Nov

What do you do if tenants leave you to clean up?

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Cleaning Services:

Most residential landlords have been in the painful situation of a tenant leaving their property in a poor condition.

Despite clear rules in most rental contracts, a minority of poorly-behaved tenants cause huge amounts of problems for the owners of their homes. This is particularly difficult when the owner has worked hard to purchase their property and renovate it to a high standard.

To avoid these problems when renting out your property, it is important to communicate with your tenant and provide sensible advice. This process should start as soon as you hand over the keys.

Regular rental property maintenance

In your early conversations with your tenant, you should mention:

That not venting bathrooms and kitchens causes mould growth
That not hoovering the carpets or soft furnishings on a regular basis ruins them
Mention the jobs you expect to be done on a regular basis, whether this is maintaining the garden areas or cleaning the carpets
Indicate your expectations for the condition of the property when they leave

You may also want to share useful tips for looking after your property – and therefore the tenant’s deposit.

For example, regular vacuum cleaning will prolong the lives of carpets and soft furnishings. And carpet spillages are not best dealt through the use of products like Vanish. This may work on synthetic carpets, but generally, it is best if a professional can deal with carpet damage.

To make sure these things are done, you are within your rights to ask for regular inspections of your property. As long as you give at least 24 hours’ notice, you can reasonably do these as often as you wish. Quarterly, or even monthly, visits are not hugely unusual. You will, however, need to balance the urge for these visits with your tenants’ rights to peace and quiet.

Information to give rental tenants

To keep things moving smoothly in a tenancy, it’s sensible to also give your tenants a laminated list of contact numbers, just in case anything happens. These could be numbers to use if you’re not available or just useful information. Think about things like a plumber’s number or a local taxi company.

The other information that you need to share is about how to manage the moving out process. This way there is a clear expectation for your tenants to understand from the beginning of the tenancy. This could be:

Details of a good end of tenancy cleaning company
Details of a professional carpet cleaning company

Local estate agents can also be a good source for recommendations for these types of services. They use them on a regular basis.

The general advice you should give for example is that cheap end of tenancy cleaning London companies may not always deliver a great service for the price they charge. And this may mean tenants end up paying anyway thanks to avoidable deductions from their deposit.

What’s really needed, for the benefit of the tenant and the landlord, is a really thorough, high-quality cleaning service. After working with the majority of the top estate agents and property management companies, we at Cleaner Cleaner have seen it all.

If all of your tenants could maintain our standards, you’d never have a problem at all.