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End Of Tenancy Bedroom Cleaning How-Tos

When it comes to moving out and getting everything looking the way it should so you can get your deposit money back from your landlord, some rooms are harder than others. Bedrooms are some of the easier ones to clean; however, because they’re comparatively easy to prepare relative to, say, the kitchen, it can be only too easy to skimp and cut corners… which is a very bad idea, as the bedrooms are some of the areas that potential tenants like to have nice, so the landlord will probably be pretty picky about it.

This means that, like every other room in the house, it pays to have a good checklist for the tasks that need to be done when doing end of tenancy cleaning in your bedroom and your children’s bedrooms. Every London professional moving out cleaner knows that a checklist is an absolute must, and it would be a mistake to believe that because the bedroom appears to be such a simple room to clean, you won’t forget anything. As more than a few people have found out about their costs, this isn’t always the case.

Bedroom Moving Out Cleaning Basics

As with all the other rooms in the house, do your packing before you do the cleaning. Don’t try to do both chores simultaneously, as you won’t do it justice. What’s more, the chances of getting distracted are high because of what most of us have in our bedrooms (books, memorabilia, clothes that have been shoved to the back of the wardrobe). Stay focused on one thing at a time. If you already have your attention split between packing and cleaning, it’s only too easy to get distracted by another thing. Don’t try to declutter and decide which of your clothes spark joy and which don’t fit you anymore. Leave that to when you unpack.

In fact, you probably want to pack as much as you possibly can before moving out day. In the bedroom, it pays to have what you’ll need for your last night in the old home and the first night in the new one in an overnight bag. Put what you’ll need in the way of undies and clean clothes in your overnight bag – and don’t forget things like medications, clean sheets, kids’ favourite teddies and pillows. After all, when you get to the new place (hopefully you won’t have to move further away from London), the chances are that you’ll be so tired after moving (even if you get a professional cleaning company in to do the end of tenancy cleaning) all you’ll want to do is get the bed set up and have a good sleep. It pays to have the sheets handy for this!

Anyway, you probably can’t do any deep cleaning properly in the bedroom until the bed is out of there, so don’t try. Having a clear room also allows you to see what needs to be done – like those pencil scribbles on the wall courtesy of your toddler that were behind the bed and you never noticed!

Your Bedroom Cleaning Checklist

Your bedroom may not have some of the features mentioned in this list, so you don’t have to clean out the built-in wardrobe if your room doesn’t have one. However, these are the jobs that need to be done in the bedroom when moving out.

Wardrobes and Cupboards

Clear them completely, including in all the dark corners and that top cupboard where you’ve shoved quite a lot of junk over the years. Remove cobwebs and vacuum. If there’s a mirror on the front of the door, then clean the glass.

Walls

Bedroom walls don’t usually need much in the way of wiping down the way that kitchen walls do, but they still need it. Check the paint and/or paper for marks – pencil scribbles, spatters of makeup or spilt coffee. Also, watch out for holes in the paint or paper left by drawing pins (thumbtacks) or Blu-tack that held up posters and pictures. These will need to be removed. A small amount of dishwasher detergent and a soft old toothbrush or cloth plus GENTLE scrubbing will often do the trick to get the Blu-tack off. If your landlord is fussy about holes left by drawing pins (some are, especially if there are lots of holes!), then one old trick to filling them in is to use toothpaste. You may have to tint the toothpaste to the right colour to match the walls but do so after the toothpaste has dried. If your kids used sticky tape to put up posters (whoops – bad idea!) then the detergent trick plus gentle scrubbing will remove the residue, but this will take delicate handling and will take a long time.

Skirting boards, Dado Rails and Architraves

Damp-dust these well.

Cobwebs

Remove them. Check around the lightbulb, in the corners of windows and the corners of the room. Spiders go everywhere.

Windowsills

Damp-dust these as well. You may also need to gently wipe off those annoying brown fly spots as well.

Windows

Wash them inside and out, assuming that you can reach the outside of the window safely. If you can’t reach the outside of an upstairs bedroom window safely, then call for a professional to do the job for you.

Light Fittings

These collect a surprising amount of dust, so once the bed is out of the way, get on a sturdy chair or stepladder and clean the light fitting (make sure the light is switched off!). Don’t forget to clean the light bulb as well, but if it’s a really grubby incandescent bulb, then you can just replace it. You may want to replace other types of bulbs as well if you’re keen.

Fans and Radiators

These will need a good session of damp-dusting and cobweb removal.

