End of Tenancy Cleaning Services

Albatross, the professional end of tenancy cleaners in Bristol & Bath. An affordable deep clean service for tenants and landlords. Get your deposit returned.

DIY End Of Tenancy Cleaning?

If you are feeling brave and wish to take on the work yourself. And have the time it requires to do a great job, take a look at our room by room cleaning tips below. 

Before taking on your end of tenancy cleaning, knowing that getting it right is critical to getting your deposit back or losing it altogether. It is a very time-consuming affair and you may only have one chance to get it right first time. Most choose to hire in a professional cleaning service such as ourselves to save both time and to ensure that everything is done to the highest specifications. However if you choose to tackle your end of tenancy cleaning DIY style, follow our tips below

Disclaimer: Please be aware that we make no guarantee of a successful deposit return after following our DIY tips below.

Before you tackle your DIY clean

Ensuring that any damage incurred during your tenancy period is repaired. This is the best way to avoid any repair bills from the landlord. If left to the landlord to resolve, chances are this will cost more than doing it yourself.

How you chose to do your end of tenancy cleaning is your decision to make, not the property owners. The property owner can’t force you to hire any particular cleaning company to do the cleaning. The cheapest option is to do the cleaning yourself and this is a great way to save some moving-out expenses, but if you are short on time or not confident in doing so, please consider hiring our end of tenancy cleaning service for a stress free and we like to think and affordable service.

Before starting your cleaning, ensure to contact the property owner or the letting agent and ask for the final inspection checklist. To be sure you’ve done enough cleaning, your work should be based on your inventory and the check-in records.

You are going to also need a few cleaning tools and things to hand to make life easier. Stocking up on things like microfibre cloths, cleaning sponges and cleaning fluids before you start is a good way to ensure that things start off without a hitch. At the very least you are going to need:

1. Powerful vacuum cleaner (Not a weak battery powered one)
2. Mop & bucket
3. Cleaning sponges and microfibre cloths
4. Dusters
5. Cleaning fluids such as bleach, polish and anti-bacterial cleaner
6. Bin liners/sacks and vacuum bags to dispose of any rubbish
7. Cleaning checklist
8. Inventory

The Kitchen

Remove everything from the cupboards and shelves. Remove all the crumbs and deposits, clean both inside and outside and wipe thoroughly clean with a dry cloth. Pull out all appliances and wash beneath and behind walls.

Ensure the appliances are thoroughly clean, both the washing machine and the dishwasher filter and the soap tray. Clean the refrigerator by removing all fridge trays and cleaning the walls, drip tray, racks and cabinets ensuring that they are clean and smelling fresh, you can add these back to the fridge but remember to leave the door open to allow air to circulate and prevent mould.

If the oven is not cleaned regularly, it builds an up a thick layer of grime, household dust, grease and burnt food deposits. There is nothing worse than cleaning someone else’s dirt from an oven while moving into a new home. This is one of the most difficult of the cleaning jobs that requires a lot of energy, time and harsh cleaning agents. As hard and tiring this may be, make sure it’s done perfectly, as the oven is the first item usually checked during the inspection process.

Also, ensure the hob is not left out. The racks, burners, baking trays, switches, handles and all other surfaces should be cleaned. Don’t start cleaning the oven at all if you are not ready to put in the extra effort to get it just right.

Living Room & Dining Room

Nooks and crannies, carpets and dusting is going to be your main jobs in the living and dining rooms, more so if there are some of the landlord’s furniture in place, such as shelves or bookcases. The first job to tackle is to remove any dirt and grime from the furniture such as a coffee table, cupboards, tv stand, bookcases and window sills. Then a very thorough vacuum, this will let you know if you need to clean the carpets or not if you do consider hiring a professional cleaning company to do this part, if not hire an industrial carpet cleaning machine and do this yourself. As with all cleaning products, be sure to spot-check any detergents being used before embarking on this task.

As with all the rooms in the property, it is important to clean all areas, not just where is visible. Failing to clean under the furniture is one sure way to lose your deposit, so be sure to pull furniture out and clean under it such as sofas, sideboards and TV units and even on the edges of any wall decorations such as pictures and mirrors. Clean door handles.

Bedrooms

In addition to the above and if a furnished property, make sure that wardrobes and drawer units are clean and dust free. Move the bed and thourghourly vacuum the area underneath. Clean any mirrors and door handles.

