Every tenant wants their deposit back (or as much of it as possible) at the end of the tenancy. Landlords will make a deduction from the deposit to pay for cleaning if it is not up to scratch, so if you leave the property in a pristine condition you are much more likely to see all your deposit again. Remember, as we have mentioned before, if the landlord arranged a professional clean before you moved in, he will expect the place to be cleaned back up to that standard when you move out.
Make sure you leave yourself enough time at the end of the tenancy to do a thorough clean. Don’t leave the really heavy duty jobs, like oven and refrigerator cleaning, to the last day, as you are likely to run out of time.
You will need to ensure you have cleaning products at home right up to the last minute, so you can clean after all your stuff has been taken away.
Bathrooms are a common cause of dispute, so make sure you clean the walls and tiles, toilet, sink and bath. Don’t forget the mirrors and chrome.
In the kitchen, you will need to give yourself a day or two to defrost and clean the fridge/freezer, including washing down the inside of the fridge and the salad drawer.
The detergent drawer in the washing machine can also get dirty but is often forgotten.
If the oven needs a good clean, you might like to think about getting in a specialist oven cleaning company to do it for you. It’s not that expensive and they do a fantastic job.
Marks on the carpet can be attacked with a spot cleaner, and if that doesn’t work you could hire a steam cleaner.
You must take all your rubbish away; there’s nothing more depressing than opening up a home that’s empty except for a pile of bin bags.
Weigh up the costs of what cleaning equipment hire costs might be against what you think the landlord might charge. Alternatively, if you can’t face doing it all yourself, you could get in a specialist end of tenancy cleaning service. You might be pleasantly surprised at how reasonable their costs are compared to the time and effort you would have to put in yourself.
See you next Tuesday.
