The dreaded end of lease clean. It either costs you a frustrating amount of time or an annoying amount of money. If you’re looking for tips to save time on cleaning when you vacate your rental (because you don’t want to fork out money for a professional clean – who does?), keep reading for some awesome advice from cleaning experts.

Let’s start indoors…

Tip 1

When cleaning your bathroom and laundry, remember to clean up the grout as well as the tiling. Soap scum and bacteria LOVE getting all up in your grout and are often neglected in regular cleans. Find yourself a high-quality bathroom cleaning product and scrub, scrub, scrub!

Tip 2

Don’t forget the small details! You’ll find that soap holders, towel rails, ceiling fans, window ledges, and even the toilet roll holder often get neglected during end of lease cleans. Don’t forget about these crucial bits and pieces or you may get stung with a cleaning fee being taken out of your bond.

Tip 3

Check the lights and and light fixtures. If you’re sitting under a light at the moment, take a quick look up. Has your light fixture accumulated a handful of dead bugs, dust, dirt and other debris? It’s important to check for this and clean accordingly before you vacate a property.

Don’t forget the outdoors…

Tip 4

Check your driveway for oil stains. This is an often overlooked mess that renters tend to disregard…then they get hit with the clean-up fee. Because it’s oil, your best bet is going to be tackling the stains with hot water, detergent and a scrubbing brush. A hot water pressure washer may also do the trick, if you have access to one.

Tip 5

Clear away cobwebs - not just indoors, but outdoors too! Spiders love making their homes in the top corners of patios, garages, kids cubby houses and other outdoor features. Be careful when you tackle this job - you may find that the webs’ owners haven’t gotten the memo to move on and are still hanging around.

Take these tips into account when you next move home to reduce the risk of a chunk of your bond being taken out to account for cleaning fees. Real estate agents and property owners are generally quite thorough, so make sure you double check every room for dirt, dust and grime!