Cost of getting a one bedroom flat professionally cleaned

mofei1

mofei1

mofei1

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I have recently vacated a rented property through an estate agent in Brighton. The agents told me the flat needed to be cleaned professionally which was fair enough as the carpets were in a bit of a mess.

Before I left, I made sure the kitchen and other rooms were clean. I've just been told by the agents the cost of the clean came to £550 and fees for arranging this clean are £117.50 (does it really cost them that much to phone a cleaning company LOL?). My deposit is only £600.

Considering this is a one bedroom flat which was fairly small, does this sound reasonable? I'm quite tempted to ask for a receipt which they must have got if the flat was cleaned professionally.
 
It should be around £150 for the clean (includes inside cupboards etc) and up to £150 for carpet cleaning.
What you got quoted was about average if you let a letting agent quote for it, bear in mind they will quibble over every little mark so make sure the carpet cleaner gets everything out before he leaves.

Now for a bunch of people who still think contract cleaners get £7.50 an hour :)
 
bitslice said:
It should be around £150 for the clean (includes inside cupboards etc) and up to £150 for carpet cleaning.
What you got quoted was about average if you let a letting agent quote for it, bear in mind they will quibble over every little mark so make sure the carpet cleaner gets everything out before he leaves.

Now for a bunch of people who still think contract cleaners get £7.50 an hour :)
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I guess that makes sense. Just making sure I'm not getting ripped off :cool:
 
It's a well known scam. Some home owners / agencies will even go so far as to setup "fake" limited companies that they use to create phony cleaning invoices from.

Very rarely is any real cleaning actually done.

What you should do is tell them you will pay for a professional clean yourself as it will no doubt be much cheaper. They will kick up a fuss as they won't be getting the money they expected, but stick to your guns.
 
Well you did get ripped a bit really, a letting agent up here pulls the same stunt all the time.


they are called 'Temples', if you want to know who to look out for :)
 
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One letting agency once tried to bill us £550 to recarpet one room. 2 solicitor letters later (my flatmates dads friend, nothing 'official', who is a solicitor wrote them) and we got our deposit back in full plus a £50 'goodwill' bonus. It's a total con, stick to your guns.
 
Ahleckz said:
One letting agency once tried to bill us £550 to recarpet one room. 2 solicitor letters later (my flatmates dads friend, nothing 'official', who is a solicitor wrote them) and we got our deposit back in full plus a £50 'goodwill' bonus. It's a total con, stick to your guns.
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Just fired off an email to them asking for a receipt. :D
 
Also if I'm not mistaken they have to give you a chance to rectify issues yourself rather than just paying for work out of your deposit.
 
Caged said:
Also if I'm not mistaken they have to give you a chance to rectify issues yourself rather than just paying for work out of your deposit.
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They never contacted me. I moved out at the end of October last year so they've had plenty of time to get in contact with me.
 
Make sure they actually protected your deposit within one of the recognised schemes- one previous letting agent of ours tried to get away with this and it turned out they'd pocketed the deposit.

The fine for the offence is 3 times the original deposit, plus the deposit back, if it goes to court.
 
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