Over $2000 to clean a house!? (wood floors, apartments, appliances) - City-Data Forum

daniellenbosley · 07-28-2012, 05:53 AM

Long story short- a couple weeks ago, our landlord examined our home as we are moving out and said our $2300 security deposit would be returned to us with no problem as long as we cleaned before we left and filled the oil tank since it was full when we moved in. I've sat patiently watching as they have people coming in and out of the home servicing the oil tanks, water softening system, doing landscaping, etc- all things that they were supposed to do for us for the past two years and never did. I figured- it's not worth saying anything now. Hey- the landlord even called a couple weeks ago and gave our new landlords a great reference about us. About a week ago they came over with Servpro to get a cleaning estimate. I didn't even know Servpro cleaned houses. I thought they only did water/fire damage cleaning, mold, etc. Apparently not. The house in question is average. Nothing fancy about it or difficult to clean really. I didn't really like that they were getting a quote for cleaning services when we are living in mayhem here, boxes everywhere, the house is not tidy, etc, but when I overheard them discussing the exterior of the home I figured it was for cleaning of things they didn't expect me to do. The landlord told me after that I didn't need to bother cleaning appliances etc- that Servpro was going to do it. I thought this was odd. Cleaning appliances was always a responsibility of mine as a tenant before. Nothing was said about it being at our cost. After all, we were already told we were getting our deposit back. Now I get an email today that the condition of the housekeeping in our home is "horrible" apparently and it's going to take Servpro a crew of 4 people two whole days to clean it for $2240?! Does this seem insane to anyone else?

Facts on the house:
3000 sf
475 sf of carpet will be scrubbed but that was only $150 of bill
dusting of window sills and a few sets of miniblinds
wipe down walls/baseboards
2.5 baths
clean kitchen
wash wood floors on one level
REALLY? $2240?! And they magically now want my $2300 deposit to pay for it!

bavariantransplant · 07-28-2012, 06:07 AM

Lived all over the globe, rented many long term and short term apartments, unless your an incredible slob of severe intensity, you are being bamboozled.

daniellenbosley · 07-28-2012, 06:15 AM

"Lived all over the globe"- lucky you!!

We've managed to live all over the US coastlines between the two of us but that's as far as we've gotten so far. I just found a maid service online outside of Boston that services in NH too. For a general cleaning for "move-out" purposes- they clean the first eight rooms (we have 14) for $175. I can't believe this is happening three days before we are set to move out and not at all sure what my options are or if I have any, but thanks for the support. I know New England is more expensive than most places all around to live in. But this is outrageous.

bignhfamily · 07-28-2012, 08:39 AM

If it indeed would take 4 people 2 full days to clean the house than your talking about $35 per hour. This estimate is a bit high. The going rate for self employed house cleaners is more like $25 per hour. Looks like you should be paying more like $1600.
More than likely, ServPro's estimate is way out of reality. They usually are. The landlord probably gets a free estimate from them and then hires a flunky to go in and do the job for next to nothing. Thus pocketing your deposit and filling his greedy pockets.

Can't you just do the cleaning yourself?

daniellenbosley · 07-28-2012, 10:35 AM

Clearly. I've received two other estimates so far. One from a cleaning company near Boston for $650 and one from a local woman for $240. Obviously $2400 (what servpro ends up costing per my landlord after carpet cleaning is added in) is not the going rate. To make matters even better- my SO contacted the landlord to inquire about getting an itemized list of what all is included in this $2400 fee and she flipped out and hung up on him. I emailed her husband and he wants to "talk" later. LOL No talking required sir- if you have time to email me three times concerning a time to call, you have time to send me the itemized list.

SuperSparkle928 · 07-29-2012, 08:05 AM

That over-$2K quote is outrageous. (unless the place really got trashed). If not trashed, you should ask if all the walls will be covered in gold leaf gilding.
Granted this was a couple of years ago, but when I sold one of the houses in NH, the realtor found a professional cleaning company, that for about $600 would clean the 12K ft^2 house.
(BTW, ServPro is not on the top of the list for cleaning companies, IMHO).

daniellenbosley · 07-29-2012, 08:26 AM

That's what I'm finding. I've contacted many other companies and cleaning persons and the highest quote I have received is 650. The landlord is not being forthcoming with an itemized list of what he wants done, nor what is included in Servpro's quote and he seems rather peeved that we want one.

Mac_Muz · 07-29-2012, 12:51 PM

Maybe the LL just wants your deposit.... and something on top. I would tell him this won't fly and you will seek a lawyer instead. I have never heard of such BS in NH.

And since none of this happened during your term, there is nothing he has to prove anything was done ............ever.

arctichomesteader · 07-29-2012, 01:06 PM

Take pictures of every square inch of the place for documentation. You might need to get a lawyer involved.

C2ShiningC · 07-29-2012, 01:17 PM

Just FYI, here is the NH Legal Aid page on security deposits: http://nhlegalaid.org/SecurityDeposit He is required to itemize deductions from your deposit.

I had this happen to me once, same thing, LL created items so that he could keep every cent of my deposit, which was $1200. I was too sick to fight it at the time, I wish I had. I think you should definitely let your LL know immediately that you will be taking him to court - that may change his mind.

Good luck in whatever you do.