End of lease cleaning can be a tricky business and if you’re not careful you could end up with very little return on your initial bond returned to you when you vacate the premises.

Are you moving house over the coming months? Remember that hefty bond you gave to your landlord when you first moved in? Well now’s the time to start thinking about making sure you get that bond back in full. With some forward thinking you can ensure you do all you can to get that end of lease cleaning bond back in full.

The first thing to do is dust off that document organizer (you do keep one of those right!) and find the checklist that you received when you moved in that shows the state of all the wall, windows, carpets and appliances in the premises when you moved in. This should give you a good idea of what state the premises was in when you first moved in. And this is what you should be aiming for with your end of lease clean. If there was a stain on the wall or carpet when you moved in and it was duly noted on the sheet then there’s no need to worry about it, just concentrate on the discrepancies between what’s on the sheet and what in the home.

Broken items can often be a source of major with-holdings by landlords so its often best to try and replace them before going to your landlord as they will often charge you inflated rates for the simple replacement of basic items such as ice cube trays, light fittings and missing screws etc. Don’t let these small things affect you end of lease cleaning deposit, they should be simple and easy to take care of with a simple trip to your nearest DIY store.

A cause for consideration is carpet cleaning. Depending on the state of your carpets on arrival and departure, you may want to consider paying a specialist carpet cleaning service to come and steam clean you carpeted areas, although this a requirement in some bond agreements, this is best avoided if possible as the cost can eat away a serious chunk of your original end of lease bond.

After speaking with a landlord friend of mine who often inspects his rental properties when his clients are moving out, here a few of the things that he always checks and find the tenants have often missed.

• On top of the kitchen cupboards
• The oven is often not cleaned to its original standard, you need real oven cleaner for this.
• Skirting boards Light fixtures need removing and cleaning
• Remove basic stains from walls with gentle application of warm water, don’t scrub hard or the paint will come off
• The seals of fridges Windows need cleaning and to be streak free inside (don’t worry about the outside, thats not your job)

Article originally published at Source by Andy J Hunter