The Covid-19 pandemic has made professional cleaning services in the UK (and to some point worldwide) more popular than any other private service. Hygiene has become a priority number one, and the health industry has become more engaged in cleaning.
However, while hospitals have started paying more attention to cleanliness due to the severe speed of the coronavirus spread, ordinary people seem to look for professional cleaning services in the UK for one completely different reason.
It’s the recent growth of disputes registered between tenants and their landlords. There’s no more popular professional cleaning service nowadays than the end of tenancy cleaning. And it seems that it’s all about money again.
Read on to find out in detail why deposit disputes in the UK are on the rise.
What exactly does the deposit cover?
The end of tenancy cleaning service is identical to many other professional cleaning services, including the after-party or seasonal spring cleaning.
However, these cannot compete with the end of lease professional assistance. There’s no cash at the table or risk if you don’t clean after yourself in the early Saturday after-party hours or if you start the new season in a mess.
The average tenancy deposit, though, has become quite higher lately. Everyone – from the landlords, themselves, the letting agencies, and the tenants confirm this information.
Right now, the increase in the average tenancy deposit amount seems to be more sensitive in the entire UK, although we’ve read the same disturbing facts in Ireland.
Why do the dispute increases?
Let’s go back to the end of tenancy cleaning.
As you know, it’s one of your primary duties as a tenant. You can see it written down in your lease contract. Probably you haven’t read it, but it’s also said that if you don’t put the property back into its presentable condition, you will lose your tenancy deposit.
Your property needs mainly some cleaning, although if you were there in your student years, some repairs might be in demand, too.
We have read in the recent stats that 9 of 10 tenants from the UK lose their lease deposits precisely because of the end of tenancy cleaning. Or, to be more specific – because there wasn’t any cleaning. Add in the claim that up to 3 in 10 Brits are at risk of becoming homeless in 2023 due to the increased cost of living, and things get really worrisome.
The main reason for such disputes during the end of tenancy cleaning inspection
What landlords add to specify these stats is that people these days are more aware of their tenant responsibilities. The property inspection is no longer a surprise for anybody. Tenants know about it and expect it before moving out. They also know what this inspection is about.
Through it, the landlord is supposed to see if the property is back in its normal primary condition. If not being cleaned, this condition cannot be reversed. And unfortunately, though, the tenants still lose their tenant deposits.
Why, in case they know what’s coming after giving a removal notice? It has turned out that the deposit disputes are usually arranged because tenants do clean but not well enough to please their landlords.
How to prevent these annoying and terrible disputes in future?
The deposit disputes are registered when the landlord finds something disturbing, like pests, during the inspection check. When the omission is related to cleaning, it is clear that the disinfection was a self-made DIY process.
But will working harder or scrubbing more energetically help you get away with the disputes? Not at all. These might only damage the surfaces and worsen the situation.
Instead, you can try the following options to prevent terrible disputes.
Check your tenancy agreement in advance
Know what you are required to do. Be prepared for what you will be asked to return after living in the property for years.
If you find something unrealistic from your landlord’s expectations or any other disturbing clause, do not sign the contract at all.
Regular inventory is a must
It will give you better organisation during the daily domestic cleaning and when the time for the end of tenancy cleaning comes. To have everything clear and settled with your landlord is critical.
To avoid such misunderstandings, simply arrange self-inactively some inventory checks once in a while.
Mid-tenancy inspections could reduce your cleaning job in the end
Unfortunately, some stains, spots, faded surfaces, and dusty countertops might be caused by common wear and tear.
On the other side, many tenants claim in their disputes that their landlords blamed them for stains that were made before the moving-in date.
Keep good communication with your landlord
Make sure to have good enough communication with him during this whole time. Thus, you can avoid really nasty disputes in the end.
You don’t have to be friends to establish a proper relationship with him.
Why anything under the professional level of end of tenancy cleaning is unacceptable to landlords?
Last but not least, according to the stats, less than 1% is the rate of disputes that have been registered after the professional end of tenancy cleaning.
All of these cases involve cleaning companies with no insurance or 48-hour warranty included in the contract. We are trying to tell you here that the landlords prefer their tenants to call local cleaning companies for the end of tenancy cleaning.
The landlords don’t want you to clean the property. If you do, you will probably become one of the deposit disputes for this year’s stats. Why? It is pretty obvious: professional cleaning results in a way better outcome than your sanitising efforts.
Final Words
It is still unknown whether there will be soon legalisation of the professional end of tenancy cleaning service as the only possible cleaning procedure after moving out of a rented property.
However, many experts, including the letting agencies, believe that such a step ahead in the industry would reduce the growth of deposit disputes, stabilise the recently worsening communication between today’s landlords and tenants, and make the moving out process more successful.