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SiO tighten up cleaning requirements
Now the threshold for being sent a bill for poor cleaning when you move out of a student bedsit has been lowered.
På norskMartin Johannessen, who recently moved out of Bjølsen Student Village, experienced this. He received a bill of 280 kroner for «cleaning of skirting boards» after he moved out of his student bedsit. According to himself, he had cleaned thoroughly, and he is irritated by the cleaning bill.
- The amount is big enough to be annoying, but too small for it to be worth an argument. It is impossible to prove the insufficient cleaning that is implied in the bill, I did not take pictures as evidence, says Johannessen, who moved in the end of July.
Now he has contacted acquaintances who also moved out of Student Housing bedsits, and has discovered that everyone received a bill.
Tom Olstad, head of Student Housing, confirms that Student Housing has become stricter when it comes to sending cleaning bills in 2008.
- The checks are the same, but the threshold for sending a bill has lowered, he says.
Previously Student Housing did more cleaning, without sending a bill.
Twice as many bills
The number of tenants moving out who have received bills has increased from 254 in 2006 and 198 in 2007, to 187 just for the period between January and August 2008.
- This is an area in which we have tightened up. This is about comfort. I don’t suppose that anybody is interested in moving into a housing unit where you find dirt from previous tenants. If the flat has not been cleaned, our own employees or an external agency will take care of this. Then the students will receive the bill, says Olstad.
Mathias Johannessen suspects that the cleaning bills are a cash cow for Student Housing.
- I don’t think that my circle of friends is particularly dirty. During my three years as a student, I have lived many places, and moved out without any problems. But with SiO it was different; they sent me a bill for the cleaning of skirting boards and little details that I was particular about cleaning properly before I moved out.
Room for improvement
Olstad denies that Student Housing sends bills to former tenants simply min order to earn money, and claims that in many cases cleaning is carried out in housing units without the tenants being sent a bill at all.
- This is in cases where the student has tried to clean, but the standard is not good enough for us to rent the unit out again. This is especially common in kitchens and bathrooms, he says.
- Are students in Oslo particularly bad at cleaning up after themselves?
- No, in general I would not say that. But it is clear that some students have the potential to improve in this respect, says Olstad.
