Landlord charging for a deep clean

[Mamma182838]

We moved out of rental. DH cleaned the house after we left and generally he does a good job but he missed a handful of specific things that were picked up in the check.

Landlord wants to charge for a full deep clean. Is that fair? How do we dispute it? Do we approach a cleaning agency and say x, y, z needs to be cleaned, how much would this. be, and go back to the landlord with the quote, or cleaners not work this way?

It's relevant because you continue to avoid the question and refuse to answer, just as you have above. The only reason for that I can see is because you know it was probably left pretty grubby and don't want to admit it.

Did you see the property post clean to check it was properly clean; yes or no? You already know that you can't legally be forced to pay for deep cleaning, because multiple posters have told you this.

You could make that argument about the inventory photos and how the deposit scheme will make any judgements though

What did the contract say?

Thank you, I appreciate the advice. We’re at 3) now with the DPS. As you say it says agree/don’t agree, so I guess there’s nothing we can do now except wait for a decision to be made?

Re the charge listed in DPS for deep cleaning, how does the DPS determine a fair fee?

How would you recommend we dispute it? Do we need to provide lots of evidence, like getting quotes of the cost to wipe down the specific surfaces?

No you don't, your landlord would have to prove it was necessary. You just dispute it.

Dispute it. You don’t need to do quotes. Lots of landlords for scruffy places like you describe dint bother to do the clean but try and charge the tenants anyway.

if he/she has just gone in themselves and wiped down what you’ve missed they can’t charge you for that. They’d need to show an invoice. And I bet they haven’t bothered and just got new tenants in asap.

If dps don’t see evidence (from landlord) that it was spotless when you moved in they won’t allow them to charge a clean.

chances are you’ll get your money back k in full. Lots of landlords just chance their arm.

@Mamma182838 you've received a lot of poor advice on this thread including ppl still referencing the contract when it's been made very clear by previous posters that it doesn't matter what the contract says because regardless of contract they cannot insist on professional clean legally.

You need to leave it how it was found. If it wasn't received in a professional clean level manner you do not need to leave it as such. I received a rented property once in an average at best state, so no, not everyone does get a clean at the end of tenancy nor does the landlord necessarily hand it over professionally cleaned.

If it is genuinely a few items, I'd offer to go round and sort. If they don't let you, then let them prove to the dps what deductions it'll cost. If it is a few of things like tops of doors, I imagine they'll find it's worth less than the cost of a whole house being professionally cleaned.

It’s been illegal since 2019 for landlords to put professional cleaning into contracts.

It doesn't matter what the tenancy says when it comes to unenforceable clauses.

I could put in a tenancy that my tenants have to make me dinner every Tuesday - doesn't mean I'd have a hope in hell of having it enforced.

Landlords cannot insist on a professional clean, just that the property is left in the same condition, minus wear and tear, as when the tenant moved in.

Yes this. Ours too.

In my DC’s experience landlords always charge for a deep clean at the end of the tenancy, but never actually have it done as all the places they have moved into have been a bit dirty.

Thanks that’s very helpful.

maybe this’ll help

https://proptech.tenancydepositscheme.com/asktds-do-i-need-to-professionally-clean-the-property-at-the-end-of-the-tenancy/

https://www.totallandlordinsurance.co.uk/knowledge-centre/ultimate-landlords-guide-to-fair-wear-and-tear

Yes absolutely, I'm a landlord, but was renting a flat from another a few years ago - I cleaned it to perfection, but made the movers a cup of tea and - shock horror - left a dead teabag on the stainless sink drainer.

The LL and agent wanted to charge to have it cleaned, but I said no I would do it, the agent met me at the property, I cleaned the whole sink again and that was that.

With my landlord hat on my letting agents have a full set of detailed photos of the property, and they would be available to my tenants if they ever moved out - but we do have to be realistic and accept fair wear and tear - certain items should be replaced periodically, like carpets, the place re-decorated etc. etc.

I can see online that the property is no longer available to rent so it may have new tenants now.

So for example carpet cleaning has been included as part of the deep clean. I disagree with this, carpets were all upstairs, we didn’t have any spills or eat on them, we vacuumed as usual and they were in a very tired state anyway, but it means that if it was discoloured here or there before we moved in it wasn’t captured in a photo. I didn’t photograph every single bit of it and neither did the inventory. So this charge I would definitely disagree with - how would DPS separate it from the rest?

Given that carpet cleaning wasn’t a separate charge.

What was your relationship like with the LL whilst renting?

I guess I can’t point out specific disagreements at this stage can I? And since we’re at this stage can we go back to the landlord and say we can wipe down x surfaces? Or we should just wait for the DPS outcome?

I cleaned my DS’s rental recently, it was spotless apart from one or 2 marks which were normal wear and tear. The LL said DS would have to pay for a deep clean out of the deposit and some painting. DS phoned the company, that are the deposit holders, to ask whether this was reasonable. They were very helpful and gave my DS lots of advice. My DS has decided to contest this. We await the outcome because this is very recent.

It was all done through the EA, all amicable.

What kind of advice did your DS get? I’ll phone them first thing on Monday.

It's fairly standard to have to pay for a deep clean when you leave a rented property.

So it would be strange for them to suddenly to be unreasonable without ground?

Paying for a deep clean is pretty standard even if you have cleaned it.

No it's not. It's an illegal contract term.