Moving House - Thorough Clean required

Eliza252 · 24 June 2005 at 11:23AM

Myself and my flat mate are moving out of our rented flat soon. We intend to leave it in a spotless, sparkling clean condition (even though it wasnt particularly clean when we moved in! :rolleyes: ) - so there cannot possibly be any excuse for not giving us our deposit back! Nb. we havent broken anything! Am going to be exploiting the cleaning thread to the fullest of course - but there are a couple of things which are not on there.

First of all: does anyone have any tips for getting netcurtains really really white?
Also, we have a sofa which is looking a little on the grubby side, its just general usage grub not stained or anything! - we cant remove the covers though to wash them - any cleaning tips?

any other moving out cleaning advice would be appreciated!

forgot to say, have to admit our oven is absolutely dire - apparently you can hire someone to come and clean it for you? Ok, its a luxury but I absolutely detest oven cleaning and I'm not generally lazy when it comes to cleaning -I actually brush all of the carpets as we dont have a vacuum. Anyway - anyone used these services? are they any good?

MATH · 24 June 2005 at 11:28AM

If the nets are the usual cheap nylon they will stand a really hot wash (up to 95 c in most cases) a splach of bleach will do them no harm either. HTH

mink35 · 24 June 2005 at 11:56AM

I'm sure I've read on here somewhere of any easy way to clean an oven.......

Will look and see if I can find!

mink35 · 24 June 2005 at 12:01PM

A couple of tips here

and an old thread with an oven cleaner 'recipe' here

The second one is on the old chat forum but can still be accessed.

Lillibet_2 · 24 June 2005 at 12:06PM

Hi Eliza

I used to be a property manager specilsing in legal disputes based on inventories so I have some (consideable) experience in this field.

If you have an inventory from when you moved in, check what it says about cleanliness. Regardless of how you reacall the condition the inventory is what counts, it is a legally binding document & if it says something is recorded as being clean it needs to be returned clean, even if you think it was filthy! (lesson number one : Always double check the inventory when you move in!)

If you have a renatl contract check the clauses, sometimes there is a clause saying you have to retun the property in "as check in condition" (i.e refer to inventory) or "cleaned to professional or industrial standards" (don't waste your time doing it youself, bite the bullet & get the professionals in) or occasionally " clean and habitable" (subjective, do the best job you are able & keep your fingers crossed!) If the contract has any of these clauses you have to adhere to them because you have already agreed, if you don't voluntarily adhere you will have costs to meet these standards deducted from your deposit.

You cannot legally be charged for fair wear & tear. In other words, the landlord cannot expect the property to be returned in as new condition (even if it was when you moved in) but cleanliness is NEVER considered fair wear & tear (there is LOTS of legal precident for this) so things do really need to be much cleaner than usual day to day living standards.

Professional oven cleaning companines, in my expereince, are usually very good & thorough. In this area they cost in the region of £35 plus VAT. Ask your letting agent which one they recommend. You may also wish to consider employing a professional carpet cleaning company. You cannot acheive a high standard of carpet cleaning using a vax or a rug doctor yourself, and it is hard work if you fail the standard. Again, bite the bullet and pay the professionals, ask your letting agent who they recommend.
Although your agents recommended companies may be slightly more expensive than you can source yourself they should know the required standard & get it right first time & if they fail by the agents standards they should return free of charge to put it right. If you source your own cleaning companies they may not meet the required standard & the agent probably won't trust them to re-enter the property to put it right so will send in their own preferred companies at a further cost to you.

HTH & if you have any questions feel free to PM me;)

Lillibet

Nile · 24 June 2005 at 1:00PM

For the net curtains, put them through a water only rinse cylce......to get rid of the accumulated dust.

Then wash them with Persil Automatic powder. If you have a brand new white towel, pop that in the machine at the same time. The towel will help to 'bulk up' the washine machine drum. Net curtains on their own won't tumble/move in the drum very well.........and won't get maximum benefit from the wash cycle.

When the wash cycle has finished, hang them to drip dry on a washing line outside.........you probably won't need to iron them afterwards.

Eliza252 · 24 June 2005 at 1:38PM

Hi Lilllibet,
Thanks so much for your detailed reply - its always useful to hear from those the 'inside' as it were

Am pretty sure there is nothing on my contract about professional cleaning at the end - but I will have a further puruse when I get home this eve.
I have fallen into the trap before of thinking that because my flat contract stated 'flat must be left in the condition it is found in' - and the condition when we moved in was so bad, we could have not wiped the sideboards or done the washing up and that would have fitted the conditions, so we only did a basic clean when we left and ended up being charged a bundle for the privelidge.
- this time am going to make it right (also, just cus I'm nice and quite house proud really

)!
but anyway - will spot check the trusty contract, and if it does say something about professional cleaning see if I cant arrange something with the agency about organising it myself. They are quite reasonable and approachable for a lettings business.

BrokeBrokeBroke · 24 June 2005 at 8:56PM

Maybe they will come round and let you know what they want/expect you to do before you leave, so you can organise it. I spent 2 days scrubbing my last rented house, as well as preparing to emigrate and really could have done without the stress, only for them to give me back a third of the deposit (they charged 'admin' fees for various things). If I ever rented again, I would do a quick hoover, clean the bathrooms and stick the keys through the door as I was leaving. It was not worth the time/effort/stress blablabla I put in.

competitionscafe · 26 June 2005 at 4:01AM

BrokeBrokeBroke wrote:

I spent 2 days scrubbing my last rented house, as well as preparing to emigrate and really could have done without the stress, only for them to give me back a third of the deposit (they charged 'admin' fees for various things). If I ever rented again, I would do a quick hoover, clean the bathrooms and stick the keys through the door as I was leaving. It was not worth the time/effort/stress blablabla I put in.

Have to agree with you there - same thing happened to me at the last flat I rented, spent 3 days cleaning everything (and I only lived there for 9 months).

Letting agency still didn't refund my deposit so I lost 600 quid which is a lot of money in anyones book. I went to CAB but they said it would amount to my word against the letting agency. [There was no damage to the flat and it was as clean as when I moved in]. Seems like it's almost legalised theft as the agent/ landlord can make any excuse to keep your money and/or can deduct 'admin charges'. I think there was talk of a national scheme where rent deposits were held in escrow by a third party - not sure what happended to this idea though.

.

Lillibet_2 · 26 June 2005 at 1:50PM

competitionscafe wrote:

I think there was talk of a national scheme where rent deposits were held in escrow by a third party - not sure what happended to this idea though. .

If you rent through an ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents : Self appointed regulating body who are VERY helpful to agents, Landlords & tenants) then this scheme is in place & the deposit is effectively held in trust until a mutally acceptable decision is reached or if this cannot be reached it goes to indpendent mediation. However, it is only the ARLA agents who are obliged to abide by it, it is not law. For non-ARLA agents & private landlords you would ultimately need to go through the small claims court if you cannot reach a mutally acceptable decision.

HTH

honey28 · 5 July 2006 at 10:18PM

I am moving house in a few weeks time. I keep my house fairly clean and tidy so I don't have too much to do to get it into ship shape for the new owners. I need to clean the oven, hob, tiles, windows etc. I particularly am not looking forward to cleaning the oven - its only a year old but...!

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

Please feel free to move/merge etc if this has already been covered

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Moving House - Thorough Clean required

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