Thanks for your reply. I’m not sure why we should have to have the carpets professionally cleaned. This has always been something that we have agreed to in advance with previous letting agents, and we have always moved in to properties that are clean and tidy. It definitely wasn’t done before we moved in and to be honest, the carpet needs replacing - it's gross. How can they ask us to do something that wasn’t agreed to before? What is the point in having a contract if they're just going to make additional demands anyway? I deleted the part in my original post about gardening, because we do do that anyway lol, but it just narks me that we are expected to leave it in a superior condition to when we moved in. Even the wheelie bins were full when we moved in, and yet they’re expecting us to empty ours, even though it isn’t bin week the week we move out!

Hello, We have just given notice to vacate our property after after being here almost 3 years. We signed a 6 month AST back in 2012 and have been on a rolling contract ever since. About 9 months ago we received a letter informing us that our tenancy was being transferred to new agents as ours were retiring abroad, and have since had several inspections from the new agents, but signed no new contracts or agreements. Our contract with the original agents was quite basic and reflected the state of the property. We asked about paying a higher deposit as we had pets (something we’ve always done before) and having the property professionally cleaned when we leave (also always done before) but were told that it was not necessary, and the contract reflects this as nowhere does it state either. The inventory actually describes the carpets and walls as “grubby, stained and marked.” Under "checking out" it says that we need to leave the property clean and tidy, and ensure items listed in the inventory are returned to their original position. Thats all. We have now received a checklist from the new agents of things to be done prior to vacating, and it includes getting the carpets professionally cleaned and proving so with a receipt. Do we have to do this? We have no contract with this agent, and I appreciate they have high standards, but the previous agents and landlord didn’t and I don’t think it’s fair to expect us to make good marks and stains that were there when we moved in. It hadn’t even been dusted or cleaned when we moved in – it was awful. We will obviously clean from top to bottom and leave it in a much better state than when we moved in. Similarly, we asked for permission to decorate and kept colours neutral as requested – light blue that used to be dark brown, and white that used to be lemon. The checklist asks that we return all walls to their original colour. It also asks that we clean the windows externally – which has never been done by the looks of it! Are we within our rights to question these requests? Or is it a case of, they have our deposit so have got us over a barrel?