Every year we try and make sure that our processes and information are sleeker and work better. We think we hit the nail on the head with our information to students this year, of our June departures only two houses needed a full deep clean (this meant more time in the sun for us)!
So what did we do this year to help our students leave their houses in a great way?
Rather than bombard with a huge essay on what we felt our tenants needed to do, we split our information into 4 bite size emails:- “How to get your deposit back”, “Tenant move out service”, “Move out procedure” and “Getting your deposit back”.
- How to get your deposit back: this email was basically really pointing out that we’re not here to earn money of deposits. So we listed a few items that we really recommended students do before leaving so that they do get all of their deposit back. Things like not leaving unwanted items in the house (avoid tipping charges), cleaning that over (avoiding an oven clean) and wiping down all surfaces, inside and out. We also offered a move out inspection roughly a week or two before the move out date, so we could advise them on things they might miss. A few properties took us up on this!
- Tenant move out service: we’re well aware now that group houses tend to leave in dribs and drabs. As such, we offer a standard rate to clean either room by room, communal areas or the house as a whole. This way the students can decide as a group to pay us to clean their houses – avoiding extra charges and knowing what they will have to pay a few weeks before they leave. It’s also a great way to show tenants how much the charges are, and how quickly they tot up.
- Move out procedure: we want this as smooth and easy as possible for tenants, without getting in the way of our manic cleaning! So, we send clear instructions, and ask all tenants to leave their keys in the house too. Easier to track keys, no huge piles of them in our office, and we just grab one at the end of the week to hand out on key collection day!
- Getting your deposit back: in previous years we’ve been inundated with emails and calls within a day or two of a tenancy ending, elbow deep in bleach and oven cleans. It wasn’t ideal and was hampering the cleaning week. So we sent out a clear email this year that we aren’t in the office to deal with admin for the first 7 days of the end of tenancy. It’s worked, this year we’ve been able to crack on much easier.
How did the week go for us?
It’s always nice to finish cleaning week knowing we’ve done a great job by our old and new tenants. This week we had a few of the usual ups and downs – walking in on houses that were spotlessly clean and tidy was great, losing keys down a drain not so great… Now we’ve got some time to catch up on the admin, sort the deposits and get cracking with the late June/July cleans!