Cleaning rental accommodation

ilovesleep

What level of cleaning is required when moving from rental accommadation?

I'm giving my place a very good cleaning like cleaning presses and wiping down doors, and appliances. It seems as if when I think I'm done I fine something else,

Do I have to dust down the top of door frames and lampshades?

mikemac1

Same condition you got it in realy

When I move into a place I take lots of photos of every press, corner and area. Photos of everywhere, only takes a few minutes and then save them on the laptop and forget about them.
Then moving out do the exact same.

When it comes to deposit time protect thyself

Yeah, do the door frames and lampshades, that's not difficult.
Washing the curtains makes a big difference too. Toss them in the machine if they are not the heavy kind.

antoinolachtnai

It should be clean enough that it doesn't need further cleaning before a new tenant comes in. (Unless the tenancy has been very short, the landlord will have to paint it, so there is not a lot of point spending a lot of time cleaning marks on the walls.)

lindascribbler

From point of view of landlord, find this an interesting query. The last time I cleaned up after a tenant (4 years renting):
I had to(before painting that is) steam clean filty, multi-stained carpets, remove smoke stains from light shades and ceiling surrounds, dig out mounds of rotten food & cutlery from behind cooker, a head of hair out of shower tray and threaten council on tenant before she actually got rid of her rubbish out of back garden.
There was no major damage in the house, so I paid her back deposit in full.
Just commenting that not all tenants are overly worried about how clean they leave a house.:rolleyes:

Duckjob

Just to clarify, the level of cleaning a tenant does or doesn't do on leaving should have nothing to do with return of deposit. Although some amateur landlords appear to think they can keep deposits for cleaning, they can't.

Having said that, basic manners and courtesy should see a tenant leaving the property in the same or better level of cleanliness than they got it.

antoinolachtnai

If you return a premises in a dirty state, you should not expect to get all of your deposit back. Cleaning is not the same as the repair of wear and tear.

Duckjob

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

If you return a premises in a dirty state, you should not expect to get all of your deposit back. Cleaning is not the same as the repair of wear and tear.

Of course you should, legally. The law is very clear on this. A LL has no right to make deductions other than to DAMAGE beyond normal wear and tear. Dirt that can be removed/cleaned doesn't fall into that category.

Morally - is another question. It's an imperfect world full of imperfect landlords and imperfect tenants.

antoinolachtnai

The law is anything but clear.

However 12(4)(a)(ii) of RTA 2004 seems to say something quite different and there is no specific exception for cleaning costs that I can see.

Duckjob

Ok then,

http://www.citizensinformation.ie, which is an official state website gives it's interpretation of the Act as :

Obligations of a landlord
As a landlord, you must:

...

Return deposits to the tenant (unless the tenant has not paid the rent or has damaged the dwelling)

From Threshold.ie, which is another state sponsored resource:

The landlord must return promptly any deposit paid by the tenant. The deposit may be retained or deductions made where there are 1) rent arrears or 2) costs incurred to repair damage above normal wear and tear.

Thing about cleaning is - a landlord can, unpalletable through it may be, roll up their sleeves and clean the place themselves. They can make the choice to pay for that cleaning process, but they're not entitled to make that choice with money that doesn't belong to them.


As I said I would always leave a property clean. I know there are plenty of feckless tenants who leave the place in a tip. On the other hand though, some landlords really take the p**s with deposits thinking they can hang on to it and not even provide receipts for costs they claim to have incurred.

mikemac1

Common enough for landlords to threaten to bring in contract cleaners. And these charge outrageous fees, it's not some cleaner coming in on a decent wage, the contractors can charge over forty euro an hour.
That's more then a tradesmen on union rate

Or at least that's what the landlords note states

Every student complex I've ever stayed in have had my deposit decimated for contract cleaners.
Since you're sharing with people you don't know if they cigarette burn the carpet, they still hit everyones deposit, even if you don't smoke

I've never failed to get a deposit back from a landlord but did get threatened with the contract cleaners. Just a standard note when I handed in notice, the landlord hadn't even inspected the place but I was warned if it wasn't clean then my deposit was paying for contractors.

And I was ordered to clean outside the windows, do landlords expect tenants to buy or hire a ladder or a lad as a window cleaner? :rolleyes:

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

(Unless the tenancy has been very short, the landlord will have to paint it,

Doesn't happen often at all in my experience

antoinolachtnai

So you have nothing in the statute and no binding precedent to back up your point?