How to read a house-cleaning charge
A house-cleaning line cannot be read from the name of the work and the amount alone. Separate which place, which dirt, and which sentence in the lease is said to put the cost on you.
In the Ministry’s guidelines, if you leave after ordinary cleaning, professional cleaning for the next tenant is an example of the landlord’s share. That is a guide. Dirt left behind, or a special term that applies, can change the discussion. This article does not say that a special term is void.
Put move-in and move-out side by side
If you paid a cleaning fee at move-in, place that receipt or clause next to this line. The same name can be work on an empty room before you arrived, and dirt at move-out. Those are different jobs. You cannot tell whether both charge the same dirt until the scope is explained.
The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan notes that consultations include cleaning fees overlapping at move-in and move-out. Those consultations are not Taikyo AI’s results, and they are not a market price for cleaning. As a reference for the type of problem, you can read their note on restoration disputes.
Write the scope and the unit price
If the next items are blank, make them the question.
- The place: kitchen, bathroom, floors, air conditioner, and so on
- Whether ordinary cleaning would remove it, or a specialist is said to be needed
- Whether the amount is a flat fee for the room or a unit price by place
- If disinfection or deodorizing is a separate line, the reason
When only the air conditioner is split out, also read When an air-conditioner cleaning charge appears.
Quote the special term
Even if you were told orally that cleaning is the tenant’s cost, note which clause says so. If the clause is a fixed amount, see whether this bill matches it. If the bill is higher, ask for a breakdown of the part above the clause. How to find the clause is in What to look for in a lease special term.
A record that you cleaned is not the conclusion
You can keep the fact that you cleaned, together with photos. That fact does not decide that professional cleaning was unnecessary. Use it as material for asking which dirt they say remained.