End of Tenancy Cleaning

A question about : End of Tenancy Cleaning

I am just about to move out of a rented flat.
They are owned by a charitable association, and managed by a big property company.
I have been in it for 8 years.
When I moved in, it was newly decorated, new carpets, new kitchen and white goods.
Normal practice when people move out seems to be to gut the place, paint and replace carpets.
I emailed the lettings manager to ask what I need to do, and she emailed me to say she didn’t know what redecoration would need to be done until after the inspection, but to ensure all my property is removed and that it is left in a clean condition.

I have since had 2 emails from one of the lettings administrators, (about utilities, and check out booking) but both emails mentioning the flat must be professionally cleaned as per my tenancy agreement.

In my last flat, the professional clean we had done was woeful, and I had to do it again myself.
This time I have been really thorough, and am ensuring it is spotless, but assumed that my clean would be of an equivalent standard of a so called “professional Clean”. Oven/ fridge freezer/walls/floors/windows etc all spotless.
The only thing that is not, is an area on the (beige) lounge carpet that has had a lot of traffic. I had a rug on the floor, and the space between the rug and the sofa (about the length of the sofa )is a bit grubby looking. The carpet has been cleaned (With a vax) twice in the last couple of weeks, but it still looks worn and a bit dirty compared to the rest.

Do you think I will be penalised for not having had a cleaning company in?
I should mention that the keys go back on Friday, and the check out is Monday morning, so I don’t have a lot of time!

Best answers:

• Who determines what a professional standard of cleaning is? There's no UK Council of Cleaners, no Cleaning Guild of Great Britain. It's one of those tenancy clauses that's pretty meaningless. I too have paid for cleaners in the past and found the standard of cleaning absolutely woeful (that said my current cleaner is really good and probably does a better job than me).
  I wouldn't worry too much about the carpet. You've lived there for 8 years and the area of carpet you're talking about is in a high traffic area of the house. You cannot be penalised for fair wear and tear of the property during your tenancy and what you describe sounds like fair wear and tear.
• Professional clean just means to a really good standard.
  Cleaning companies can be set up in one day and trading that day with no qualifications at all. There isn't an industry body that they must be registered with.
  You can do it all yourself to a standard that you yourself would expect if you were moving into the property the next day.
  If you can't clean the carpet and can't get someone in to clean in it then you may be expected to pay to restore it's condition. If it's just fair wear and tear due to the high traffic then you aren't responsible for it. Try the vax again maybe with a higher quality carpet cleaner in the water or call a carpet cleaning company who has industrial cleaning machines who should at the very least make it look clean.
• It is basically meaningless. Even if the clause is theoretically enforceable, even if you break it, there is no loss if the property is clean, so there cannot be a claim.
  Though sometimes the easiest way to deal with it is to get your mate to become a sole trader for one day, issue you a receipt, and then 'employ' you as their cleaner. You're then as professional as any other cleaner out there.
• * Deposits
• Thanks all, I'll have another go at the carpet and see what happens!
• Good luck lovely. X
• What it probably really means is that if you don't use the agency's favourite cleaning company (i.e. one that gives them a kickback) they will make a grab for your deposit. As long as it's in as good a condition as documented on the check-in report, you should win any dispute about the deposit.
  In the past, when moving in to a rental place, if they had a proper inventory done by an independent inventory clerk, I made sure that if the place wasn't completely spotless the clerk would write "not cleaned to a professional standard" or something to that effect on the check-in report. Then when you come to leave, and the agent sends the inevitable snotty letter about professional cleaning, you can politely tell them you intend to return the property in the condition documented at check-in, nothing more.