Preparing your house for the new tenants

Preparing your house for the new tenants

There are different factors that come into focus when managing a property. However, it all boils down to ensuring that you get tenants taking up the space. You only make revenue when you have people actually living in the house or apartment. In a perfect world, you would have tenants remaining in the household for years. However, the reality of things is that there will be changes, with some moving out to their permanent homes or getting transferred to a different area, relocations due to financial situations, or even family issues. Your goal as the landlord or property manager is to make the residential space attractive to renters who are dependable, and who will feel at home. Measures like sufficient parking, providing energy-efficient appliances, and ensuring that repairs are handled in a timely manner are part and parcel of this. One more thing is critical: cleaning. This is especially after a tenant has moved out, leaving the premises empty and in need of a new occupant. How do you convince potential tenants that they should take up the space? After all, there are multiple establishments in your locality that are also empty, and everyone wants to put their best foot forward to prevent their property from remaining empty for long. The end of tenancy cleaning is part of the preparations needed here. Here is why you should hire a professional for this:

Increase the appeal of the house

You want tenants to be attracted to the property, not turned off by a soiled premises. Before they move in, they will be particularly keen on the condition of the house, picturing themselves living there – and you want them to have a positive perception about the house. Stains, dirt spots and odours are a turn off. They depict a premises that is not properly taken care of – and if these can be noticed during the house tour itself, what about the hidden problems with the building’s structural integrity? Without a clean interior your property will lose out to competitors in the locality. You don’t want it remaining empty for ages, as this will mean that there is no revenue coming in from the particular space. Bring in the professional end of tenancy cleaning crew that will get rid of the grime that was left behind by the previous tenants, to spruce up the premises in readiness for the new arrivals.

They do a better job than a DIY

With an experienced and well-equipped end of tenancy cleaning crew, you will get far superior results than taking it on as a DIY project. Here, we’re talking about a company that is well established, and has been providing the services for long, with numerous positive reviews from clients who have previously hired the service. A team that takes pride in carrying out a thorough job – and you can see this from the numerous clients turning to them for their end of tenancy cleaning needs. Since the focus is to make tenants want to live in the house, giving a qualified crew for the task will give it that lure you desire. 

Save your time and money

Landlords typically don’t have time in their diaries to keep cleaning up after each tenant moves out – especially when there are multiple properties under their watch. Having to schedule entire days to give the whole house a top-to-bottom clean can really put a strain on your plans. There are also those landlords who have different jobs that demand their attention. Leave the end of tenancy cleaning to the pros who carry this out on a day-to-day basis, to take the burden off your back and allow you to focus on other aspects of your work and social life. 

Having to chomp off a significant part of your budget to arrange for extra cleaning equipment to handle the tasks involved will eat into your profit margins. What’s more, given that different sets of machinery are required, from the floor care to carpet and upholstery cleaning, window washing to working on the bathrooms, walls and ceilings, it adds to the strain on finances. Hiring an established end of tenancy cleaning company that is already equipped with the required machines will be more cost-friendly for your operations. 

Moreover, one of the most common issues that landlords receive from new tenants checking into residential spaces relates to the cleanliness of the space. You end up having to arrange for the cleaning to be done on short notice. Wouldn’t you rest easier knowing that you had a reliable cleaning service on speed dial? When you engage a professional end of tenancy cleaning company to handle the needs of your property, you will be in a position to bring them in whenever there is an issue that needs to be resolved, to get the premises ready for a new tenant who wants to move in urgently. 

Get a better deal on your house

Looking to put your house out on the market? Perhaps you’re an empty nester, and the kids have moved out so you want to shift to a smaller house since you don’t need all that extra space. You may have landed a promotion that can now enable you to move into a bigger house for the growing family, and have decided to sell the one you’re currently in. Relocating to a different state or country to work or for family, aspects like a change in your financial state – there are different reasons why people move. Whichever the case, you want to ensure that you get a good deal for the house you’re looking to sell. 

