As a landlord, having tenants move out of your investment home – and getting new ones in – is often a time of great stress and uncertainty, so it is important to understand what obligations you have to your new tenants when it comes to the cleanliness and presentation of your property. This post is designed to help you correctly assess your own property and identify the areas often neglected until it is too late, and also offer solutions to the problems many of you will inevitably face.
The Final Inspection
This is where you can save yourself a great deal of time, by simply being as thorough and particular as your prospective future tenants will be. You wouldn’t want to move into a house boasting kitchen drawers littered with bread-crumbs; an oven caked with the oil of a thousand roasts; tarnished door-knobs or windows left looking like the side of a weekend 4WD, so why would anyone else? These are just a few of the things to look for when you are doing the final walk through – they are also some of the most common things tenants miss when “cleaning” the property for the last time.
Minimizing Losses
There is no worse feeling than to have a property vacated, only to then realise what state it was really in – after you’ve returned the tenant’s bond! This makes it even more stressful because it’s money you need to spend and it has to come from your own pocket. All the more reason to make sure your final inspection is done with a fine tooth comb. Often simply calling a cleaning company and getting a quote sent to you, will be enough to claim any cleaning expenses on the property bond.
To Clean or Not to Clean?
Having your property professionally cleaned will help to minimise the time the property is left empty, but it will also allow you greater scope in your asking price – an immaculately cleaned property will always fetch a higher rate than one simply left as the previous tenants left it, so it makes sense to call in the professionals!
Choosing the Right Cleaning Company
How do you choose a cleaning company that is right for the job? This is in fact far easier than you may think, but there are a few key points to look out for.
- Do Not choose a company which “specialises” in move out cleaning – often they aren’t specialised in anything at all. It is better to choose a company with a strong standing in the field of regular weekly or fortnightly cleaning – this says they are as committed to providing impeccable service for your once-off vacate clean as they are to their regular clients.
- Do choose a company that offers a guarantee. And not a simple “Satisfaction Guaranteed” gimmick, but a guarantee that the company stands by, and a guarantee system that dictates what happens, should you be less than impressed with their work.
- Do Not simply settle for the elderly lady at the end of the street who charges you $15/hr – you will regret cutting this corner very rapidly should she injure herself whilst on your property.
- Do choose a company which is fully insured and whose staff have current federal police clearances. It is simply too big a risk to not demand this.
- Do Not choose a company based on price alone – The spectrum of quality in the cleaning industry is vast, and you will usually get exactly what you pay for.
- Do ask whether the company has any affiliation with real estate companies, i.e. does the company do move out and end of lease cleaning on a regular basis for an existing client? If they do, it is a sure bet they will exceed your expectations and deliver the results needed.
- Do ask exactly what the company can do for you, and do ensure they will deliver on what you need.
- Do choose a company that is in the public eye. It may seem irrelevant, but a cleaning company with a presence on social networking sites is a very strong indication that they are worth every penny because these networks are very feedback driven, and as such, their reputation is always at stake. Surf sites like Facebook and Twitter and if they aren’t anywhere to be seen, then don’t bother with them at all.