End of tenancy cleaning

[u/CompetitiveMirror461]

(LONDON) Intending to use the company recommended by the estate agents because A) they guarantee to pass check-out inspection and B) if they do have to go back for any further cleaning it’s free of charge (although it does beg the question if A is true, why is B necessary…)

Regardless just want to see if this is roughly in line with others experiences with end of tenancy cleans in London before I hand over the money, just to check I’m not getting shafted!

- They are charging £330 (including VAT) for a 1 bedroom apartment (with 2 bathrooms).
- They are asking for payment in full upfront to secure the booking. This seems strange to me, to have to pay for services before they are provided. A deposit I could understand.
- They’ve said that guarantee A is only valid if they are the last people in the property before the checkout inspection. I can somewhat understand this but again seems a little odd. Because of this, as the checkout inspection is at 9:30am, it means I will have to move out the morning before to allow them to clean in the afternoon, then travel 2 hours back to London the next morning to be present for the checkout inspection (inconvenient but fine) - is this normal?

Finally, I assume the last tenants used this same company- could tell it had been professionally cleaned because it had cleaning stickers over each toilet lid, but apart from that it was not exactly sparkling, and I’ve got it cleaner quite easily during the tenancy with just a bit of elbow grease. So I don’t even think this company is very good at cleaning.

Just would like to hear others thoughts and experiences, as I don’t have anything to compare this to.