Tenants vacating responsibilities

Reply to the comment left by "Gary Nock" at "07/05/2014 - 03:53":

Thing is Gary if a professional cleaning company do the clean and its not done properly you can get that company back to re do it until its right, if the tenant does it and its not done properly then what you gonna do? Ask the tenant to re do it, or say you havnt done it professionally so im gonna deduct the cost from your deposit and get a company in? On quite a few occasions in the past ive had tenants that have cleaned the property themselves then the new tenant moves in and complains because the property isnt as clean as they would expect and then i have had to pay for a company to come in and re do it, ive even been on my hands and knees cleaning up other peoples filth from inside kitchen cupbards or descaling taps etc... Never again. As far as im concerned if your moving into one of my properties that property has been professionally cleaned including carpets,oven,fridge freezer inside all kitchen units skirting boards windows all chrome sparkle cleaned etc.....the whole property top to bottom inside and out, so when you vacate you have to give it back to me professionally cleaned by a company including carpets and oven etc... If not then you will be charged. Tenants that clean the property themselves do not tend to cover all points and only do it themselves to try and save money..

Reply to the comment left by "Joe Bloggs" at "06/05/2014 - 21:54":

You are absolutely right Joe, it is covered in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations and is, in fact, one of the examples cited in this rather long document >>> http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf
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The one caveat with the UTCCR is that it does not apply to individually negotiated terms, so it is possible to go around it.
In any case, the compensation for a breach of contract is the actual loss so if there is no loss (e.g. property was satisfactorily cleaned by tenant himself) then there is no compensation.

Mark: Right, burden of proof is the other way round, indeed.

Thank you for your comments everyone. The property is cleaner than any so called 'professional' would manage with a one off clean. I used to operate an office cleaning business and I've seen the standard of minimum wage 'cleaners'. You really cannot get the staff! We're having the carpets cleaned but for carpets that are 7+ years old they are pretty clean anyway. I just wasn't sure what the agent could 'enforce' and as the property is being sold it all seems pretty irrelevant as the new owner is likely to move in, rip up the carpets and decorate to their own taste.

The law states they property must be returned to the landlord in the same condition as it was received! Regardless of the clauses landlords and agents wish to put in tenancy agreements.. You can not enfore a professional clean if you didn't have a prof clean at the start when the inventory was donne and the tenant toook possession
This would be seen as an unfair clause and totally unenforcable and may even carry a fine for landlord or agent.

I went through this as a tenant. I moved out of a property and the letting agency requested that everything be professionally cleaned. The carpets were cleaner when i moved out that when i moved in so it ended up going into arbitration. I won the case because the law is that the carpets must be left in the same state accounting for reasonable wear and tear as when you move into a property period. So called 'Professional' cleaning is not needed

Reply to the comment left by "Silvia Lafleur" at "11/05/2014 - 10:06":

Hi Silvia

Thank you for sharing the tenants side of how this scenario can pan out.

The burden of proof rests upon the landlords and that's quite right given that a deposit is the tenants money 🙂
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I've had a couple relocated into a property of mine, and another lady came to oversee it, since the company was paying for their move.
She had a problem with the cleanliness of the property since I had left it to the agent to check the cleanliness at the time of vacation of the previous tenants.
....They had tried to do the clean themselves, they were not professional cleaners, and missed bits, top/bottom of cabinet doors, glass shelves, etc.

The long and short of it was, I asked her opinion as to what should be done, she said "as long as you agree that the cleanliness is the same as when they moved in, then that would be fine, and not insist upon a professional clean upon vacation later"

I thought that this was reasonable and agreed, but it should still have been the agent's job to sort this out.
I just happened to be passing when these tenants were moving in, and dropped in to see how it was going !! - perhaps I will 'just pass by' next time !!