As you’ve probably seen on any real estate blog, the cleaning of the house has a direct impact on its ability to attract prospective buyers. Sure, there are different ways to make them interested in the property, from sprucing up the curb appeal to staging the house to enable them to envision living in it, but cleanliness is core to the process. If persons interested in the property find it in a soiled and messy state, it will be a turn-off, causing the house to remain on the market for longer. An end of tenancy cleaning comes in here, giving the house a thorough wash that will make the residence inviting. In case you’re staying in the house with furnishings provided, the cleaning processes can also cover this. Giving the carpets and upholstery a thorough wash to remove the grime that has built up in them over time will restore the sparkle to the premises, and also get rid of those musky odours that could be pervading the indoor air space.

Value of end of tenancy cleaning for renters

Are you moving out of a house or apartment that you had rented? A deep cleaning is required. A soiled residence will be a deal breaker when it comes to getting your security deposit back. Note that the level of cleaning required here goes beyond the routine wiping and mopping that was being carried out over the course of your stay. Those stains that had been ignored and forgotten over time, the grime that is in the nooks and crannies of the house, the scale deposits that had built up on the bathroom surfaces, and even those odours that became “normal” all need to be got rid of. The landlord’s priority is getting the house ready for the next tenant who will be interested in it, and will be particularly keen on the cleanliness standards of the premises before agreeing to hand over the deposit. In fact, the main causes of security deposit disputes revolve around cleaning.

What needs to be covered? Let’s take a top-to-bottom approach of things that are on your to-do list. See those cobwebs on the ceiling? You may have ignored these over the course of the lease, but they need to go before the landlord comes for the inspection. Sure, a vacuum or broom can be used to help pull down the cobwebs,  but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Dust on the ceiling and lighting fixtures also needs to be got rid of. Dust blinds – whose role is literally reducing the dust that gets indoors, will also need to be worked on. What about the windows? They will be some of the main things that the landlord will be keen on, looking into issues like grime that has coated the glass panes, insect residue on the sills, all through to smudges around the frames of the windows. Sure, many of these are not even your fault. After all, you don’t exactly plan for insects to go straddling across the window, or birds to come perch on the sill and leave behind their faecal waste. Be that as it may, the responsibility for getting rid of the gunk will still fall on you as the tenant. 

Looks like a load of work, right? What’s more, you’re likely already swamped with a long list of things to do during the moving process, that carrying out an in-depth end of tenancy cleaning will strain you. Don’t fret. Simply bring in the professionals to handle the task. Here, you want to engage with a crew that has the right training and experience for the task. When reviewing the different local end of tenancy cleaning companies, check out their past reviews and ratings, such as on social media sites and business directory listings. What do the previous clients have to say about the quality of their end of tenancy cleaning services? Also ask about the kind of training and certification that their personnel have received. This, coupled with the customer service when the company personnel are engaging you, will show you the professionalism with which they carry out their mandate. 

The professional end of tenancy cleaning crew is also quicker than the average person handling the job – and this is particularly important during the time-sensitive moving process, where delays can be quite an inconvenience. A well-established end of tenancy cleaning company that sticks to schedule, arriving at the residence at the agreed-upon time, and works with high capacity machinery to get the cleaning done in a fraction of time that it would have taken a DIY job will give you peace of mind, allowing you to focus on the logistics of the move, and ensure that things flow smoothly. 

When it comes to costs, compare the rates that are provided by the local end of tenancy cleaning firms, to get a range of what to expect for your particular situation. Be wary of companies whose services are priced way below those of their competitors. Remember, cheap is expensive, and the last thing you want to be forced to handle in the middle of the moving process is liabilities from a poorly done job, or repairs that need to be done because of the wrong cleaning processes being used. Aspects that will affect the end of tenancy cleaning costs include the size and number of rooms being worked on, the location of the residence, the time at which the service is being scheduled – such as for those who want the house cleaning to be done outside normal working hours, all through to aspects like appliance cleaning, where units like ovens and refrigerators are to be worked on. 

When is it ideal to have the end of tenancy cleaning?

While there is no fixed rule here, it is generally encouraged to schedule the end of tenancy cleaning after all the furniture and personal belongings have been removed from the house. This will enable the team providing the service to ensure that all the surfaces have been covered, including those hidden stains, plus the nooks and crannies of the residence. What’s more the packing process tends to be hectic, and as the movers pick and load your belongings, they can track in more soiling into the house. Scheduling the cleaning after all this has been done will ensure that even the residue dirt is got rid of.

Preparing your house for the new tenants