Did you spend a fortune on dry-cleaning curtains when you moved out of rental property with lots of curtains that don't look too clean?
Background: when we moved into our flat - it wasn't cleaned by the previous tenants who left under the cloud of bad debts (bailiff letters were still arriving even 4 years on). The flat looked like it needed a lot of repairs but we didn't make a fuss about it, we just made sure the inventory check matched up. Then only in the last year when we needed oven and dishwasher replaced as oven simply stopped working and dishwasher was leaking beyond repair. Plus other repairs were needed. I felt bad for the landlady as she was clearly overwhelmed by maintenance costs but we thought it'd be cheaper to do all repairs in one go rather than hire on several occasions to do small jobs. She put up a long fight about it, trying to increase our rent disproportionately as result (during renewal time) but estate agents apparently managed to talk her out of it in the end.
Now we've moved out, the flat is cleaner than we arrived in. But I for life of my can't remember if curtains were better and worse than when we moved in 4 years ago. The contract explicitly stated that the curtains had to be maintained and the clause was that it has to be dusted every 6 weeks.
Except we didn't....I hoovered the curtains on occasions over 4 years but not every 6 weeks. They aren't filthy (despite 4 years of young children) but if you look closely enough they are not too clean (light cream colour that's breathed in central London air over the years).
Now we are trying to get back our deposit. I'm still trying to decide whether to dry-clean the curtains or not. They are the heaviest curtains ever in the world and we had 5 window-fuls of them. I avoided the companies that quoted per weight, only got companies that quoted per square metres and we got eyewatering 400-800 :(((( For curtains we have not chosen (we could have just put them away long ago I know...hindsight is rich...)
But I am worried landlady will find excuse to withhold deposit.
Will buying steam-cleaner and steam the heck out of the curtains all day work?
What we did: We bathed 3 curtains already. They are super duper heavy (one won't fit in largest suitcase you have). We broke our drying rack with it, so had to hang it on door and put bowls and towels around for water dripping heavily out of the curtains. 7 more to go...:(