How often have you come to the end of your tenancy to find that suddenly all sorts of things like dilapidations, cleanliness, wear and tear, breakages, scuffs, tears and missing items all come into play at your end of tenancy inspection? An inventory clerk marks you down on the check-out report as a person that has not looked after the property after scrutinising the property like a forensics team at a crime scene.

I have come a cross some shocking stories in 8 years doing end of tenancy cleaning, how naive tenants have lost all their security deposit, often running into the thousands of Pounds because of a bad check-out report and poor planning.

Whether you are a seasoned tenant or a new tenant, you simply cannot afford to not read this until the end. You will be in a great position to secure most, if not all your rental deposit at the end of your tenancy if you follow these simple steps:

Step 1 – Always be present at your check-in and check-out. This is the only way you get to have your say on issues arising about how well the property has been maintained by the landlord. Make sure that you report any obvious problems at the check-in to make sure they are not missed and therefore not documented on the inventory report.

Step 2 – Save a folder on your computer with your property name on it. This will be your “get out of jail free card” should any problems in your property result in a dispute and inevitable arbitration hearing become necessary. When you move in, before you’ve even unpacked, walk around your property and make a list of everything that is noticeably wrong with the property, eg. pealing paint, damp issues, broken doors, locks, cleanliness…..you get the picture. Take photos or a video of major issues. The more evidence you have the better off you will be. Be thorough because your deposit return can be severley affected if are not.

Step 3 – Immediately send your estate agent an email with your list of discrepancies, photos, videos and copy your landlord in on the email and request an answer within 48 hours of what solutions will be offered. Save any and every response you get back in return, even if it is just “thanks for letting us know”. Save these to your folder. Continue to do step 2 and 3 throughout your tenancy. Even if nothing is done to rectify the issues at least no-one can come and blame you for causing the issues at the end of the tenancy. Trust me, memories fade when you’ve lived in a property for 5 years. Remember Estate Agent personnel change all the time and so do inventory clerks so it will be your word against all parties unless you have a paper trail.

Step 4 – Keep your property well maintained and clean. If you scuff a wall, clean it and if it is really bad pop out and get some paint. Hire a cleaner if you can to come in once a week or at least every other week. This is advisable when you are in a house share rental because more often than not, no-one accepts responsibility for the cleaning and it won’t take long before the property is in a not so desirable state.

Step 5 – When you are due to move out, make sure you plan your move at least a month in advance. I don’t want to sound condescending here but the amount of time that I have arrived at a property to clean and there is still a bunch of stuff to be moved out, will shock you. A short list of things to do will be more than enough to keep you on track for a smooth and stress-free move. Remember in step 1 I said you should be present at your check-out inspection. Do yourself a big favour and stick to this. It may be a different inventory clerk than previously checked you in. Be there to bring things to their attention.

I can assure you that if you follow these steps, your tenancy will go smoothly and you will stand a much better chance of having less discrepancies with the end result being a big chunk(hopefully all) of your security deposit coming back to you.

If you have had some nightmare tenancy stories or have some good tips to share drop me a line or two in the comments box below.

Happy Cleaning

Mark
DustBusters Professional End Of Tenancy Cleaning

Tags: 5 Ways To Protect Your Rental Deposit Before You Call In An End Of Tenancy Cleaner, end of tenancy, End Of Tenancy Cleaning, end of tenancy inspection, Estate Agent, inventory clerk, rental deposit, security deposit, Tenants Deposit

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