Whether you’re a tenant preparing to hand over the keys or a landlord expecting a spotless property, vacate cleaning is your key to success. End of lease cleaning is not just about making the place look tidy – it’s about meeting the strict rental standards and ensuring a smooth transition.
For tenants, thorough cleaning is essential to secure a full bond refund, while landlords and property managers rely on high cleanliness standards to prepare the space for new occupants. A well-structured checklist ensures that no area is overlooked, reducing disputes and making the process stress-free for everyone.
This article provides a comprehensive vacate cleaning checklist designed by professionals to meet industry expectations. From deep cleaning kitchens and bathrooms to tackling hidden dust and grime, every essential task is covered. Whether you plan to handle the cleaning yourself or hire experts for a budget vacate cleaning in Perth, following this step-by-step guide will help you achieve a spotless home and a hassle-free move-out experience.
Let’s dive in.
1. General Cleaning
Start with a thorough general cleaning of the entire property. This includes giving everything a thorough dusting, including walls, skirting boards and light switches. Vacuum and mop the floors, especially if there are stains on your carpets or marks on your tiled floors. You also need to remove smudges, dirt and fingerprints from areas like the doorknobs, doors and their handles, and as for the windows, the frames, sills and the window itself needs to be cleaned both inside and out (if accessible). Make sure to remove cobwebs from the ceilings and corners as well.
2. Kitchen Deep Cleaning
The kitchen is one of those areas that is heavily scrutinised during a comprehensive vacate cleaning in Perth inspection. To ensure that you’re meeting all the necessary requirements, don’t forget to clean all the cupboards (inside and out); clean the stovetops, oven and range hood with special care and attention to remove the built-up grime in them.
Conduct a thorough oven cleaning, including cleaning the racks and trays. A few other tick marks include scrubbing the sinks and taps to remove any limescale or stains from them and cleaning both behind and underneath heavy appliances like the fridge or dishwasher (if possible).
3. Bathroom and Laundry Cleaning
Bathrooms require deep sanitation to meet rental expectations. Scrub and disinfect the toilet, sink, bathtub and shower, ensuring that you have removed all soap scum, mould, limescale and water marks from them. Mirrors should be wiped clean.
Exhaust fans should be dusted. Any missing or damaged grout must be replaced and cleaned thoroughly. In the laundry area, sinks, taps and washing machine spaces must be cleaned and any lint in the dryer should be removed to ensure that everything is left behind in pristine condition.
4. Carpet and Floor Cleaning
Floors play a crucial role during meticulous vacate cleaning in Perth, as carpets, tiles and wooden floors need to be left spotless in order to secure a full bond refund. Vacuuming alone may not be enough, especially if your carpets have absorbed some of the dirt over time.
Professional steam cleaning is often recommended in such cases, and in the case of wooden or tiled floors, scrubbing and polishing wherever necessary is needed to restore the original shine of these elements. Along with these, be mindful of the grout lines between the tiles, as dirt tends to accumulate here and can become a red flag during the time of inspection.
5. Walls, Doors and Fixtures
Marks and scuffs on the walls should be removed using a mild detergent or magic eraser. If there are significant stains or peeling paint, consider touching up the paintwork. Along with these, some other key points to take care of include dusting and wiping light fixtures, ceiling fans and air conditioning vents; checking the functioning of smoke detectors; light bulbs need to be checked and replaced when necessary; and things like door tracks and sliding doors should be vacuumed and cleaned to remove accumulated dust and grime.
6. Outdoor and Garage Areas
If the property has any outdoor spaces, cleaning is a must here, too. For a comprehensive cleaning of the outdoors, sweep and mop the balcony or patio, ensuring that any outdoor furniture is also made dust-free. If your property includes a garden, be sure to trim the grass and hedges, lay down fresh mulch in the flower beds and remove any rubbish from the area.
For the garage, the floors need to be swept and oil stains removed, storage shelves should be wiped, and the garage doors should be cleaned. If your property has a bin area, ensure all the rubbish is disposed of and the bins washed.
Complete Vacate Cleaning Checklist by Pros
Wrapping Up
Vacate cleaning is a crucial step when aiming for a smooth transition from your old property. By following the checklist that professional end of lease cleaners follow, you’ll be all set to meet the expectations of your landlord and property manager and leave behind the property in excellent condition. While many opt to go DIY for this task, choosing professionals will help save time and effort as well as reduce the chances of bond deductions. Regardless of the option you choose to go ahead with, this checklist will be handy for you to have, when carrying out vacate cleaning.