€495 cleaning charges!!?? any other estate agent complaints?

darklow

Right, me and another guy moved out of our house in cork recently, and we cleaned it pretty well before we left, no rubbish, food or dirt anywhere, but when we moved in first, the place was a kip, black mould growing in the fridge etc that we had to clean before the house was liveable.

i paid both the closing bills for the esb and the gas and handed the receipts of payment into the estate agents office, and when i hadnt heard anything back for 2 weeks, i rang them again and they said they were waiting for the cleaning bill 2 come back, they took 495 euro to clean the place! there might have been a bit of dust on the skirtingboards or something, but that much?

i told them the place looked like a sty when we moved in but since we didnt complain or take pictures, they say we dont have any proof!

do we have any right to complain or do we just chalk it up as another reason to hate estate agents?

bugler

I'd go to the PRTB over this. Thing is, that will probably take a while. So let the EA know you're prepared to do this before actually doing it, see if that gets you anywhere.

The deposit is not there to pay for a good contract cleaning after you've gone (and I'll bet the EAs aren't too concerned with sniffing out the best value when it's on you). It's there as security against damage or loss to the LL.

I think it's common courtesy to tidy and clean a place up when you're leaving. Any painting, repairs or other stuff due to normal wear and tear isn't cause to raid your deposit.

Ste.phen

Did you take pics of everything before you moved out?
If you did, there's a good chance you could claim the cleaning charges were excessive.

(Which they almost certainly were, but good luck proving that without evidence that they didn't need to spend 500 cleaning it)

BeansMeansHynes

http://www.prtb.ie/disputes.htm

You can go through these guys, the Private Residential Tenancies Board.

25 Euro Application fee.

Had the same problem last week with my letting agent. They really are a shower of chancers! You can bring your landlord/landlady and also the letting agent through this board. You need to get your letting agent's T Reg (I think it is) Number off them.

Also, write a letter to your landlady and letting agent, setting out the position of the house, the state it was in when you moved in and all the cleaning that you did before you left the house etc.

Hope this is of some help

Ste.phen

Also,RE: what bugler said:
There's a good chance you'd get the full deposit back, but again there's the issue of proving there wasn't any damage

cinneide

€495 is sounds hugely excessive. Even if they hired a profession cleaner, I can't imagine even the worst jobs would cost more than €200.

I've had some experiences with estate agents/landlords before and generally I've found them reasonable, but everyone has heard a few horror stories and this sounds like it could be one of them.

What does the agent say they had to do the gaff? Nothing like replace bathroom fixtures, or carpets or re-upholster furniture, right? Maybe Threshold (the tenant's rights organisation) can help you.

BeansMeansHynes

darklow any chance you could PM me the name of the letting/estate agent to see if it is the same one that I had the trouble with?

You also need to get receipts for the cleaning and if they say it was cash in hand it sounds a bit dodge!

Only bad thing is that going through the PRTB takes ages!

mikemac

Would it be an idea to insist on being present when the landlord/agent inspects the place?
And you can hand over your keys and get a cheque for your deposit at the same time.

And if there is a dispute over what is normal wear and tear then it can be discussed there and then.

I've always preferred doing it like this, cuts down on letters going back and forth and everything can be sorted easily and quickly

darklow

cool thanks man, ya d other fella is ringing them now, were gona threaten them with prtb before doin anything, thats what they did tho, contract cleaning, there's no way that was all to pay for the little bit of dust we left there.

thanks for the help, id forgotten bout the prtb thing, we were a bit wary of signing it when we did but glad we did now!

they were complaining about cobwebs and dead flies 2 for feck sake, how are we supposed to prevent flies from dying?!

darklow

twas choices properties, i know pple dont like names being used but if it helps somebody else being prepared f#~k it! il go throught the prtb i think, is there a number i can ring to see if we have a complaint?

we didnt take pictures, wish we had now but we had too much faith in human nature! The estate agents did which they said they would use, pain in the hole! dont care how long it takes either, its about the principal more then the money itself 2. is this EA shafting other pple 2?

BigglesMcGee

Always take pictures before you leave, get the agent to sign and date the pics and insist on a copy of the invoice for any cleaning bills.

If the PRTB were to look at pictures they could reconsile the charge with the pics and the agaent wouldnt want that if they were screwing you.

I head terrible trouble with an agent in Stillorgan a few years ago. Charged us €250 for cleaning when the place was spotless. Charged us for connection of the landline even though we never used it or got it connected before we moved in.

darklow

well if the agent has photos im gona get them off them and show the prtb, hopefully dey will agree that its a ridiculous amount to charge for a bit of dirt

it was the same with student acc in waterford, charged us for cleaning the water marks off the taps!

thanks for all your replies! if it gets resolved il post the results, might make other pple challenge what they're being charged by greedy estate agents!

DonJose

darklow wrote: »

they took 495 euro to clean the place!

I'm not sure what cleaners get paid per hour but even at €20/hour that means 25 hours or 3 days cleaning at 8 hours a day. Ask for a copy of the bill since you are the one paying for it.

BeansMeansHynes

Not the same Letting Agent that I am having trouble with!

You should definitely get the receipt for the cleaning and also a breakdown of charges. How many hours, how much per hour and also a breakdown of what exactly was cleaned.

Keep fighting and let us know how you get on.

Victor

That sort of money is probably what a cleaning company charges for one person for an entire week.

mikemac

DonJose wrote: »

I'm not sure what cleaners get paid per hour but even at €20/hour that means 25 hours or 3 days cleaning at 8 hours a day. Ask for a copy of the bill since you are the one paying for it.

Average rate would be around €20 but up to €30.
The cleaner may only get half of this and the agency takes the rest.

If you employ someone directly, there are savings to be had

Irishcrx

Had something similar happen in a house I lived in baldoyle, we were charged 350 on a pro cleaning service even though the place was fine , I wrote a strong e-mail to the head manager giving out hell and asking for recepits for everything they did, by law we are entitled to original recepits from the contractors not the EA, mentioned a few other items and problems, 24 hours later the money was back in my account.

mikemac

Irishcrx wrote: »

by law we are entitled to original recepits from the contractors not the EA, mentioned a few other items and problems, 24 hours later the money was back in my account.

Cool, fair play!

Don't spend time looking for links but have you an idea what law that is based on or where I could get that quote? Might be needing it

tonyfillony

darklow what ever happened about this. Im renting of the same agent and wouldnt mind a heads up if they are going to do the same to me when i move out

darklow

Hey tonyfillony, sorry it took so long to get back about this, these things take a while to resolve tho, i've gone to threshold about it and they're helping me file a case against the agency through the PRTB, but they told me it mite take up to 8 or 9 months to go to court!

id advise you to take pictures of every bit of dirt soon as you can, we should have taken pics of the state the house was in when we moved in, nobody does that tho! itl be our word against theirs so im not holdin me breath but even if we dont get that much or any money back, we can warn other pple!

estate agents will f~%k you if they can, and use your deposit to contract clean their house, unless you take pictures of what it was like when you moved in, and report any damage, no matter how small.

DONT TRUST THEM!!!!!

il update this when something happens, mite be quite a while tho.