Cleaning Costs

checknraise

Hey,

I left my previous apartment at the end of Feb and the landlord is looking to hold back €100 of my deposit for cleaning costs. In my opinion my roomate and I left the apartment pretty much spotless and after spending half a day cleaning the place. The landlord's issue is there was 1 small stain inside the fridge which we missed and few stains inside the oven. The oven was cleaned twice but I can never get a oven spotless!

The landlord would also have had maximum 1 hour before the new tenants moved in, so I find it ridiculous to charge €100 for such a simple job.

Where do I stand with disputing the cost?

D3PO

absolutely dispute it. There is no basis for this deduction.

Raise a dispute with the PRTB, given what you have mentioned in your post, i think you could be very confident of recieving a ruling in your favour.

checknraise

Thanks, I think I will out of principle. I would have probably been naive enough to take a €50 hit for the cleaning but for €100 they are having a laugh!

Is there any basis for the landlord to withhold any of the deposit for any of the problems I outlined above?

djimi

If you left the oven excessively dirty, to the point where it requires professional cleaning, then the landlord might have a case.

Its worth bearing in mind that the landlord must provide reciepts/invoices for any deductions they attempt to take from the deposit. They cannot deduct for any work which they carry out themselves, and cannot pull figures out of thin air (which by the sounds of it is exactly what they have done).

Did you document (with photographic evidence) the state of the property prior to your leaving?

checknraise

Unfortunately not, we never had any issue with the landlord up to this point so we didn't anticipate there being any problems. I have never had any issues getting my deposit back previously but I have definitely learned my lesson for the future!

There was one small stain inside the oven door left which I just couldn't get rid of but it was generally pretty clean.You would barely be able to notice the stain to be honest.

I have asked for invoices for the work carried out however the landlord has advised me that he can only send me a breakdown of the costs!

djimi

checknraise wrote: »

I have asked for invoices for the work carried out however the landlord has advised me that he can only send me a breakdown of the costs!

If they cant provide anything official then they cant deduct; its as simple as that.

D3PO

checknraise wrote: »

I have asked for invoices for the work carried out however the landlord has advised me that he can only send me a breakdown of the costs!

lol the PRTB will have have a field day. No invoice no deduction simple.

irlirishkev

What you've described sounds like general wear and tear.. and very light wear and tear at that.
The LL's having a laugh.

Rasmus

If the LL provides any kind of invoice for the oven cleaning then PRTB will accept that. He will have months to create one too even if it wasn't done. Hopefully the threat of making a complaint will make your LL reimburse you for at least some of the cost. Going to PRTB is a lot of hassle for 75 euro (after you pay the 25 fee) and that is assuming you win free and clear.