If you are currently wondering how long an End of Tenancy Cleaning takes, then in all likelihood, you are about to clean your home. And time, quite logically, is valuable to you. You are now literally overwhelmed with the commitment – to find a new home, transport your personal belongings, and complete any additional administrative but essential and sometimes tricky relocation tasks. All this requires a strict plan if you want the move to go smoothly. Scheduling is effective when you allocate time properly for each job. A promising sign of the success of your relocation move is that you include End of Tenancy as a significant commitment and that you even wonder what it will cost you to clean it. Unfortunately, however, we do not have a clear and definite answer to the question because it depends on many factors. We’ll look at each one to find precisely how long a Tenancy Cleaning Service will take.
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What exactly is an End Tenancy Cleaning?
There is no way to know how long a task will take if we are unaware of its specificity. So let’s start directly with its main features. End of Tenancy is a cleaning service required after a tenancy has ended and before a new tenancy starts. These services are offered for both apartments and houses. What is specific, however, is that the properties usually are rented. Typically, the tenants are obliged to carry out an End of Tenancy Cleaning – complete cleaning of all rooms and adjacent living spaces, without any exceptions or compromises, even for multi-storey houses.
On the other hand, End of Tenancy Cleaning Service is an obligation, not an optional cleaning. Tenancy contracts contain an explicit clause stating that the tenant must bring the property to a typical, clean and representative condition before leaving. Often, a specific arrangement is made to hire a professional End of Tenancy Cleaning Service. In any case, the tenancy deposit confirms the mandatory nature and specificity of this cleaning. It is provided by the tenant to the landlord as a guarantee precisely that the End of Tenancy Cleaning will be carried out thoroughly and appropriately. Otherwise, as you might guess, the landlord will not refund you the money.
What does the End of Tenancy Cleaning Service include?
Yes, we already mentioned that EOT means a top-to-bottom and thorough sanitising procedure and includes all rooms of a rental home, no matter how big it is. However, it is a fact that people understand cleaning differently. For some, it is just tidying up. For others, it involves everyday housekeeping tasks such as washing dishes, vacuuming, and possibly dusting furniture. We will tell you directly that End of Tenancy Cleaning is much more than that without frightening you. Apart from including all the home premises, the End of Tenancy also requires thorough cleaning. By the way, it is very similar to seasonal cleaning (for example, spring cleaning). If you plan a DIY end-of-tenancy, you can now conditionally answer how long it will take you – about the same time it takes for a standard spring cleaning. Spring cleaning we do for ourselves, we will appreciate it. An End-of-tenancy cleaning is accompanied by a subsequent inventory check. It is much more detailed, and the requirements are from your landlord. You can figure out what happens if these requirements are unmet, right? Therefore, when planning a DIY End of Tenancy cleaning, it is a good idea to be aware in advance of a standard checklist:
- Removing your personal belongings and arranging everything that was in the apartment at the time of application, that is, the landlord’s property
- Cleaning the carpets and flooring, including removing stains
- Cleaning all kinds of colours – no matter where they are, how difficult they are to remove, and whether they can be seen at a glance
- Cleaning any glass surfaces, including mirrors and windows inside, plus window sills and window frames
- Wiping furniture and, where necessary, wet cleaning
- Complete disinfection of sanitary facilities, including descaling, cleaning the toilet, dealing with mould
- Full cleaning of the kitchen – eliminating dried food stains and other spoilage
- cleaning all the equipment – including refrigerator, kitchen accessories (yes, oven and inside too), laundry and other
- cleaning and the minor details that I may seem insignificant and deliberately forget but subsequently cost you a deposit – light switches, door handles, inside cabinets, removing cobwebs and other
Can you figure out how long it will take? However, it would be best to ask yourself another question before doing so.
Will I do an End of Tenancy Cleaning or call a professional cleaning company?
A key point in answering how long it takes an EOT is who will do it. As you might guess, there are two options for you. And if we have to be honest, they vary in duration.