Staircases & Hallways

Halls and stairs, as a rule, tend to see the most foot traffic in a home, so will need a deep clean. Commonly missed are things like skirting boards and bannisters, where dirt and scuff marks are easily missed and could make the difference between receiving your deposit back in full, and loosing out. Cleaning any scuff marks off the skirting boards, and any built-up grime on the bannisters is a time-consuming task, but done correctly it is worth it. The carpet itself will most likely need to be professionally cleaned or at least with a professional carpet cleaning machine to lift all the ground in dirt and dust. If you have an open landing with a rail, be sure to clean all the spindles and check for damage, as these will be visible when the inspection is taking place as the person completes the inspection walks up the stairs with them at eye level. Clean door handles.

Bathrooms & Toilets

The shower head, back of the taps and around the edges of the bath are all common areas that are missed when completing a deep end of tenancy clean in the bathroom. Ensure that all the plug holes are clean and free from debris such as hair and soap deposits, also check that the water flows freely in the sink and bath if it does not or there are any odours coming from the plug holes, clean them with some drain cleaner, and if confident to do so clean the u-bends out.

Ensuring that taps and any stainless steel items such as towel rails are free from limescale and residue is critical, as it is on the list of things that will be inspected. Ensure the toilet bowl, and the lid is clean and get right into the corners where the seat meets the bowl, it’s very easy to miss this part and guaranteed to have some build-up of dust or grime. If looking for extra brownie points, take off the cistern lid and pop in a slow releasing cleaner such as a Bloo. Clean any mirrors and door handles.

Windows

If you can’t reach the windows outside, make sure to clean them well from inside and call a window cleaner to help with cleaning the outside. For cleaning glass and windows, vinegar and alcohol remain the best two products to use.

Any damaged or cracked panes of glass may need to be replaced unless they appear on the check-in records. Clean windows make for a strong first impression on the property and its general cleanliness, making them as clean as possible starts the inspection off on the right foot.

Other Important End Of Tenancy Cleaning Tasks

The big tasks are all listed above, but there are some very important things that need to form part of your end of tenancy clean that are important for every room.

Walls: Check for scuff marks, handprints or general damage and dirt. Clean where possible or consider painting over badly affected areas.

Furniture: Be sure to clean all furniture carefully, and thoroughly. Vacuuming all areas, and cleaning with a safe cleaning solution to eliminate odours. Be sure to get into the nitty-gritty parts like down the back of the sofa cushions etc.

Curtains: Check that the curtains can be washed, and if so run them through a cycle, whilst they are washing clean the poles and tiebacks ensuring free from any dust buildup. If there are blinds in place ensure these are clean, dust-free and not damaged.

Outside: Where applicable if you have gardens or yard space, ensure these are free from rubbish, debris and left in a clean and presentable state. Wheelie bins and or rubbish boxes must also be left cleaned and empty where possible.

Most importantly you need to mark off anything on the checklist and checklist that your landlord or agency have provided at the point of moving in, be sure that everything on that list is checked and completed before you move out and hand the keys back.

In Conclusion:

In some cases, a large end of tenancy clean can take a full day or even two to complete so you need to be committed. Theres little point in wasting your time only to do a half hearted job. So, if all of that seems like too much hard work or far too time-consuming and you are in the Bristol and Bath area Albatross Cleaning can help. We work with lots of landlords and agencies from the local area so we know what the standards they expect and have helped hundreds of tenants pass their final inspection and secure 100% of their deposit back. Get in touch today and let us do all the hard work for you.

“

Rob and the team truly went above and beyond with our end of tenancy clean! Moving house can be so so stressful and with us moving out of Bristol, we weren’t easily available to run backwards and forwards. Rob accommodated brilliantly and I honestly can’t thank him and the team enough! Completely worth the cost and I will definitely be remembering this service for future uses.

Hannah Harrison

Customer Review

“

Full deposit returned! We used Albatross Cleaning to undertake a full end of tenancy clean of two rental properties. They arrived promptly, thoroughly cleaned both properties as instructed and left them in excellent condition. This resulted in us getting our full deposits back. The cleaners were professional, friendly, communicative and helpful and they were kind enough to provide an itemised receipt detailing everything they had done so that we could pass this on to the letting agency. Would 100% recommend them for this kind of work, 5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Alasdair Gravestock du Melville

Customer Review