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?

Ok, thanks for giving my posts so much headspace and summarising it for everyone. Enjoy your day.

I appreciated it!

OP, just pay for the deep clean 🤷‍♀️

But some of the charges are definitely wrong (we have evidence) so we have to dispute some of it. I’m happy for us to pay for what we have missed. I’ve seen a service that will do a selective clean.

Shelter’s advice says you can resolve things with the landlord in parallel to raising a dispute with DPS. We actually haven’t replied to the EA when they sent us the inventory and listed the charges - should we reply to explain which parts we are disputing? I’m just a bit concerned that if we agree to part of it, then the landlord will say they have already done a deep clean and DPS will say we need to pay for all of it.

I'm a landlord, it's in the contract that a deep clean must be done before leaving but actually if the property is handed back in a reasonable state I don't enforce it . First tenants I had actually left the house in an awful state , looked like it hadn't been cleaned for months but I was just glad to get them out. Next did her best but had time pressures and couldn't get it done . Its me who does the deep cleaning after they leave .its frustrating but if as you say it was cleaned but landlord not satisfied you can dispute it .

Can you prove that “definitely wrong”?

The inventory photos. Before and after photos how the same issue but they’re trying to charge us.

So it’s not the clean it’s about damage? And wear and tear?

Offer to go in and give it a thorough clean , Hire a carpet cleaner clean everything in sight and ask the Landlord to reassess surely that would be cheaper than paying someone.

@Katemax82 it’s now illegal for them to expect a paid professional clean

If you are referring to before and after inventory photos, then surely that’s more about damage rather than a cleaning?

I would always pay for a deep clean myself when leaving so I think your landlord is being reasonable here

Our before inventory showed they’d given the house to us dirty so had no right to demand £300 cleaning fee because we’d missed a spot.

why are people telling her to just pay it? Do you all just throw hundreds of pounds at scammers ?

What did the before photos show?

did the EA see the property post clean? If so, what’s their view?

Hmm but what is you were a professional cleaner yourself? Do they expect you to employ someone else when you can do the job perfectly just to get a receipt? Sounds a bit suspect

I moved out of a rental once and cleaned the house to full “white glove” standard with my parents. My dad was in the Army and when moving out of a quarter, someone would literally come round with white gloves on and run a finger along the radiators and surfaces to check for the slightest bit of dust.

We left the house immaculate. The LL came round and confirmed he was satisfied with this. Nevertheless the letting agent insisted that it had to be “professionally cleaned” as it had been before the tenancy had started. Which was a joke since I remember the day I moved in I was disgusted to find skid marks in the toilets and dirty kitchen surfaces. However, I hadn’t taken photos of that at the time so couldn’t prove it and still had £600 deducted from my rent deposit (TDS supported the LL/letting agent). Since then I have never bothered spending any time cleaning a rental when leaving, since they will charge you for cleaning it anyway.

For me? The checkout had lots of notes like “light debris/residue that could be removed with a wipe” and oven had burnt food marks. There was lots of notes of mould above windows and on ceilings and they complained we’d left some grass trimmings under a hedge.they wanted 75% of our deposit.

i responded with pictures from the check in inventory which noted “light debris” in every room and the email/pictures we’d sent complaining when we moved in that the oven was filthy. I also noted that the “wipeable” marks in the bathroom the check out inventory had noted was actually water damage from the flood we’d had (pipe burst in middle of night - not our fault) after which they’d promised to redecorate but never had. I attached all the emails we’d sent begging them to sort out the leaking roof that was causing damp ceilings and all our clothes and furniture to go mouldy. Lastly I sent a picture of the garden before we moved in which was so overgrown it was unusable. It was a postage stamp sized garden but it was so overgrown with ivy there was a table and chairs that you couldn’t see were there until I’d spent a few afternoons hacking at it.

i said if they wanted anything back they’d need to go back to DPS scheme and they actually had the cheek to come back and ask if we would agree to anything because the landlord would want “something” which just shows you really how some landlords treat it like a bloody Xmas bonus. I did concede £30 because we had forgotten to empty a mop in a bucket of water when we left and they claimed they had to buy a new one because it had gone funny having been left for a week and I’m still annoyed at myself for letting them have that.

It was years ago and still makes my blood boil to think on it.

edit: I’ve lived in some scruffy houses where landlords don’t really bother doing repairs and use deposit more as a rent holding in case you vanish. I’ve lived in some places that were freshly painted where landlords cared about the slightest mark/kept things high spec but charged high rent and were really viscious about deposits . The problem occurs when you get a landlord which has a scruffy house but still expects their 20 year old carpets paid for when you miss a spot hoovering when you leave.

I've worked in lettings for 18 years and no one ever pays for a deep clean.

You don't have to pay for a deep clean, you could do it again yourselves, just make sure you don't miss anything.

It’s all of that.

So the photos before you moved in show damage to the property; wear and tear; and not a clean property?

For about a decade that has been unenforceable

Its a good idea to get a pro clean, they can be called back in to finish bits they miss - if by our specifically ask for an end of tenancy clean.

But if you clean it yourself to a very high standard thats enough, properly clean is properly clean

Ma ybtenant choose to do that and then pay for a carpet deep clean

Im an inventory clerk, It would be me doing the check out report🙂

I learnt years ago that it's best to get a professional clean with an invoice that way it can't be disputed.
Honestly I did the most thorough clean on one property, literally scrubbing every inch of the skirting and using vinegar to pull up the furniture marks on the carpet, it took me three full days. The agent said to me it was immaculate, but if I had paid somebody and presented an invoice for a fraction of the clean that I had done there would be no dispute. Because I hadn't the landlord disputed one bit of wall in the bathroom which cost so much.

Can I ask another question. We are willing to pay for some issues but the charges are much higher than the quotes we have found.

We want to propose the quotes but if the work has already been completed then would us conceding go against us and DPS say we have to pay the full amount?