End Of Tenancy Bedroom Cleaning How-Tos
When it comes to moving out and getting everything looking the way it should so you can get your deposit money back from your landlord, some rooms are harder than others. Bedrooms are some of the easier ones to clean; however, because they’re comparatively easy to prepare relative to, say, the kitchen, it can be only too easy to skimp and cut corners… which is a very bad idea, as the bedrooms are some of the areas that potential tenants like to have nice, so the landlord will probably be pretty picky about it.
This means that, like every other room in the house, it pays to have a good checklist for the tasks that need to be done when doing end of tenancy cleaning in your bedroom and your children’s bedrooms. Every London professional moving out cleaner knows that a checklist is an absolute must, and it would be a mistake to believe that because the bedroom appears to be such a simple room to clean, you won’t forget anything. As more than a few people have found out about their costs, this isn’t always the case.
Bedroom Moving Out Cleaning Basics
As with all the other rooms in the house, do your packing before you do the cleaning. Don’t try to do both chores simultaneously, as you won’t do it justice. What’s more, the chances of getting distracted are high because of what most of us have in our bedrooms (books, memorabilia, clothes that have been shoved to the back of the wardrobe). Stay focused on one thing at a time. If you already have your attention split between packing and cleaning, it’s only too easy to get distracted by another thing. Don’t try to declutter and decide which of your clothes spark joy and which don’t fit you anymore. Leave that to when you unpack.
In fact, you probably want to pack as much as you possibly can before moving out day. In the bedroom, it pays to have what you’ll need for your last night in the old home and the first night in the new one in an overnight bag. Put what you’ll need in the way of undies and clean clothes in your overnight bag – and don’t forget things like medications, clean sheets, kids’ favourite teddies and pillows. After all, when you get to the new place (hopefully you won’t have to move further away from London), the chances are that you’ll be so tired after moving (even if you get a professional cleaning company in to do the end of tenancy cleaning) all you’ll want to do is get the bed set up and have a good sleep. It pays to have the sheets handy for this!
Anyway, you probably can’t do any deep cleaning properly in the bedroom until the bed is out of there, so don’t try. Having a clear room also allows you to see what needs to be done – like those pencil scribbles on the wall courtesy of your toddler that were behind the bed and you never noticed!
Your Bedroom Cleaning Checklist
Your bedroom may not have some of the features mentioned in this list, so you don’t have to clean out the built-in wardrobe if your room doesn’t have one. However, these are the jobs that need to be done in the bedroom when moving out.
Wardrobes and Cupboards
Clear them completely, including in all the dark corners and that top cupboard where you’ve shoved quite a lot of junk over the years. Remove cobwebs and vacuum. If there’s a mirror on the front of the door, then clean the glass.
Walls
Bedroom walls don’t usually need much in the way of wiping down the way that kitchen walls do, but they still need it. Check the paint and/or paper for marks – pencil scribbles, spatters of makeup or spilt coffee. Also, watch out for holes in the paint or paper left by drawing pins (thumbtacks) or Blu-tack that held up posters and pictures. These will need to be removed. A small amount of dishwasher detergent and a soft old toothbrush or cloth plus GENTLE scrubbing will often do the trick to get the Blu-tack off. If your landlord is fussy about holes left by drawing pins (some are, especially if there are lots of holes!), then one old trick to filling them in is to use toothpaste. You may have to tint the toothpaste to the right colour to match the walls but do so after the toothpaste has dried. If your kids used sticky tape to put up posters (whoops – bad idea!) then the detergent trick plus gentle scrubbing will remove the residue, but this will take delicate handling and will take a long time.
Skirting boards, Dado Rails and Architraves
Damp-dust these well.
Cobwebs
Remove them. Check around the lightbulb, in the corners of windows and the corners of the room. Spiders go everywhere.
Windowsills
Damp-dust these as well. You may also need to gently wipe off those annoying brown fly spots as well.
Windows
Wash them inside and out, assuming that you can reach the outside of the window safely. If you can’t reach the outside of an upstairs bedroom window safely, then call for a professional to do the job for you.
Light Fittings
These collect a surprising amount of dust, so once the bed is out of the way, get on a sturdy chair or stepladder and clean the light fitting (make sure the light is switched off!). Don’t forget to clean the light bulb as well, but if it’s a really grubby incandescent bulb, then you can just replace it. You may want to replace other types of bulbs as well if you’re keen.
Fans and Radiators
These will need a good session of damp-dusting and cobweb removal.
Curtains
These may need a spot of cleaning to remove grime and fly spots. If they’re just dusty, clean the upholstery attachment of your vacuum cleaner and remove the dust with this. It’s probably not smart to try washing the curtains in a place you rent, as you could ruin the curtains, depending on what they’re made of. You could try taking them down to the dry cleaners if they’re very dirty. You may need to talk to your landlord about this and see what he/she expects. If the curtains are getting a bit old and shabby, your landlord may want to replace them anyway. If the curtains are tatty and you know that you or your kids did it, it might be a wise idea to replace them outright. You can probably pick up cheap curtains cheaper if you hunt around than you’d lose on your deposit money. Net and lace curtains can be washed carefully by hand and dried outside on a line or a rack in the wind and sunshine, not in the tumble dryer.
Carpet
Give it a good vacuum last of all once you’ve done everything else. You may want to get the carpet professionally steam-cleaned, especially if there are a few stains on the carpet. This is usually a good idea, as you are probably used to the odd smell in your bedroom because it’s normal for you. However, a new tenant or your landlord will notice it! If your children went through the potty training and wet knickers stage in your old house and you’ve never had the carpet deep cleaned, then it may pay to do this as part of the moving out cleaning, as there is likely to be a very faint smell of old wee.
After that, you can just close the door and say goodbye to your old bedroom. This can be a bit emotional, given the importance of bedrooms in our lives and how personal a space they are.
