So I was not sure whether I should publish this but I guess more than one could find this helpful. We had to hand over our apartment on Friday and decided that I would go alone because the woman who was our renting agent speaks Spanish (gret I know). I have always had a very friendly relationship with her but the minute I stepped into the building she lookd upset and let's face it a bit b**chy. At this point I should tell you that we had agreed on paying almost 1000 CHF in cleaning services directly to the agency as it was on our contract and were happy we did not have to do any of the cleaning ourselves. Still, MIL came over t help us and did a pretty good job in leaving the house actually decent.
We went upstairs and she started looking around, she complained about some stuff outside our apartment and I told her that stuff was not ours (which was true)...she went around pointing to the painter what he had to fix, I said we had broken a glass in the bathroom she said OK.

Then she opened the closet in the hall here the clothes rack was sort of bent and asked me "so you put a lot of heavy stuff here?" I said "no it was like that when we moved in"..she laughed and I wanted to kick her.
She was being just too impersonal and then came the time to open the oven...yes it was not clean...She said in a very nasty way "so you never cleaned the oven?" to which I responded "Yes I did, but since I just paid 1000 CHF to have the apartment cleaned I am not doing any favors" she said "that is not normal" and I responded "well I do not know what normal is in CH"...
I thought she was very rude but I was proud I responded accordingly, after that she apologized (I know ) and said well this is not really normal since the oven has to be cleaned and I said OK...we agreed on what we would have to pay (even though we had paid 1000 CHF already I just wanted to get this over with!) signed some papers and we discussed how and when we would have our deposit back...whcih she told me since we ad agreed it coul dbe done very soon and she would send me some paperwork to sign with my husband.
So what I learned is this: The bully will only go as far as you let him/her and as soon as I let her know I was not taking any of her cr@p she totally reverted to normalcy...so speak up for yourselves it will pay off.

When you paid in advance for the cleaning was it done before you handed over the keys - so you could check the work - or after?

i guess i will try to arrange the same thing when i move out. agree that i will pay a fixed amount for cleaning and make it clear that i will not clean the flat before moving out as the money for the cleaners is for them to, well, clean the flat! luckily, my deposit is only 1600 chf so hopefully can't be worse than that...

Kind of strange - but yeah - if you paid them 1000 CHF to clean, why would they not clean the oven too? Kind of strange, seems like you should not have to pay more again.

My concern is our kitchen, it was totally new when we moved in so there is no way I will be able to give an oven back as new. I still don't understand how cleaning fees are so expensive fees here.. Is it like that in other countries?

I am in the same situation as you and there is no way I can give the oven back as new. It will be unreasonable and totally ridiculous of them to expect a brand new oven if you've been living in the apartment for say, 5 years.

Not insane cleaning prices - well if you pay professionals, but most of the time in the U.S., you can pretty much clean it yourself, and no issue really, as long as the place is not destroyed/damaged

Good luck Angela, I got screwed by my landlord who did the opposite. Laughed and joked during the inspection and gave the impression that everything was OK, but then hit us with a CHF 7,500 bill. This cleaning before the cleaners come is called Besenrein (i.e. half cleaned), and if you don't hand it back in that state they claim the right to charge extra.

All good lessons to learn for the future

Nope Suzy, the cleaning was supposed to take place after I left the compromise was that I would leave the appartment reasonably clean, which I did.

OMGWTFBBQ? Actually I had the verbal agreement that the amount we agreed on (400 CHF for paiting and repairing the holes in the walls from a few paintings on the wall and the cleaning of the oven) was to be substracted from the deposit and so I would get the rest of the deposit back, we signed and I have the copies...hope she does not try to screw me even further!

Handed over my apartment today. No (serious) remarks and I will have my deposit (3 x rent) back in my bank account within a few days.

I did the cleaning together with my GF and her cleaning lady and in total we spend less than 25 hours.

I am happy

Hate you ()

What...the....?

Sorry I am not getting this concept or its logic at all. I mean, if professional cleaners are coming in to make sure that its spic and span at the end of it all, why do I have to do a semi-clean? Seems like an unnecessary extra step which causes the tenant extra hassle and stress on top of moving out. Can someone please enlighten me?

Seriously I think I am just better off not moving out - less headache lol

Many landlords here must jump up and down in glee when they get a departing tenant - sounds like a sizable number of them view it as an opportunity to shakedown their customers and insurance companies alike for as much as they can say without laughing. Worse is that it seems this game is accepted to some extent by the insurance companies.

You live and learn. Prior to moving here I would have expected more from Schweizer Qualitat.

Yes it is, but my 1000 CHF went to the actual cleaning, I was charged 6 CHF per square meter

At our last place, we were going to clean ours ourselves but unfortunately I found I had to go on a last minute trip to the U.S.

My wife cleaned it herself. The agency were amazed how clean it was and we got all our deposit back quickly too

Well.....being a non-smoker, non-cooker and not-being there a lot kins guy helps a great deal. The filter in the kitchen ventilation was spot clean as I have maybe cooked 5 times in 19 month

Does anyone have the name of a Zurich cleaning service they would actually recommend upon moving? Thanks.

Loads of recommendations on the forum. Go to "Search", "Advanced Search", then put in cleaning zurich and search the "Jobs offered" subforum. Those will be ads for cleaning services. Look for an ad which is followed up by somebody's personal recommendation.

Good luck!