I agree with wylie.
I'm sure that happens just as often as the reverse when the tenant leaves it "clean enough" to justify getting the bond back, but I still spend hours doing another clean.
The reason most Landlord's spend hours doing another clean, is that there is a massive disconnect between the expectations of the outgoing Tenant and what they deem to be clean, and what the expectations of the incoming Tenant and what they deem to be clean. Huge difference.
I've often thought that if you graphed the cleanliness of the property over time between tenancies, it would look like the roof of a saw tooth industrial building.....if people know what they look like.
It's at the top at the start of the tenancy when the Tenant agrees to move in. It slowly degrades during their tenure (fair wear and tear and then some) and there is a new base line when they move out. It's the Landlords who do the lifting of the standard back to the higher level, the vertical sections of the roofline if you will.
Tenant's at this stage have moved on, they no longer care about the property, their personal belongings have been moved out and they are simply looking at the dust and cobwebs on the skirting boards, the grease on the floor behind where the fridge used to be, and their attitude is meh....not my house any longer, I've only got 2 hours here before I need to start re-establishing myself. They no longer have any attachment. This changes everything.
The Landlord on the other hand, is interested in attracting a good Tenant again, and they know their expectations are slightly higher.
This dis-connect is where all of the arguments and disagreements eminate from.
Typically, most private Landlords sign off the Bond, then roll up their sleeves like wylie and I do, and go in there regardless and get it really clean....you know.....up to the higher standard where the incoming Tenant with their higher expectation goggles on are inspecting it.
What's "good enough" for the outgoing Tenant is never "good enough" for the incoming Tenant.
I can't remember the amount of times I've given back the Bond just to stop the b1tching and moaning and get the Tenant out of our hair. 3 good solid hours of a husband and wife team will usually see a normal house back to presentable level for incoming Tenants.
If you try and twist the Tenant's arm to get them to do it like they are supposed to, they'll typically moan and carry on like a pork chop and end up doing a half hearted job that isn't up to scratch anyway.
It's just not worth dealing with outgoing residential Tenants at that stage.....ignoring of course that the vast weight of the law is on their side anyway.....Landlord's are pushing **** uphill all the way.
Tenants will gladly argue and carry on for way longer than it takes to actually do the job. They'll spend days and days writing letters and taking photos and documenting everything, when 2 or 3 hours of solid work would do the trick.
The way of the world unfortunately. Evidence...photos, paperwork.