help! we are due to move out of our house at the end of july and have only been in 7months hence when we moved in the cellar was flooded which we dried out, and the house was still occupied by all of the previous tenents belongings ie we could not us the office as there was all their books laptops ect inside, the house was not immaculate as we cleaned it when we moved in, but for some reason they expect us to pay over 1,500francs to deep clean the house including the rooms we were unable to use!!! Any advice?? Is it a law that you have to deep clean te property?

What do you have as a record of the state of the house before/after ?

Was the rent reduced because of not being able to use the rooms ?

Do you have a proper lease agreement and did you pay a deposit ?

Do you have their demands in writing ?

You moved in with the cellar flooded and the stuff belonging to previous tenant. What kind of contract did you sign? Read it very carefully-anything you signed as being ok that wasn't may come back to rest with you.
We've moved into less than perfect flats and learnt the hard way...
Eventually got the hang of it though...
Read your contract now, better late than never!

They might be able to expect a clean appartment but I don't think they can insist on being paid, you did it yourselves before, why not do it again?

basically we signed a short lease contract to sublet a house as the tennents were working in saudi arabia, we gave a 2,500chf deposit and have we now given our notice in to leave as we have found the expectations of the tennents too difficult for example they come back regularly inspect the property even looking in the fridge!! then they go to our bedroom and pick up the books they have left when we are in the house!! All their belongings are here so they often pop in and out to get their stuff invading our privacy!, but the main decision to leave was when their friends who live next doo rblamed our dog for the dog poo that was about 6 doors down the road bearing in mind the poo was huge and our dog is a little pug dog lol would be impossible plus we always pick it up but now wev decided to move they expect us to deep clean mega pissed off : (

It is a sub letting then? No you don't have to "Deep clean" before you leave. But you have to clean oven etc. to the Swiss standard.

You have another 3 months there. They have treated you badly. Deposit is Fr 2'500 . Don't pay them anymore rental money.

They might Betreib you for the rent. You Betreib them for the deposit. Join the Mieterverband / Mietverein.

You have written 'help' in the title so I presume you want some advice or guidance as to your possible reactions to these demands for final cleaning costs. I've moved this from Complaints Corner to Housing in General as it also could serve as a warning to others to make sure that they have a contract and things are clear when sub-letting is involved.

This is job number 1 for you.

Do as suggested above. That is not a sublet as I know it! Looking in the fridge!!!

Where is the deposit being held? If it's in one of those secure accounts that neither party can access without the signature of both parties then you are probably in with a fighting chance but if you paid it to the original tenants directly I think you can kiss it goodbye.

It sounds like highly unreasonable behaviour, particularly them accessing the apartment without giving you notice so you might be able to take it up with the renters' association (Mieterveband).

The other thing is that if you signed the contract at the beginning you basically accepted the apartment in the state it was. The fact that the contract probably says you have to clean it spotlessly when you leave was technically something you agreed to.

I am confused. You rented from the tenants, not the house owners? Are the owners of the house aware of the situation? How can they regularly come in just like that if they are overseas? Or are they back and need somewhere to live so there are making your life a misery.

I can't imagine that you took the house over after it was deep cleaned if their belongings are there. There is a limited amount of cleaning that can be done when a property is not empty. Did you do a protokoll (inspection report) when you took the house over? What kind of rental contract did you sign and how is the deposit held?

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thanks guys we have appreciated all of your advice, we are going to move out and clean the house ourselves and leave the property as we
found it minus the flood lol : ) so we refuse tro pay the deep clean as it is probably cleaner now than when we moved in!!!!

If you join the Mietverband or Mietverein, you can ask for a witness to be present at the handover, there is a fee of course, but it is money well spent as you don't seem to know your rights.

You can also use the services of the Mieterverband without being a member, you just pay me. There are also a number of business that offer tenant related services, at least in the Aargau region.