If you rent your flat or house in London, one of the biggest nuisances is the end of tenancy clean! The deposit for renting can be quite substantial and you want to ensure that you get it all back…or at least as much as possible.

We have all heard or experienced situations where the landlord or letting agency have with held part of the deposit, often for seemingly minor things, quite often linked to the end of tenancy cleaning. In addition to helping people who are doing home removals, we also carry out numerous cleans each week, so we have compiled a few helpful tips to help save you some money!

Tenancy Contract

It goes with out saying, but you should check the fine print on your tenancy agreement and double check the points regarding cleaning. If the agreement states that you should use a particular cleaning company, than you should do that. That way any problems identified with the cleaning are not yours, likewise if the agreement simply states that a professional cleaning company should be used, then you really should do that. As tempting as it maybe to try and save some money by doing the clean yourself, a professional cleaning company will be exactly that, professional. Ultimately, will the saving in money doing it yourself outweigh the cost in money and time if you lose part of your deposit.

Kitchen

One of the main areas quite often missed by cleaners, unless specified is the kitchen fan. Make sure that you change the filter. This will be checked. Likewise, make sure you do this for your washer/dryer and clean out the dishwasher filter. These are all inexpensive to change. 

Bedrooms

If you have a furnished flat or house, just make sure you clean on top of the wardrobes and move any furniture to clean underneath, including beds. You should also clean or replace the mattress protectors. 

Bathroom

One of the least enjoyable places to clean, but remove all limescale on tiles and clear the drains of hair or any other blockages. Again, this will be checked. 

Carpets

Again, time to check the tenancy agreement. If it says you must steam clean carpets, then make sure you do it. It’s simply not worth the loss of deposit.

Walls

Normal wear and tear should apply here, but accidents and bumps do happen, so if you have banged a wall around a bit, get a handyman and get them patched up or touched up as necessary. This is actually really cheap to do, but try and do this a month before moving out if any touch up paint needs to fade in, especially on areas that get lots of sun. If the walls are badly marked when moving in, make sure you get these noted down to make moving out easier. 

In summary, make sure you read the tenancy agreement and stick to it. Be prepared to fight your corner if necessary, but ultimately weigh up the costs of getting a professional cleaner vs any potential loss of bond. 

Hopefully these few tips will help when it comes to moving and help you get your bond back!

For more information on your bond check out the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and the government website

If you have some other questions about cleaning or need an end of tenancy clean, give us a call on 020 8877 9682* or you can email us.