End-of-lease cleanup can be a tricky business, and if you’re not careful, you could end up with very little return on your initial deposit that was returned to you when you vacate the premises.
Are you moving house in the next few months? Remember the strong bond you gave your landlord when he first moved out? Well now is the time to start thinking about making sure you get that bond back in its entirety. With a little farsightedness, you can make sure you do everything you can to get your end-of-lease cleaning bonus back in full.
The first thing to do is dust off that document organizer (you keep one of those, right!) and find the checklist you received when you moved in that shows the condition of all walls, windows, carpets, and appliances in the facility when you moved out. This should give you a good idea of the condition the property was in when you first moved in. And this is what you should be aiming for with your clean end of lease. If there was a stain on the wall or carpet when you moved in and it was duly noted on the sheet, then there’s no need to worry about that, just focus on the discrepancies between what’s on the sheet and what’s in the house.
Broken items can often be a source of major liens for homeowners, so it is often best to attempt replacement before going to your landlord, as they will often charge you inflated fees for simply replacing basic items like ice cube trays, light fixtures, and missing screws, etc. Don’t let these little things affect your end-of-lease cleaning deposit, they should be simple and easy to care for with a simple trip to your nearest DIY store.
One reason for consideration is carpet cleaning. Depending on the condition of your carpets upon arrival and departure, you may want to consider paying for a specialist carpet cleaning service to come and steam clean your carpeted areas, although this is a requirement in some bond agreements, it is best avoided if possible as the cost can eat up a significant portion of your original bond at the end of the lease.
After talking with a landlord friend of mine who often inspects his rental properties when his clients move out, here are some of the things he always checks and finds tenants have often missed.
- Above the kitchen cabinets.
- The oven is often not cleaned to its original level, you need a real oven cleaner for this.
- Baseboards Light fixtures need to be removed and cleaned
- Remove basic stains from walls with a gentle application of warm water, do not scrub hard or the paint will come off
- Refrigerator window seals need to be cleaned and scratch free on the inside (don’t worry about the outside, that’s not your job).