What You Should Be Cleaning During A Move Out

When you’re moving, one of the most important things is to find a professional removal company, whether that’s Removals Blackpool or anywhere else in the UK. However, one step that many people don’t consider is that once you’ve moved out, you need to perform a move-out cleaning of your rented home.

Your security deposit can be held even if there is no damage to the home if there haven’t been specific cleaning tasks performed, whether you’ve been keeping your home immaculate during your tenancy or not.

Detailed below are general steps that should be performed once you’ve had your removals Blackpool or any other regional moving completed, which will ensure that there is no cleaning bill taken and your deposit can be returned in full.

What Do You Need To Do For a Move-Out Cleaning?

A typical move-out clean can be a longer process rather than just doing a quick move-out clean after your removals Preston or other areas removal company finishes their job.

Start on big items that can easily be done before the removal process starts and won’t require much additional cleaning once you’ve completed the removal process. You can also do a deep clean before moving day and then a final clean-up once everything has been moved out.

Whoever is doing the move-out cleaning will need cleaning supplies and the right tools to get the job done. It’s certainly possible to grab some rags and a spray bottle to do your complete cleaning. However, it may not be good enough for the landlord without the proper tools and may even take you longer to get the cleaning done.

Quick Move-Out Cleaning Tips

Move everything out of the house first. It’s much easier to clean an empty home.
Clean from top to bottom. Don’t wash your floor and then wipe down benches, or you may be sending filth back to the floor.
Normal wear and tear of a home is not your responsibility. However, you should remove anything you’ve put into the walls, including all nails or tacks.
Any significant damage to walls or other areas will need to be repaired by yourself or a handyman. If you don’t, then that’s part of your security deposit that will also be taken.

Cleaning Bedrooms

Bedrooms are often the easiest to clean, as you shouldn’t have too much in there. The most crucial part will be to ensure the walls are clean and free of marks and that the floors are left clean, specifically any carpeting.

Give everything a good dusting first, including ceiling fans, walls, shelves, and ledges.
Clean the inside and outside of any closets.
Scrub off any marks on your walls or baseboards.
Interior windowsills and tracks cleaned, including any doors leading outside.
Wipe down the walls and baseboards.
Wipe door handles, light switches, and your doorframes.
Vacuum and wet mop any hard flooring.
Vacuum carpets. * If your carpets are filthy, you must have them steam cleaned in Alberta. The carpet cleaning may need to be done by professionals, and a receipt provided to the landlord to keep them happy.
Clean drapes and window coverings; if these are especially dirty, you may want to have them professionally cleaned, with a receipt provided to the landlord.

Cleaning Bathrooms

Bathrooms can take some effort to clean, especially if you haven’t been keeping up with cleaning them during your stay. For example, you could have a lot of grime left on the shower walls and hardened soap scum. This type of cleaning can sometimes require power tools to get the job done right.

Dust everything, including walls, baseboards, and ledges.
Spray down and scrub the bathtub, shower, and glass.
Sink and countertops should be scrubbed and sanitized.
Toilets should be cleaned and sanitized.
Mirrors wiped down.
Clean inside and outside of cabinets.
Interior windowsills and tracks cleaned.
Doorknobs, doorframes, light switches should be wiped down.
Scrub any marks off the walls and baseboards, then wipe them down thoroughly.
The floor should be vacuumed and then mopped.

Cleaning the Kitchen

Your kitchen may be the most challenging area to clean, especially if you cook a lot. It’s just going to take some dedicated effort to scrub everything down, especially around the stove and over. You’ll want to spray oven and stove cleaner at the start, so it has time to work while you clean the rest of the kitchen.

Clean inside and outside all of your appliances, including fridge, stove, oven, and microwave.
Clean inside and outside of all cabinets.
Clean and sanitize the sink.
Any windows or tracks should be cleaned.
Dust everything in the kitchen, including walls, baseboards, and any surface you have.
Scrub any marks off the walls and baseboards.
Wipe down all handles, switches, and doors, including the doorframe.
Vacuum the floor and mop it.

Cleaning Living Areas

Your living areas consist of the living room, dining room, hallways, and entryway. These will hopefully not take too much time to clean. The most essential parts are similar to the bedrooms, so make sure the walls are clean and free of marks. It’ll be especially important to check for defects where furniture used to be.

Dust all surfaces, including walls, baseboards, and ceiling fans.
Interior windowsills and tracks cleaned.
Clean any mirrors or windows.
Clean your walls and baseboards.
Wipe down door handles and light switches.
Vacuum all floors, wet mop hard flooring.
If any carpet is soiled heavily, you may want to steam clean it.

