was added to a tenancy contract that was backdated from Feb 2019. It runs for a year, so runs until this month.

I don’t have access to any photos are any other evidence to show the house was professionally cleaned before Feb 2019.

The tenants have been under no obligation to do a professional clean for a long time before because tenants have been swapping in and out of the contract.

OP posts:
MzHz · 09/02/2020 14:54

If your house was not cleaned professionally specifically for your tenancy, it doesn’t have to be cleaned professionally by you.

Can you get proof that it’s not been professionally cleaned? Can you ask landlord/agent to provide copy of receipt for the clean before your tenancy?

If you can get some kind of proof that they have not cleaned the property professionally, then just give it a once over to domestic standard and leave the rest, if they try to charge you, take it to the ombudsman without even blinking

The landlord won’t win, they have to prove they have a right to take your money

What specifically does the inventory say?

Lidon · 09/02/2020 14:55

I wouldn't bother cleaning it myself. The professional cleaning scam has been going on in rented housing for decades. Unless you use the letting agents preferred cleaners (charged at extortionate rates) they will claim the house isn't clean enough, and charge you to have it cleaned again.

Not worth the hassle to do it yourself and still end up getting charged for it.

LIZS · 09/02/2020 14:57

How can it possibly be too dirty to clean if you have been cleaning each week? Presumably your standards are reasonable. Is it possible to pull out furniture and appliances to hoover/mop behind them.

Yogawoogie · 09/02/2020 14:59

What was so bad about it that they wouldn’t do it?

JosefKeller · 09/02/2020 15:01

*"End of tenancy professional cleans" are one of the biggest scams going.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't do it yourself.*

if professional cleaners refuse to touch it, you can image the standards of "cleanliness" Grin and the reason why a professional clean is requested.

My query is how to prove to the estate agent that the house hasn’t been cleaned professionally cleaned or maintained for 8 years.
irrelevant, clean is clean. The state of the property NOW is all that matters.

I always cleaned my rentals myself, to MY standards, before or when moving. Never heard a pip of complaint from anyone. Cleaners are not robots, you can clean just as well - or better frankly , but you do need to clean.

AJPTaylor · 09/02/2020 15:08

Seriously, how dirty is it?

Sporty99 · 09/02/2020 15:08

I used to be a professional cleaner and have completed many end of tenancy cleans. End of tenancy cleans are just thorough cleaning, nothing extraordinary. You just clean in all the nooks and crannies and behind and under everything. It's just cleaning anyone can do it. Nothing special about it being 'professional'.

CakeandCustard28 · 09/02/2020 15:13

How dirty is the house for cleaners to refuse money to clean it? Can’t you tidy/clean most of the dirt and then call them again? You must be living in a pit for them to refuse surely? Confused

curiousierandcouriser · 09/02/2020 15:15

I am also really curious why professional cleaners turned down work. Did you only book them for something like 2h and they felt that it was too little time? I remember a previous thread awhile ago about something similar. Could you ask them if they need more time (and pay for that time)?

I am a bit Hmm at company's turning down a potentially well paying gig due to "too much work"...

Popuppippa · 09/02/2020 15:20

It must be pretty bad for a cleaning company to refuse to do it.

People's idea of clean varies enormously i.e. from actually clean to not clean at all. That's why the accepted standard is professionally cleaned. A professionally cleaned oven looks very different to one that's been wiped over with a bit of Cif.

You could ask to hand it back and deduct the cost of a full clean from the deposit.

AriadnesFilament · 09/02/2020 15:22

How dirty is this place if a professional cleaner is refusing to touch it?! What the hell have you lot been doing in it?!

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