Curtains

These may need a spot of cleaning to remove grime and fly spots. If they’re just dusty, clean the upholstery attachment of your vacuum cleaner and remove the dust with this. It’s probably not smart to try washing the curtains in a place you rent, as you could ruin the curtains, depending on what they’re made of. You could try taking them down to the dry cleaners if they’re very dirty. You may need to talk to your landlord about this and see what he/she expects. If the curtains are getting a bit old and shabby, your landlord may want to replace them anyway. If the curtains are tatty and you know that you or your kids did it, it might be a wise idea to replace them outright. You can probably pick up cheap curtains cheaper if you hunt around than you’d lose on your deposit money. Net and lace curtains can be washed carefully by hand and dried outside on a line or a rack in the wind and sunshine, not in the tumble dryer.

Carpet

Give it a good vacuum last of all once you’ve done everything else. You may want to get the carpet professionally steam-cleaned, especially if there are a few stains on the carpet. This is usually a good idea, as you are probably used to the odd smell in your bedroom because it’s normal for you. However, a new tenant or your landlord will notice it! If your children went through the potty training and wet knickers stage in your old house and you’ve never had the carpet deep cleaned, then it may pay to do this as part of the moving out cleaning, as there is likely to be a very faint smell of old wee.

After that, you can just close the door and say goodbye to your old bedroom. This can be a bit emotional, given the importance of bedrooms in our lives and how personal a space they are.

How To
Cleaning Appliances Before Moving Out

When the end of tenancy gets discussed, we tend to think about things like wiping down the skirting boards, scrubbing the walls and clearing out the dusty, cobwebby cupboards. It’s easy to forget that the appliances need to be deep cleaned, especially if the appliances in question were rented along with the rest of the house (if you own the fridge, washing machine or whatever, that’s another story). However, it can be easy to forget about them – which comes back to bite you in the backside if you leave a packet of frozen peas in the deep freeze for the next people (and the landlord) to find all mushy and disgusting.

All the white goods are certain things that professional end of tenancy cleaning companies have to deep clean as part of our standard moving out cleaning checklist. What’s more, if you hire a team of professionals to do the cleaning work for you so you get your deposit money back, they will pay attention to the appliances (if there are any). If you want to do your own moving out cleaning, you need to know how to do the job properly.

Ovens – The Big Bad Boss

We will reverse things from the plot of your typical video game or fantasy novel and start with the kitchen appliance that is the hardest and the nastiest to clean – the oven. Even if the landlord doesn’t provide any other appliances, there will be an oven, which will need more than a quick wipe-down for end of tenancy cleaning. It will be a hard job, so prepare to spend plenty of time and energy on it. The self-cleaning function on an oven will help, but it won’t work miracles, and you’ll need to spend a bit of time scrubbing.

You can opt for a store-bought spray. In this case, read the instructions and follow the safety precautions regarding gloves and good ventilation, as this stuff will do to your skin what it does to grease.

The other option is to mix baking soda and water into a paste. You’ll need to apply quite a lot of it all over the inside of the oven, then leave it to sit for a while before scrubbing like mad. The baking soda will cut the grease, but you will need to do a lot of rubbing and scrubbing.

You can also help it on its way with steam – put a bowl of hot water (from the kettle) inside the oven, shut the door and switch the oven on hot so the water boils and steams all over the place. Leave the door shut for 30 or so minutes. Then open the door and wipe down the loosened grime and other debris. You may need to follow this with baking soda.

It’s hard work – and did you know that it’s possible to call a professional in to clean the oven?

Cleaning The Fridge

With the fridge, you’ll need to clean it out thoroughly. This involves switching it off at the wall, removing everything inside it, wiping out larger bits of debris, and then getting stuck in with the baking soda and water, which does a great job of cleaning fridges and absorbing odours as well. Whip out the racks and trays, and wash them by hand in the sink.

During moving out cleaning, don’t forget to pull the fridge out from the wall, clean the floor underneath it, and damp-dusting the dust and other grime off the back of it.

Cleaning The Freezer

Whether the freezer is part of the fridge or a separate unit or both, it will need to be defrosted as part of the moving out cleaning. To do this, remove whatever’s inside, switch the unit off at the wall, and then pop a couple of thick absorbent towels down the bottom. Now get a bowl of boiling water and pop that inside the unit, and shut the door firmly. Wait a while (overnight is good), then open the door and remove the water. You should find sopping wet towels and some chunks of ice. Remove the chunks of ice and the towels, then blot up any more water sloping around. If you need to, use a spatula to remove any ice remaining around the walls. Wipe out the stray bits of diced carrot and corn that will have inevitably hidden in the corners. If the inside looks gungy, use baking soda and water to remove the grime.

