Tenancy deposit and cleaning house - a few questions for my friend!

[TAFKAtheUrbanDryad]

They have recently moved out of a rented house, and hired a cleaning company to clean it. The company have done a really poor job, and the likelihood is that they are not going to get their deposit back.

What - if any - legal recourse do they have? Is there any way they can make the cleaning company come back and do a better job?

TIA

Bump

So your tenants paid for a cleaning company? If yes, you should tell them immediately about the poor job and give them the opportunity to come and inspect. You can then say it either gets re-done by a different company or by them or you retain their deposit and arrange yourself. If you arrange it you must receive an invoice confirming the amount due so you can forward this to your tenants and if anything is still left of their deposit return that too.

You must give them the opportunity to rectify matters first.

Agree with inscotland about the cleaning company. Presumably the house was not filthy when they left anyway? How bad is the job the company have done?

Where is their deposit? If the tenancy started after April 2007 it should be in a protection scheme and if it is not then the landlord will have trouble making any deductions from it. There should also be a signed inventory for both start and end of tenancy.

Presumably whether they can make the cleaning company come back and do a better job depends on the contract they have with the cleaning company. Did they see terms and conditions of the cleaning company first? Was there any kind of 'satisfaction guaranteed' type statement or anything? Have they paid the cleaning company yet?