Well, without a shadow of a doubt, ‘cleaning week’ was very different this year! As a bit of background, we have two major changeover dates for our student properties, with student contracts ending on the 3rd of June and 1st of July typically. We give ourselves a week to get into those properties for end of tenancy inspections, any additonal cleaning/clearing that needs doing, maintenance/decorating and those all important inventories. With ALL of our properties, we always expect 2 hours or so of cleaning for that extra polish, and we never charge this on our tenants. Of course this year that’s been especially important, as cleaning recommendations say you should sanitise every single surface when a tenant moves out.
But, with coronavirus, ‘cleaning week’ was a very different ball game this year. Many of our tenants had left Aberystwyth before lockdown started, meaning that they weren’t locked down without family. Looking back, we doubt any of us really thought that lockdown would last into June (and July when it comes to travel in Wales!). So, from our part, we were pleasantly surprised to find nearly all of our properties in very good condition. To be honest, we’d expected the opposite as tenants had left in a hurry, but as ever, we’re really proud of the tenants we’ve been able to host for the 2019/2020 academic year, and we’re just sorry you didn’t get to experience Aberystwyth in the warmer months!
Usually we’d share photos of a very unclean bathroom or oven during cleaning week, but this year we want to share something a little different! Now, this isn’t to encourage our tenants to leave food waste, but this summer we’ve been working alongside the Aber Food Surplus as a means of giving away any frozen and unopened non-perishable food! It’s been a breath of fresh air to work alongside them, and reduce the amount of items we normally end up having to tip! Their community fridge on Chalybeate Street here in Aberystwyth have fridges and freezes for surplus food! So, no pictures of grotty bathrooms or kitchens this year, but a box of food on its way to be saved.
