It might be a little early in the year to start thinking about the end of tenancies, but there’s plenty you can do to get ahead of the game too.
One thing we always make sure we do for end of tenancies is email the tenants with a list (it’s often very detailed) of what needs to be done to ensure that they get the maximum deposit back. And let us clarify from the off – we have no interest in taking money off your deposit at all, and in fact, doing this creates a lot of admin work that we’d rather be without.
For houses that we manage, we often get the authorisation from the landlord to do the check out report ourselves, which means we do, in essence, get the final say about the deposit. For houses that we don’t manage but have been asked to provide inventories and inspections for, the landlord gets the last say.
So, what do we highly recommend you make sure you do before the end of the tenancy? Essentially, give back the house as it was handed to you. You should have received a very detailed inventory (and this is the case if you’re not renting from us too). Without an inventory, the landlord or agent has no way to prove the condition of the house when it was given to you.
Here are some of our top tips to ensure you get your deposit money back:-
- Clean the oven! This is one of the main charges you’ll be up against when you leave any property, and it’s also one of the first things we and other agents/landlords will check. An oven clean would usually be charged to around £45.00 – quite simply because it takes a long time to do. We HIGHLY recommend you buy one Oven Pride – this gives you a bag to soak all of the racks and grill tray, with super strength cleaner. Soak these and pat the cleaner (with gloves!!!) around the inside of the oven, and leave over night. This will make the job 100 times easier for you. Invest in a decent metal scrubber too.
- Get rid of all the rubbish and unwanted items in the house. Of course it’s probably not going to fall during the right bin week, so get a friend to take you down to the Industrial Estate and tip your unwanted items and extra rubbish. This is something we find is left in every single house, and because we have to ask a contractor to use a van, he’s charged at the tip where as if you go in a car, you’re not. So if we have to remove items and rubbish, we have to pass on labour and tipping charges.
- Bleach the bathroom. Another time heavy room to clean is a bathroom that hasn’t been touched for a year. Soak the tiles with bleach over an hour, and then get scrubbing. Remember to wash under the sink and around the toilet too. You could do this soon and then giving the bathroom a quick once over when you leave will be much easier.
- Wipe out the kitchen cupboards – a quick job to do which will save you on cleaning costs as well. Wipe them out and wipe the doors down.
- Hoover – everywhere.
- Wipe the skirting boards down – if everyone does this in their own rooms, it’s a quick 5 minute job each. The communal areas are also just as fast, a bit of washing liquid on a damp clothes and Bob’s your uncle! It’s a quick job when split between housemates, but time consuming for one cleaner.
When you move out of a house managed by Redfern Property in Aberystwyth, we will pretty much always go in and clean after you unless the house is totally spotless. This doesn’t mean you’ll get cleaning charges though. We just want to make sure the house is up to our standards for the next tenants. As a rule of thumb, if a house looks like an effort has been made and roughly 90-95% clean(which would then take one person about 2-3 hours to get up the 100% standard), then we won’t ever pass on charges. Unless the oven was missed…