How To Clean A Washing Machine

Washing machines collect a surprising amount of gunge. Your first step is to clean out the lint trap. Then run a cycle on hot with nothing in it, using several cups of white vinegar instead of ordinary laundry detergent or powder (some people swear by dishwasher detergent tablets, dissolving them first before adding them to the tub). Once the machine has run through the cycle, wipe out the inside, around the lid, hinges, and any other parts you can reach. Don’t forget to clean the floor underneath the machine and remove grime from the back.

Cleaning Out The Dryer

Dryers get sticky inside if you use dryer sheets that prevent static cling. If you use these, then use washing up liquid and water to scrub the inside of the drum, then dry it out thoroughly. If you don’t use these sheets, then damp-dusting the inside will do the job and should remove most gunge from the inside. Empty the lint trap, wipe down the top and the sides with your favourite cleaner, and you’re good to go – apart from washing the floor underneath the dryer and dusting the back, especially around the vents.

Cleaning The Dishwasher

Start by cleaning out the filter and removing any visible bits that are lying around the bottom (there are always those people who don’t rinse and scrape plates properly). Then run a cycle on hot with baking soda instead of your regular dishwasher powder or tablet and vinegar instead of the rinse aid. Finish by drying out the inside with a towel. If the dishwasher is a free-standing unit rather than built into a cupboard, pull it out, clean the floor underneath it and wipe down the back and all the other sides.

Cleaning A Microwave Oven

Last but not least, don’t forget the little microwave. Do you know how to clean a microwave oven properly?

Start by removing the turntable – wash it in the sink by hand like your dishes. Then remove anything visible (usually peas – always peas!). Now put a bowl of boiling water inside, shut the door, zap it on high for 10 minutes, and leave the door shut for another 20 minutes. The steam will loosen the grime and grease. Now open the door, remove the bowl of water, and then give the inside a good wipe with baking soda paste. Finish by wiping down the top, back and sides… and don’t forget the wall and bit of countertop where the microwave was standing.

After You’ve Finished

Once you’ve cleaned all the appliances and are ready to move out, you need to leave them so they won’t go nasty and mouldy for the next tenant. Ovens are usually OK, as they have decent ventilation and don’t tend to grow mouldy. The best way to prevent mould is to leave the units switched off at the wall (especially in the case of the fridge and freezer) with the door slightly open to allow air to flow in and out, which will allow the unit to dry thoroughly and will deter mould (spiders are another story, but this is something that you can’t do anything about).

Thoughts
Embarking on a Journey Called End of Tenancy Startup Cleaning Business

An Idea is Born

I’m no stranger to the UK property market, having worked in the industry for a few years. But recently, while helping friends and family move out of their tenancies, I realised something was missing: a robust end of tenancy cleaning service that could handle even the most demanding of properties and pass all landlords’ and tenants’ inventory checks before vacating. 

And so, my own end of tenancy cleaning business was born – to ensure both landlords and tenants had everything covered when it comes to leaving a property immaculate behind.

First Obstacles – What is Required of Tenancy Checkout Cleans

As a start-up business, I needed to understand exactly what was required from me when cleaning a property – vacating or otherwise. It wasn’t easy, as many customers have different expectations, but it’s become my mission to ensure each job is completed with the utmost care and attention.

Starting from scratch was always going to be daunting, but I wanted to make sure that no corner would be left uncleaned – no matter how hard it might be. My goal is that every tenant feels confident handing their old property back to its rightful owner without fear of losing some or all of their deposit. 

To ensure this is the case, each of our cleaners is highly trained in both techniques and customer care – ensuring that every single step of the process has been undertaken properly when carrying out an end of tenancy clean on any London property. 

How Does the Inventory Check Process Work

The process begins with knowing exactly what’s required for the inventory check, followed by a thorough deep clean of all areas of the property – from top to bottom – guaranteed to meet all tenant standards. Once finished, there’s a detailed final walkthrough with both landlord and tenant present to confirm everything has been cleaned as agreed before any deposit is returned.

Our services also include help with moving furniture around as part of deep cleans if necessary; removing built-up dust from skirting boards; taking off wall stickers; wiping down surfaces; hoovering carpets and upholstery; shining bathrooms, kitchens and ovens; moping hard floors like wood or tiles; steam cleaning curtains where appropriate… The list goes on! 

Ultimately, we aspire for the highest possible standard when passing tenants’ final walkthroughs with flying colours – leaving them relaxed ahead despite all the stresses involved in moving home. It’s what we do best here – taking note after note until no grime is left behind. 

