Moving out of a place is uniquely stressful because of the cleaning requirements. The money you get back for your security deposit is tied to how clean the place is when you leave.
In a lot of cases, landlords will charge extremely high hourly rates for cleaning, and there’s little chance that you’ll have much to say about it. We’re going to talk about some methods to use during your end of lease clean so that you can get as much money back as possible.
Let’s take a look.
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Fill Out The Quality Checklist
This goes back to the beginning of the lease, but odds are you’re moving out of one place and into another, so this is a good point to focus on.
Make sure to detail all of the chips, cracks, and faults in the place when you move in, and let the landlord know. Most of the time, they give you a checklist to fill out.
Doing this keeps you safe from getting charged for those things when you move out. Read more to find out a little extra about end-of-lease cleaning policies and how much they can cost you in the long run.
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Windowsills and Vents
There are a few spots in the house that most people forget to clean. This is because you don’t typically think about them, and you’ve lived in the place so long that they just blend into the scenery.
Two of these are windowsills and vents. According to Cleaner Wiki, these are areas where a lot of dirt compiles, and most of that dirt has been there for a while. It might take a few minutes to clean, but that’s far better than paying your landlord $50 for the “hour” it would take them to do it.
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Fix Minor Cosmetics
There are a lot of things that you can do to repair any dents or marks that you’ve put into the walls. A lot of the time, some putty and a little bit of paint will make things good as new.
The same goes for holes from nails. If you can manage to smooth these things over, you’ll be in a good position with your security deposit.
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Clean The Carpets
We often forget the cleaning requirements specified in the lease. A lot of times, that means having your carpets thoroughly cleaned on your own dime.
Make sure you do this with a machine yourself or call a company to do it for you. It’s probably the case that a friend or relative has a carpet cleaner somewhere in their possession, and you should see if you can take care of it yourself.
It’ll save you a good deal of money.
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Clean Your Oven Range
Finally, most of us forget that ovens get extremely dirty over the course of the year. Most ranges will have a “clean” function that you should run to cleanse things out.
If you’re not sure how to clean this appliance, look at what kind of model it is and try to search online for instructions. The nice thing is that most ovens can clean themselves in similar ways, so instructions from other units should do the trick.
Doing Your End of Lease Clean?
If you’re taking care of your end of lease clean now, it’s likely that you have a lot of work ahead of you. From moving out of your current place to finding a new one, you might need a little more advice.
We’re here to help. Explore our site for more ideas and insights into how you can improve the moving process.