- DIY End of Tenancy Cleaning. You can navigate yourself at the time you need for the procedure. We gave you two options. Compared with basic spring cleaning, add what you don’t usually do but are required in the above End of Tenancy Cleaning checklist. This is a minimum two-day job – full-time if you can even take leave from your boss – and if you find helpers. From personal experience, we tell you that children will not be enthusiastic, and working in a team with friends means too much time lost in breaks and sweet talks. Add to your entire bill shopping time. The cleaning supplies tucked away in your kitchen cupboard are hardly enough to clean the whole house and remove many stubborn stains. Plus – some of the cleaning tasks on the list may require much heavier-duty machinery and are generally difficult to perform by hand.
- Professional End of Tenancy Cleaning. Things will be a little more specific here. Do you know why? Because professional companies work with teams and employees who already have plans and strategies. The End of Tenancy Cleaning checklist we presented above is taken from the practice of cleaning companies. They follow it closely and enrich it, so to speak, with the client’s instructions or additional hygiene requirements included in the contract mentioned by the landlord. Although they consider so many things, professional cleaners follow standards and procedures with a uniform lead time, so it’s easy to get an idea of how long their End of Tenancy Cleaning will last. And another plus – the professional service does not include shopping. In most cases, End of Tenancy employees provide all the necessary equipment, detergents, tools, accessories and cleaning machines (the latter can remove blood stains at least five times faster than you if done by hand).
How do they answer how long it takes for End of Tenancy professionals?
They have specific answers but guarantee certain deadlines for performing their service. It’s time to note that professional cleaning companies are ready to assist you in an emergency. Yes, it may cost you a little more, but if you want your deposit and leave tomorrow, the extra cost will be worth it. When negotiating the service, the terms and conditions to be provided to the employees are discussed in addition to the price (nothing that knows, except a parking space for a cleaning van and a key to the property if you are not available during the procedure). However, you will also receive an estimated time to complete the service as a customer. It depends on the following factors:
- Condition of the property. This includes the stubborn stains available and the regularity of cleaning up to now. Of course, if you do not clean at least once a week, a studio apartment will require a more thorough End of Tenancy cleaning. By the way, all this is judged on the spot. End of Tenancy Cleaning Companies sends a team of employees to evaluate the property’s condition. Most often, this is a free consultation.
- The size of the property. Professional companies can take on the End of Tenancy task for any home – apartments and houses. As a rule, the places take up 10% more time than the apartments, even if their size is the same. On the other hand, cleaning companies will charge for End of Tenancy Cleaning Services based on the property size. The standard one-bedroom apartment is often done in about 4 hours, and the typical three-bedroom house is about 7 hours.
- Several employees. According to the size of the house and the condition, the cleaning company determines a specific cleaning plan of action for maximum time efficiency and the number of employees who will take on the service. Remember that it is not only you who want the End of Tenancy to end faster. The cleaning company fits the norm, as you do, because it still puts human resources in its services. Sometimes, the number of employees can be explicitly determined by the client. Most often, however, this works toward expanding the team at the client’s explicit request. Professional cleaning companies aim to send two people for standard apartments and small to medium-sized houses and up to 5 people maximum for larger homes.
- Availability of additional features or requirements. These are emergencies, but they can delay the cleaners. The time will increase if the customer has special instructions for services not included in the standardised End of Tenancy cleaning checklist – for example, carpet cleaning service. In many cases, such additional assistance is required for heavily soiled properties. Several companies give discounts when booking an extra benefit and End of Tenancy cleaning. Another type of service is emergency services. If the property allows it and you, as a client, agree to pay more for an emergency End of Tenancy cleaning, a professional company can assist you.
At the end of this material, we think you can already make a sober comparison between a professional End of Tenancy Cleaning and a DIY End of Tenancy Cleaning. The first will take several hours, and the second will take at least two days. Not to mention that a professional End of Tenancy Service comes with a guarantee. This warranty gives you the right to call for a free re-clean within a time limit set by the company if issues are found during an inventory check. The guarantee ensures that the clients receive their full deposit back.
Last but not least – how long does it take to arrange a professional End of Tenancy Cleaning Service: about 2 minutes of phone calls or online booking. And how long does it take to plan a DIY End of Tenancy Cleaning? Yes, at least a few hours. A professional End of Tenancy service is the most appropriate if your hours are valuable before removal.