Of course, this level-headed approach takes more than just elbow grease – my team is uniquely qualified to get your property sparkling like new, whatever you throw at us! As soon as you call us up, rest assured your safety remains in our capable hands until completion – always going above and beyond expectations when signed off by either party. 

Word of Mouth is King

Through word of mouth recommendations and positive reviews online, I’m proud that I’m helping make this all too common transition just that little bit easier, allowing everyone involved to move on with peace of mind. 

I feel passionate about delivering great service and offering valuable insights where specific queries are asked throughout the whole process so there’s never any doubt or confusion between tenant, landlord & myself – we’re all on the same page here! 

At times it hasn’t been easy juggling long hours whilst keeping up with customer enquiries and administrative tasks (yes, there are lots of those!), but at least now I can confidently say that being an end-of-tenancy cleaning expert is something I know inside out! All in all? Operating my own business has been one of life’s greatest teachers, teaching me dedication and commitment like no other job ever has!

I’ve come a long way since starting up a few months ago, yet every day brings fresh surprises and newfound fortune from satisfied customers who highly recommend us! So if you’re looking for support leaving your next tenancy or got stuck on where to start for an incoming one, remember: our expert end-of-tenancy service is always ready for take-off!

Thoughts
RIGO Cleaners  – Your Reliable End of Tenancy Cleaning Partner In London

Moving out of your London flat? Looking for a reliable end of tenancy cleaning company that can take care of the standard cleaning procedures? RIGO Cleaners has helped hundreds of tenants in some of London’s most exclusive residential areas to transition from one place of residence to another smoothly. We have also gained the trust and respect of many landlords who can vouch for the quality of our service. If experience and hard work count the most in our business, RIGO Cleaners has it both in abundance!

What Are My Tenancy Obligations, And When Do You Need Us 

When you sign your Assured Shorthold Tenancy agreement, a clause obliges you to perform an end of tenancy cleaning procedure upon leaving. Thus, the landlords ensure they get their property in the same condition as when you moved in. Legally, you are bound by your tenancy contract to use the services of a professional cleaning company that possesses the necessary certificates to perform the end of tenancy cleaning.

What Does Our Service Package Include

  • Vacuum cleaning
  • Thorough window cleaning
  • Washing and polishing all surfaces
  • Dusting all rooms.

Cleaning in the kitchen includes:

  • Cleaning all cupboards
  • Cleaning all sinks and taps
  • Thorough deep cleaning of all kitchen appliances
  • Taking out all food left
  • Degreasing of wall tiles.

Cleaning in the bathroom includes:

  • Cleaning and polishing of the shower screen
  • Brushing and cleaning the toilet
  • Cleaning and polishing of the bath, basin and taps.

Please note that carpet cleaning is not included in the end of tenancy cleaning service package and is charged separately.

Prices

Studio £ 150.00
1 bed & 1 bath£ 199.00
1 bed & 2 bath£ 239.00
2 bed & 1 bath£ 259.00
2 bed & 2 bath£ 289.00
2 bed & 3 bath£ 299.00
3 bed & 1 bath£ 279.00
3 bed & 2 bath£ 299.00
3 bed & 3 bath£ 329.00
3 bed & 4 bath£ 359.00
4 bed & 1 bath£ 339.00
4 bed & 2 bath£ 35900
4 bed & 3 bath £ 379.00
5 bed & 1 bath£ 419.00
5 bed & 2 bath£ 439.00
5 bed & 3 bath£ 459.00
5 bed & 4 bath£ 479.00
6 bed & 2 bath£ 499.00
6 bed & 3 bath£ 539.00
6 bed & 4 bath£ 579.00
Extra room (utility/ laundry/dining room/toilet/reception)£ 30.00

RIGO Cleaners – Fast, Efficient and Reliable

RIGO Cleaners specialise in providing high-quality end of tenancy cleaning services in London. There are three peculiar features that set us apart from our competitors.

  • Efficiency – our end of tenancy cleaning teams have all the knowledge and expertise necessary to clean your former place of residence to perfection. We work with the best detergents and cleaning methods you can find on the market- high-quality performance guaranteed.
  • Speed- we understand how important time is in such cases. It usually takes us less than 72 hours from your initial call to perform the end of tenancy cleaning and additional 24 hours to meet with your landlord and work out the legal details.
  • Reliability- whatever problem you encounter related to cleaning while you move out, you can count on us. Furthermore, if your landlord is unhappy with the final results, we are prepared to repeat the cleaning with no additional fee.

Where can you find us

We cover the entire M25 area, so there is no problem calling and booking us wherever you live in London.