If you wish to claim your security deposit when you are moving, a major clean-up operation will likely be high on your priority list, especially if it is a part of your tenancy agreement. And because of the stress involved in moving, particularly in the capital city where time is short and money often tight, much of the end of tenancy cleaning in London is done by hired professionals.
You can decide to do it yourself if you are on a tight budget, sure, or you can use professional cleaning services. This article contains some basic things to know about cleaning while moving out.
Do I Have To Do An End Of Tenancy Clean?
End of tenancy cleaning depends on your tenancy agreement which most times demands that you leave a house in the same state it was in when you arrived.
This doesn’t only refer to a general sense of tidiness; it also involves the physical appearance of the home and its amenities. Even anything as seemingly minor as a chip to the furniture or unauthorised paint jobs can cause a security deposit deduction.
Do You Have To Clean Carpets?
The carpet is one of the important items you have to clean. It is a prominent item in the home, so if you do not do a thorough cleaning of it, it might make the whole room look unkempt, not to mention the smell a dirty carpet can give off! This means that you will not get your full deposit fee.
Cleaning the carpet does not stop at vacuuming the dirt off it; it will likely need a deep clean. This is usually much more easily accomplished in the hands of a professional, as specialist equipment is often required.
If you are going to take this one on yourself, then you might want to invest in a quality vacuum cleaner, whether that’s a Dyson, Miele or Riccar. You can buy Riccar here, via Amazon or locally, of course.
Read: Tips for cleaning carpets and rugs
End Of Tenancy Cleaning: Your Checklist For A Spotless House
To ensure you do not miss any part of the home that can cause the landlord to complain or consider deducting your deposit, you need a checklist. This checklist helps you note down important things. And if you miss anything, you can go back to the tenancy cleaning checklist you created, making your cleaning work easy.
Get all required cleaning equipment: If you do not want to call a professional cleaner, then you have to ensure that you have professional equipment to help you clean. Some of this equipment includes; upholstery shampoo, clean clothes or rags, scrubbing brush, cleaning solution, spray bottles, and any other item you use in your home’s regular cleaning.
Check the walls: Carefully inspect the walls of all rooms for stains and marks. If some stains and marks can be cleaned off, do so. And if not, you might have to repaint the walls. If the stains only appear in spots on the wall, you can repaint the parts of the wall where there are stains with paint of the same colour. But if the stains are more prevalent, it will be better to repaint the whole room.
Check the doors: The doors are also areas where dirt can accumulate, so, check the door handles for dirt. Then you have to ensure the door locks are still working and in perfect condition, though you would have seen signs if you have been living in the house.
Check the windows: Inspecting all the windows will be a lot of work because you have to check both the inside and outside of the windows. And even though you can clean the inside of the windows yourself, you might need to employ a professional window cleaner to clean the exterior part of the windows.
Clean the ceilings: The ceilings are usually filled with only household dust and cobwebs, so you can get along with some dusting and sweeping, though you will need extendable brooms.
Check the fixtures and fittings: Check the plug holes for stains or damage, then clean and polish them till they are sparkling. Then, you can move to your upholstery to make sure they are free of stains.
Check up the curtain rods, blinds, and other little details. Locate scuff marks on the coffee table or hard floors, and clean them off with baking soda paste.
Carpets or rugs: If you are using either a rug or carpet, you will need to do a deep cleaning to get off all accumulated dirt. As we mentioned, this is best done by professional cleaners. You should consider hiring a carpet cleaning machine for soiled carpets.
Check each room: Once you are done with each of these areas in each room, you will then have to check for other details in the individual rooms.
Now you can check the shower head in the bathroom and all the cupboards in the kitchen, then the drain grates, and other things you can see or think of
So, Can I Do An End of Tenancy Cleaning Myself?
You can do the end of tenancy cleaning yourself without calling on local cleaners. However, the stress of moving to a new property is enough on its own, without having to add cleaning the existing property. So if you are not feeling up to it, you can employ companies that offer end of tenancy cleaning services and have them do a professional cleaning operation.
Can The Landlord Force You To Hire A Cleaning Company?
No, it does not matter whether you do domestic cleaning or use professional cleaning services; the landlord can not force you to do the latter.
The only thing your tenancy agreements state should be you leaving the rental property in the same state it was when you arrived, else, there will be tenant’s deposit deductions. This does not mean the cleaning has to be done by professional tenancy cleaners.
As long as it looks like a property professionally cleaned, you should have no problem when the landlord comes for a final inspection.
