Our client lived in a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in Hampstead, NW3, with a monthly rent set at £4850. Their security deposit was £7275 – not a trivial sum to lose.
Getting your security deposit back at the end of a tenancy isn’t always easy. Sometimes, agencies and landlords will try to tie your hands and withhold a part (or all) of your deposit. In those cases, it’s especially important to know how to handle the situation.
Our client lived in a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house in Hampstead, NW3, with a monthly rent set at £4850. Their security deposit was £7275 – not a trivial sum to lose.
Standing to lose more than £7000, our client decided to pay for a Professional End of Tenancy Cleaning Service and hired us. We charged them £329, or approximately 5% of the security deposit to mitigate the risk. However, after we were done with the service, it became clear the letting agent was not acting in good conscience.
The day after we performed the service, the letting agent contacted us and told us the job wasn’t completed up to standard. Cleaning technicians sometimes miss a thing or two – it happens. No one is perfect. That’s why end of tenancy cleaning is a guaranteed service. But what was strange in this case was the letting agent outright refused to give us any details.
We offered to come back and do a re-clean, anyway. They once again refused. Instead, they informed us they would charge our client for the re-clean and hire a different cleaning company (their partners).
We didn’t come down with the last shower so we immediately knew what going on. The letting agent was taking us and our client for a ride but we would not have it.
After fighting tooth and nail, we convinced the letting agent to let our cleaners come back and do a re-clean. Finally, they agreed, but they set a time that didn’t work for us. We knew we weren’t going to get a better chance, so we had to work with what we had.
Even though it wasn’t easy, we made the appointment. The problematic areas? A hair and a couple of breadcrumbs were missed in the kitchen. The technicians removed them in less than a minute.
In the end, our client got their full security deposit back. If they hadn’t hired us, they would have lost a part, if not all of their security deposit. That would’ve been £7275 down the drain. However, thanks to their foresight, it all ended well.