Do tenants have to pay for professional cleaning when moving out in BC?

Why it matters

The confusion comes from tenancy agreements and landlords that say "must be professionally cleaned". The standard the Residential Tenancy Branch applies is the result, not who held the cloth. That cuts both ways. You are free to do it yourself, but "I wiped everything down" is not the test either.

Residential Tenancy Branch Policy Guideline 1 describes what a tenant is expected to clean. The Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre summarizes it as:

• inside and outside of the stove, fridge and dishwasher
• behind and under the fridge and stove, if they are on rollers
• floors and wall vents
• the insides of windows and doors, and the outside of sliding doors or balcony windows
• blinds and window coverings, walls and baseboards
• any fireplace you used

There is also a carpet rule that catches people. If your tenancy lasted a year or more, or you smoked or had pets, the carpets are expected to be steam cleaned or shampooed. A rented machine from the hardware store counts.

Here is where it goes wrong. A couple in a two-bedroom Clearbrook townhouse spends their last evening cleaning after the movers leave. They are tired, the oven has three years of baked-on spills, and they run out of time before the 10am inspection. The landlord notes the oven, the blinds and the carpet on the report and asks to keep part of the deposit. Now it is a dispute about a few hundred dollars that will take weeks to settle.

The inspection report is the evidence. Whatever is written on it, with photos, is what both sides will rely on later.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your situation, check with the Residential Tenancy Branch or TRAC.

How Honourable Cleaning helps

Our move-out clean is built around the same list the inspection uses: inside the appliances, behind them where they pull out, baseboards, blinds, window tracks, vents and floors. The home needs to be empty, which lets the crew reach everything.

A move-out clean starts at $250 plus GST for a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit and $380 for three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and a three-bedroom home takes a crew of two a little over five hours. You see the exact price online before you book. If your landlord or you spot something we missed, tell us within 24 hours and we come back and re-clean it free.

Two honest limits. Carpet steam cleaning is a separate job with its own machine, so if the carpet rule applies to you, book a carpet cleaner or rent a machine as well. And no cleaner can promise what a landlord will decide about a deposit. What we can do is hand back a unit cleaned to the published standard, and send you the receipt to keep with your inspection photos.

Key takeaways

• The legal standard in BC is "reasonably clean". You can do it yourself, and hiring a professional is a choice, not a requirement.
• Clean to the Policy Guideline 1 list, especially inside the oven and fridge, blinds, baseboards and window tracks.
• Tenancy of a year or more, pets or smoking means carpets should be steam cleaned or shampooed.
• Book the clean for after the movers and before the inspection, and take dated photos of every room when it is done.

Related pages

Move-out cleaning in Abbotsford → Move-out cleaning in Langley →

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