If you’re looking for a cleaning company to provide good quality end of tenancy cleaning services, finding one who works with a cleaning checklist is a great idea. You may have seen end of tenancy cleaning checklists before or heard them mentioned but aren’t too sure what they are. Well, a cleaning company using a checklist is the difference between you receiving your deposit back for your rental property and you having to pay for professional cleaners to come in for a second try. Today, we’re exploring an end of tenancy checklist to see just what is involved and what you should keep an eye out for once the cleaning company has left.
What is an end of tenancy clean?
Before we get to the end of tenancy checklist, we thought we’d quickly discuss what an end of tenancy clean is. You see, an end of tenancy clean is not your standard cleaning service. It is an in-depth clean of your entire property. It is basically used to get the property ready for tenants to move in. Most rental agreements state that you must leave the property how you found it. A pristine property that was completely clean and dust-free. If you don’t do this, your landlord may take the cleaning costs out of your deposit to get it looking pristine once again.
The end of tenancy checklist
The cleaning checklist ensures that a cleaning company cleans every area of your home correctly. It helps the cleaners keep track of all the cleaning they are doing and any areas left to do. When landlords enter their property, they go through it with a fine-tooth comb and will pick apart anything that isn’t cleaned to their satisfaction. They are pretty ruthless in this regard because anything that isn’t clean means a delay in them getting new tenants into the property and therefore making money on it.
End of tenancy cleaning checklists are extremely long, so while we’d love to list all of the cleaning tasks involved in an end of tenancy clean here, it simply isn’t possible. Here is a very brief look at one comprehensive end of tenancy checklist. We will have a link to this cleaning checklist below, so stick around.
Here’s just some of the cleaning tasks on a very comprehensive end of tenancy cleaning checklist:
Walls – dusted and free of cobwebs
Corners – dusted, and free of cobwebs
Ceilings – cleaned of cobwebs
Doors – wiped from top to bottom
Door handles – wiped and polished, free from fingerprints and light stains
Window handles – wiped and polished
Window ledges – wiped and clean
Window sills – wiped and clean
Windows – wiped cleaned from top to bottom (internally)
Mirrors – dusted, polished and free of fingerprints
Light fittings and shades – dusted and wiped
As you can see, this focuses on walls and ceilings, yet it is massively more involved than most of the cleaning any of us do in our homes. This doesn’t include kitchen cabinets, carpets, the oven, fridge or bathroom. End of tenancy cleans are extremely involved and detailed. And, to make them even more detailed, once the cleaners have finished their work, someone will go around and tick off each section of the checklist one by one. If the cleaners have missed anything, they are then asked to go back and clean again until every room and every aspect of that room is cleaned correctly.
Can I get an end of tenancy cleaning checklist and do it myself?
Professional cleaning companies often have their cleaning checklists for end of tenancy cleaning displayed on their websites. So, in theory, you can easily copy it, print it out and do all of the cleaning yourself.
As you see, the example is an extremely detailed checklist that goes into a lot of detail. Every corner, every cupboard, every carpet and hardwood floor is taken care of in that checklist. You could take that checklist, follow it and clean your entire home from top to bottom. Even hire a carpet cleaning vacuum to do your carpets. However, this clean could take you a few days to get perfect. So, is it worth saving money and losing time (especially when you’re moving home)? Or is it worth spending the money hiring professional cleaners to come in and get the job done right the first time? That is a decision you’ll need to make.
Do all cleaning companies use end of tenancy cleaning checklists?
No, not all cleaning companies use end of tenancy cleaning checklists. And many companies don’t use checklists that are as comprehensive as the one above. If the cleaning company you plan on using doesn’t mention using a checklist or have it displayed on their website, it’s worth asking whether they do and if you can see it. Without a cleaning checklist, it is incredibly difficult for even a professional cleaning company to clean your rental property to the high standards of a landlord.
The post The ins and outs of an end of tenancy cleaning checklist? appeared first on 360PRWire.