Cleaning Outside The Home

Whether you’re in a house with a yard or an apartment you should consider if you’ve left any junk or belongings outside. You should also check whether any damage or cleanup needs to be performed on the external parts of the property. Most of your outside cleaning can be done prior to your removals Preston company or another region’s removals company performs the move-out.

You may be responsible as part of your contract to keep any gardens, lawns, or exterior features in a reasonable state. You also need to deal with any damage that isn’t worn and tear to the outside of the property.

If you have a storage shed or a storage locker, then make sure it’s empty of your belongings before your move out; otherwise, your landlord may need to call their own removal company to get rid of your old junk.

Final Walkthrough

Walk around the home and review every room in the house, looking for any areas you’ve missed. Just because something hasn’t been listed above it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be cleaned. If you don’t clean the house to an acceptable standard, the owner may need to hire professionals using your damage deposit.

As you’re walking through the house, use your phone or something to record the entire house and all of the cleaning you’ve done so that you have a record of how you left the home and cleaned it to an acceptable standard.

If you’ve opted for a professional house cleaning service for the entire clean or just certain areas, ensure you get a detailed receipt that specifies what has been done. The cleaning receipt is especially important if you’re paying for steam cleaning of the carpets or had to have the window covered specially cleaned.

When Should You Perform A Move Out Clean?

A move-out clean should be performed once your removals Blackpool or other regional removals company has performed the full move-out. You want to ensure that all of your furniture, clothes and other items are completely out of the way so that you can get into all nooks and crannies of the home.

After the removal company has completed their job, you’ll also be able to see any hidden dirt under your furniture and any damage that you may have been caused during your tenancy that needs to be patched or otherwise repaired.

If you plan to move out on the last day of your tenancy and won’t have time to perform a full deep move-out cleaning of the home, then do your best during the move-out process, and in the last few hours of your tenancy, go over the house and clean up any final dirty areas.

Do Rental Properties Need To Be Professionally Cleaned On Move Out?

As of 2019, it’s no longer enforceable to require professional cleaning in the UK after you’ve moved out. If you moved in before 2019 or your rental contract requests professional cleaning after moving out, it’s still not enforceable.

However, you need to have the home cleaned to the same level as when you moved in, with some exceptions for general wear and tear.

Typically you would have gone over the rental unit when you moved in and completed a form to indicate cleanliness and any specific damage or issues in the unit.

If you don’t have the time to perform a reasonable move-out clean, then you should consider hiring a professional cleaning service so that they can take care of the process for you.

You may also want to get a professional cleaning service to run through the home after your or any other regional company has done their job, and any of the hidden dirt left over can be quickly cleaned up while you’re busy doing other moving tasks.

What Specific Cleaning Needs To Be Performed In A Move-Out?

Overall, the home needs to be cleaned as detailed above; however, there are some general cleaning tasks that may need to be done professionally depending on your rental contract and how picky the owner will be.

If you haven’t heavily soiled the home, then you may be able to get away with a general cleaning using the tips above. However, if you’ve lived in the house for many years or simply used the home heavily, especially as a smoker or with younger kids, then you may need to perform the following tasks.

Clean All Window Coverings

Window coverings, especially fabric blinds, may have accumulated a large amount of dust and dirt over your tenancy. If you’ve been smoking in the home, they can also become heavily soiled and even look yellow.

Dry cleaning services will be the best option to have all of the fabric blinds cleaned up to a reasonable level, and it’s a quick process to detach the blinds and take them in for a cleaning.

It’s not advisable to wash your fabric blinds in a washing machine yourself, though you could wash your curtains in this way on a gentle cycle if you feel they need to be cleaned.

Shampoo Carpets

If the home has carpets and there have been many spills over the tenancy, it may be worthwhile to either have the carpets professionally cleaned or hire a wet vac and do a cleaning yourself.

One issue you could face is that your deep cleaning of the carpets showcases the actual stains and marks more than if they had been left darker and dirtier. This could end up costing you more either from your security deposit or by having to get additional cleaning on the carpet.

What Happens If You Don’t Clean The Home After Moving Out?

If you opt not to clean the rental property when you’ve moved out and just have your or other regional removals company move all of your items, then the home may not pass inspection, and part of your security deposit can be kept.

The amount of your security deposit that can be kept will depend on how much the cleaning will cost to bring the home back up to a rentable level. In this type of situation, you can’t negotiate costs for cleaning, and professional cleaning will be used, which is a bit more expensive than if you had just done it yourself.

An owner can’t keep the entire security deposit and must provide receipts showing how much was spent. If you believe too much was done, you can dispute the costs, so it’s well worth taking a video of the entire home after your removals company has completed the removal process.