My partner and I lived in Helsinki for a year. When we moved out, we couldn’t book a move-out cleaning service because it was around Midsummer, so we cleaned the apartment ourselves.

The landlord later complained. We told him he could hire a professional cleaning service and deduct the reasonable cost from our deposit. He didn’t reply until a month later, when he said he cleaned the apartment himself, spent 48 hours on it, and charged 20€/hour, so 960€ total. He has given no receipt or invoice.

This seems very excessive for a 70+ square meters apartment. Quotes we received beforehand suggested 2–4 hours of work at around 40–60€/hour. We offered 360€ instead based on that.

He hasn’t replied for a month again.

We are now considering taking legal action.

But before we do, I want to double check:
– Is 960€ a reasonable charge for move-out cleaning in Helsinki?

If it is NOT,
– What is the best way to resolve disputes with a private landlord in Finland if he refuses our offer?
– Is there a small-claims court similar to the US, or would this require district court?
– Any recommendations on where to find a lawyer experienced in rental disputes in Finland?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: It looks like no one thinks it is a reasonable amount, which is good to know (at least I am quite reasonable so far).

Many of you have suggested these resources:
https://www.vuokralaiset.fi/en/ or https://www.kuluttajariita.fi/fi/index/yleisimmataiheet/asunnonvuokraus.html

A follow-up question: Can I, and should I, take my case to both websites? Is there a priority, or does filing with one exclude the other?

by Ok-Literature2846

18 comments

  4. https://www.vuokralaiset.fi/liity-jaseneksi/

    This is the official organisation who helps tenants. It’s cheap to the pay the annual fee and you will have an access to the lawyer who can give guidance what to do

    (My link probably gives Finnish site, there is also english language option)

  5. 48 HOURS ?!

    A deep clean of an apartment takes 4-6 hours. And that’s too make it SPOTLESS by a professional.

  6. 960 is too high in my opinion. You can also ask him for proof that how did he spend 48 hours. Proof could be in the form of pictures he took before he cleaned.
    Ask him that you are considering to take a legal action against him since it’s deemed too high. Try to resolve it with him first then pursue in court.

  7. – There is no small claims court for cases like this. District court is last stop, but has financial risks, as you might realize.
    – I would not lawyer up, yet. Worst case scenario is you end up eating the lawyer costs.

    If this matter is essentially stuck, which it looks to be, you can consult with authorities such as KKV(consumer bureau) and Oikeusapuvirasto(legal help). Internet has loads of guides as well. District court is the last step but that might take from 4 months to a whole year.

  8. Threaten with court, usually they never go that far because they most likely would lose the case.

  9. A private landlord taking your money with any kind of absurd excuse? Yeah, about normal, and one reason I only rent from the big companies now. They’ll also screw you over, but it’ll be company policy, not some petty bourgeoisie getting their rocks off on charging 50€ per laundry machine run.

  10. Not reasonable. Contact Finnish Tenants Association for legal advice. https://www.vuokralaiset.fi/en/ There are a ton of incompetent and / or greedy landlords in Finland, the only way to put them in place is to fight back, find out what your rights are, use collective force and tell them to go kick rocks if they make unreasonable claims or requests.

  11. I’ve written countless times to take photos and videos of every spot. Demand them to send photo or video evidence. If they’re pulling shit then drag them to court.

    It is another thing if some incompetent judge goes for “blame of responsibility lies with both parties” or whatchamacallit shit.

  12. The easy way if you aren’t that bothered with paying something (even if you don’t have to) is to tell them they can get 150 euros for cleaning, or nothing if you have to go the legal route. They are just trying to scam a foreigner. You can also ask them for proof of the apartment not being cleaned in addition to proof of their cleaning time claims.

  13. Woah, 48 hours despite you cleaned the apartment yourself? Even if you left it totally uncleaned that is too much, unless you left it really disgusting like some drunk but the way you describe it rules that out.

    I have been told it can be several hundreds for cleaning service sure, but in no way should it be around 1000€

  14. He’s definitely ripping you off. I’ve moved out of plenty of apartments and have used freelance cleaners as well and 960€ is him scamming especially since you guys already cleaned it beforehand.

    You’ll need to toughen up probably and tell him your plan to raise this case to organizations which other people mentioned unless he becomes reasonable.

  15. Never fully expect to get your deposit back. I know I may sound cynical but I once got charged 300€ for cleaning a mirror that I had forgotten to wipe down.

    Unless of course you are willing to take legal action, but most of the time it really isn’t worth the couple of hundred, even if you had a rock solid case.

  16. Always when moving in and out, take pictures. Lots of pictures, of everything.

  17. And this is basically the exact reason why you take pictures before you move out preferably also when you move in since landlord can claim “well that wasn’t there previously”. But yeah the price seems ridiculous.

  18. My parents always tought me to take before and after pictures when moving to a home and leaving from it. Just because of scams like these.

    that way you can record damage/faults already presisting in the house you move in and defend yourself when neccessary, the same applies to cleaning when done, in case you get scammed like this.

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