23rd Oct 2024 (12 weeks ago)
Had a very disappointing experience using Romans as a tenant. At the end of your tenancy you are given the option of getting a professional clean or cleaning the property yourself (note that tenancy agreement states that the property only needs to be returned in the same state of cleanliness that it was in when your tenancy began).
Myself and my partner decided to clean the property ourselves and spent an entire weekend deep cleaning the house in order to save on cleaning fees, leaving the property in a superior condition to when we moved in (when the washing machine was full of mould, other parts dirty, prior tenant's possessions left in cupboards, etc.).
Despite this we were shocked when Romans asked for £400 in cleaning fees for a professional clean (from a cleaning company based in Portsmouth per the invoice hence why I believe this figure was so substantial), which they completely refused to budge on (I would later find out this was because they'd already contracted the cleaners before we'd had a chance to counter their initial offer of £400). We replied in depth, responding to each and every supposed issue with picture evidence from the start/end of the tenancy which was completely ignored, with Romans simply stating that the property hadn't been professionally cleaned and if we wanted to dispute the charge we'd need to go to an arbitrator of their choice at a cost to ourselves of £120 per our contract.
My advice to any tenants is to sort your own professional clean and then the liability is with the cleaners if the property is not up to Romans unrealistic conditions. They will also not ask you for an invoice proving a clean has taken place as we were repeatedly rebuffed when we asked for proof of invoice for a professional clean having taken place prior to the start of our tenancy.... Read more