UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all,

Some things are never easy.

1) Recently moved into a new apartment, and the place is awful cosmetically. The walls are dirty, stained, child drawing marks, tape marks, grease stains, other stains. We took a lot of photos and emailed the landlord and they replied that they were aware of this before us moving in/signing the contract and were looking to re-decorate in the next few months. However, we would like this done sooner and have expressed our wishes. We didn't want to start off on the wrong foot therefore did not write a strongly worded email. I would personally wait until the end of the week and send a further email, any advice?

2) After moving out of my old house, we had cleaned to a domestic standard to return to condition of inventory. There are 4 of us in the house and the original check-in/inventory is from 2014. Only 2 members from the original move in are present, the lease has been renewed in 2015 and a new inventory undertaken, there was a switch in tenant during renewal, then I joined 3 months later. It turns out that we were working off the renewed lease inventory. Whilst we restored this to the best of our clenaing abilities, the agency are still using the 2014 check-in. Is this correct for them? They have also quoted a huge price and provided an invoice for a deep clean , however when i contacted the same company for a deep/end of tenancy clean, I was quoted a price that was £150 less. We also could not arrange our own cleaners because the landlord had new tenants moving in the next morning after we moved out and we were told that if we could not get cleaners in the afternoon of moving out, the agency would have to use their own service.

Whilst I understand it is our responsibility to clean the apartment, I find it unreasonable and confusing that a) two different prices for the same service from the same company b) the short turnaround is a risk undertaken by the agency/landlord.

What is our stance RE: Which inventory to use? Can we argue the price and finer details of the inventory? I could be completely wrong but was outvoted in terms of having it professionally cleaned unfortunately.

1) I am surprised you moved in with it in that state. I would try to be inventive with your proposal. The Landlord wants to do it in a few months, you want it done sooner - why not make the offer to do it yourself (either DIY or paid-for professional) and then the headache of arranging is taken away from the Landlord and maybe you could agree a month-by-month rent reduction or repayment so the Landlord can avoid being hit today with the big bill they're claiming they're building up to? It would, of course, require the Landlord to 'sign-off' the completed work.

2) It's not unheard of for Agents to mark-up prices. It's like a Finder's Fee, sometimes... or just what it is - them adding a form of commission. The fact that you can get it done cheaper may only be embarrassing for them - it might not change the figure they quote you. The fact that you could not (really?) arrange your own cleaners in the gap is not - truly - their problem - after all, you did have the chance but maybe you didn't try hard enough? You were also warned of the outcome.