According to the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC), the cost of cleaning a home when the tenant leaves is the single biggest cause of landlord-tenant discord.
Although only 2% of tenancies end in a deposit dispute, the AIIC have found that when such a dispute does occur, 52% of the time it is due to an argument about cleaning up the property at the end of a tenancy.
A poll amongst landlords conducted by meetmyagent.co.uk explored concerns amongst landlords, and found that 73% of landlords found that their properties were returned to them in a poor condition when tenants leave, with only 27% feeling that homes were left in a good condition. Though just 5% of landlords thought that homes were a 'complete wreck' after handover, 40% of landlords claim to have needed to refurbish a property owing to the condition it was left in.
10% of landlords claim to have spent £2,500 or more on repairing a property to its initial condition at the end of a tenancy.
Landlords and tenants clash over cleaning issues
Speaking out on the findings, AIIC chair Pat Barber had this to say:
"Many tenants fail to leave their property in the same condition at check-out and are often very surprised when they are told that professional cleaning is required. Tenants rarely treat their rented property in the same way as they would a property they owned themselves. Unfortunately accidents do happen during a tenancy and tenants need to realise that they must take financial responsibility for things that are beyond normal wear and tear.
"Recently a tenant was outraged when she was told that the oven, which was listed as in clean condition at time of check in, was now very dirty and needed a deep professional clean. When this was explained at the end of the check-out inspection she commented that surely this is normal wear and tear, I had to cook food in it during the tenancy."
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