Wrong End-of-Tenancy Cleaning Charges When Moving Out
This recent post in Negotiator highlights the issues tenants can face when moving out of a rented property. A landlord/agent automatically charged a cleaning fee to ‘check out’ the property.
This case involved Foxtons, the landlord’s agent, in a London apartment. Still, this kind of story happens everywhere, particularly when cleaning large residential blocks around Birmingham city centre.
Drilling down into the details, there are three lessons to learn on this when looking at cleaning services, all beginning with the letter P:
1. The Principle is wrong
Whilst tenants need to leave their flats or houses in good, clean condition when they hand back the property, the landlord can’t automatically deduct such a cost from the tenant’s deposit if they believe they haven’t.
First, check the lease; most will not allow this.
However, under the Tenants Fees Act 2019, to which this case refers, landlords are no longer permitted to make these types of charges.
If the landlord has a genuine need for professional end-of-tenancy cleaning, this isn’t the way to address it. Instead, they need to request a deduction from the deposits afterwards, with the tenant having a say.
This is, of course, assuming the deposit is under a protected scheme, which is now a legal requirement for all short-term residential lets.
2. The Process needs refining
This store emphasised using a digital app to manage the checkout process when the tenant moves out, which required them to pay the fee BEFORE the checkout was completed in the app.
Therefore, this may be an issue with Foxton’s app not displaying items in the correct order. Even a dirty apartment that needs cleaning should not delay the checkout process; instead, it should raise a concern that should be addressed before or after the leave date.
It’s a great idea to have the technology, but it’s worth some common sense and, ideally, face-to-face contact when a tenant returns to the property.
3. The Payment should be checked
A final point is the payment due: £240.
That may not accurately reflect the actual cost of cleaning, and we always recommend that people seek a bespoke professional end-of-tenancy cleaning quote from a reputable cleaning business to make a fair assessment.
This can then be a fair deduction from the deposit, as mentioned above, rather than an actual online payment during the checkout process.
However, one word of advice to tenants seeking help before the lease ends is to handle it themselves. Once the correct prices are confirmed, clarify how and when payment is due, as this can often be overlooked in the busyness of moving out and can cause problems.
Moving out without the cost and hassle
In short, it’s worth being ahead of the game by agreeing on and arranging effective cleaning before moving out of a residential property. This prevents sudden fee increases afterwards.
If they are, immediately question rather than assume—and, as in this case, hopefully there is a way to resolve it without going to a Tribunal.
