Question about leaving a rental property

[seren_ccd]

Okay, I have a question about something that is really, really bugging me.

When I left the house I was renting, I made sure to clean it. I scrubbed the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, refrigerator, vacuumed, etc. I did everything that I could in a limited amount of time and with only my two hands.

Was it professional-grade clean? Probably not, but it was certainly liveable.

My former landlady is planning to take out £360 out of my rental deposit for the cleaning of two professional cleaners over the course of two days. Basically, she's charging me for a professional cleaning.

This is not sitting well with me. I was under the impression that landlords were obliged to clean the rental property under their own steam. There was no damage and I don't think comparing the job I did with that of professional cleaners is fair.

What does everyone else think?

Comments

[silveronthetree.livejournal.com]

There's a brief guide to tenancy deposits in the UK here http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/housing_e/housing_fact_sheets.htm. I've rarely had money taken out of my deposit for cleaning/damage (I do a pretty thorough clean before I leave a house) and when I have it was never as much as that. I'd check the details about cleaning in your tenancy agreement. How easy it will be to challenge it may depend whether your deposit was held in a deposit protection scheme but I've never really looked into it.

[seren-ccd.livejournal.com]

I've emailed my landlady and said I'd be happy to go halfsies with her on it, but that I wasn't sure the full whack was proportionate. And yes, it's in the deposit scheme. Argh.