End of tenancy clean

[squirrel42]

I'm moving out of my one bed flat to a different area in a month or so. It's the first time I have rented a whole property before - until now it's been shared houses so I've only been responsible for giving the bedroom and one and a half kitchen cupboards a good clean before I hand back the keys!

I've been a bit spooked by the cleaners that offer an "end of tenancy" cleaning service - they seem to suggest that letting agencies expect flats and houses to be returned to a brand-new fresh-out-of-the-box state. The flat is a bit dated but I seem to remember it being reasonably clean and tidy when I moved in, and I want to make sure that a) the new tenants have it nice and clean for when they move in and b) the letting agency can't sting me for any of the deposit because I didn't de-limescale the shower head!

So does anyone have any advice for what level of cleaning I should be looking at? Do I need to wash down walls, dismantle the washing machine to clean inside the door seals and hoover the understairs cupboard? Would I be expected to clean the outside of the windows? If it's going to be a major chore is it a good investment to hire one of these cleaning companies? Help!

Oh, and another question - the carpets in the hall and living room are biege (brill idea, but it's a rental property and I think that's the law!). The hall carpet isn't stained or very "grubby" looking but you can tell that it's had some wear. I can't really remember what it's like when I moved in but realistically it's had 18 months of being walked on so it'll be worse rather than better. Should I expect to have to hire a carpet cleaner or get it cleaned some how or is that to be expected in a rental property?

Look at your inventory from when you moved in: it should state whether it was cleaned to "domestic level" or "professionally cleaned". If it was professionally cleaned then that is what you will have to pay for - it's very difficult to achieve yourself. I would also check your contract and see if that specifies a professional clean (most do). If it does but the inventory says it was only domestically clean then you should discuss with your landlord but otherwise you are going to have to fork out (we left our three-bedroom flat at the weekend and the cost of a professional clean was #300 including carpets ).

We made sure the walls were clean, doors skirting boards etc. We also cleaned the carpets and kitchen cupboards, landlord can charge for carpet cleaning if they are grubby. I wouldnt go so far as to worry about the outside of windows unless they were black! As for the washer id just run it on a hot with some white vingar in so it smells sweet and make sure the cooker is clean (although weve always had our own washer). I would hoover the cupboard yes.

Thanks very much for the replies! I'll check the tenancy to see how specific it is especially re carpets.

Wiping down lightswitches - now that's a level of detail I'd never have come up with on my own! I'm generally a "wipe over the surfaces with a sponge dunked in warm soapy water" kind of person, so I can see setting aside a day after my stuff is moved over to just come back and boil wash the place. Fun fun fun!

Thankfully I haven't got a dishwasher so that's once less thing to worry about!

Hmm, the tenancy agreement says to "clean to a good standard" or arrange for professional cleaning. Does say to clean the windows but doesn't mention carpets. I'll have to see how it goes!

It depends on the agency: what it should mean is that the place is blitzed: all the mouldings, window frames and picture rails, for example dusted; all the shelves cleaned; all surfaces wiped; deep cleaning of carpets and mattresses with steam cleaners; bathrooms completely descaled with all surfaces polished etc. Did you have an inventory done when you moved in? If so, what did the inventory clerk note? If no inventory, do you have any correspondence with the letting agent saying that you were unhappy with state of clean when you moved in?

I guess some agencies/landlords might just see it as a standard clause in the lease that they only enforce when it suits them? So if they have trouble with the tenants or are generally arsey they could use the "well you didn't get the property cleaned to a high enough standard" clause to weasel out of paying some of the deposit back.

I think I'll take the approach that I should try to leave the place as clean and tidy as when I found it, and think about how I would want it to be if I were about to move in.

When I moved out of my last flat I got a quote from a cleaning company for the end-of-tenancy-clean and they wanted £200 to clean a cosy 2 bed flat ! 2 friends came to help me clean it instead and I gave them each an M&S voucher.

I did get the carpets cleaned which cost about £50. Despite being a small flat there were lots of stairs carpet and the man who came to do it did an amazing job!

My landlady was thrilled when I handed back the keys and said it looked far nicer than when they used to live there (I was their 1st tenant)!!! I have to say it looked far nicer than when I was actually living there too (slattern alert!!).

we (for that read just me!) cleaned our last property ourselves.

it was hard work but there was no danger i was paying for a company to come in. only thing i paid for was the carpets to be steam cleaned professionally-which we are currently arguing the toss over with the letting agent!

i think its the small things that you normally wouldnt do that you have to be careful with ie skirtings wiped down, cupboards cleaned out, marks washed off the walls cleaning the oven etc. you get the drift-the most boring, mundane and unnecessary cleaning jobs, are the ones they will notice that you havent done!

same problem as you Butterfly, but i cheated-just repainted the walls!
tbh though they had asked us to do that about 6months previously, so was quite glad that i hadnt attempted to do it before then!
it was also furnished so i had to wash all the linen that was there (which we didnt even use in the 5years we were ther!), curtains, duvets (!?)-like i say the most ridiculous things you could think of,i bloody did them all!

ah yes, the children... think mine were shipped out for the painting thankfully.
but just the cleaning i stressed myself out with them re cluttering/dirtying the bit i had just done!
travelofge sounds like a good plan to me!

All the rented properties that we've lived in have said "professionally cleaned" before we've moved in.
Some lettings agents use this phrase very loosely and the standard varies so much.

They also recommend cleaning agencies which strangely enough seem to be owned by the agents themselves.
My DD (age 3) could've done better in some. She wouldn't have left the dog bones behind the door or copious amounts of hair under the bed.

We've just had to gauge it by how clean it was when we moved in.
I've done it myself for flipping days or most recently paid a friends cleaner and her friend to do it.

Imagine their sorted with the cleaning since the last post was 2010

You don't happen to work for the company do you

hello guys, I see this post is a bit old, but I've been googling hard and it is the only one that seems legit. I am almost at my end of tenancy and I need to figure out if I should search for professionals or try doing it myself? Saw both people saying it's difficult and other's saying it's not. It's a 4 bedroom property and afraid I would risk my deposit, ty

What does your tenancy agreement say? If it says 'professional clean with receipts' do that, otherwise do it yourself.

As a landlord I use the military march out standard, although a private tenant isn't expected to repaint. Anyway, that is what my tenant gets on move in. Regardless of what the last tenant did.

When I rented out my property the contract stated professional clean. The tenants seemed to think doing it themselves would suffice. It is worth just paying someone and keeping the receipt in order to get your deposit back.

no, no, it does not, but is says, that if the initial property condition is not met, Tenants (we) will be charged for cleaning, which I assume is pretty much the same? I have to anyways buy a few things to even start cleaning myself and that's why I'm hanging in the balance, not to mention time involved. What if i do it myself only to find out it is "insufficient" and get charged anyways?

You then raise a deposit dispute and get the landlord to prove their case.

Also you can't meet the initial property condition due to wear and tear.