Move-In & Move-Out Cleaning

Moving out

Cleaning is the last thing anyone has time for at the end of a move, and it’s also the thing standing between you and your deposit. By the time the van is loaded you have usually run out of both energy and cleaning supplies, and the house looks worse empty than it ever did full — because now you can see behind everything.

An empty house is quicker and far more thorough to clean than a furnished one, so this is the one time you get everything: inside every cupboard, behind every appliance, every windowsill and track.

Moving in

The other half is cleaning a place before your things arrive. Whatever the previous occupants left behind — and however well-meaning the estate agent’s idea of “professionally cleaned” was — most people want the bathrooms and kitchen done properly before they use them.

It is also genuinely the only easy moment to clean inside the cupboards, get behind the fridge and do the skirting boards, because there is nothing in the way. An hour spent on an empty house saves several on a full one.

Timing

Move-out cleans are best booked for after the van has gone and before the walkthrough — ideally the same day or the day before handover, so nothing gets tracked back through.

Moving days slip constantly and I know that. Tell me as early as you can and I’ll hold a rough slot; we can firm up the exact time as it gets closer. I keep some evening and Saturday availability precisely because moves so rarely land neatly on a Tuesday afternoon.

The walkthrough is what you’re cleaning for

It’s worth being clear-eyed about why an end-of-tenancy clean exists: it is not really about leaving somewhere nice for the next person. It’s about the fifteen minutes when somebody walks through with a clipboard deciding how much of your deposit to keep.

That person looks in predictable places. Inside the oven, almost always. Inside and behind the refrigerator. Inside every cupboard and drawer. The extractor filter. Window tracks and sills. Behind the toilet. Limescale on the shower screen. These are exactly the jobs that get skipped by someone cleaning their own place at eleven at night after a moving day, and exactly the ones that get written down.

So that is where the time goes on a move-out clean — deliberately. The middle of the living room floor was never going to be the problem.

One practical suggestion: photograph the place once I’ve finished, before you hand the keys over. It takes two minutes and it is remarkably useful if there is any disagreement later about the state it was left in.

Landlords, agents and holiday lets

I also do changeover cleans for landlords and property managers between tenancies, and for owners preparing a place to go on the market. If you’re turning a property around for short-stay guests rather than long-term tenants, the vacation rental turnover service is probably the better fit.

What I need from you

Three things, and they all come down to the same idea — I can only clean what I can get to.

• The place genuinely empty. Anything left in a cupboard is a cupboard I can’t clean inside. If a few things have to stay, put them all in one room and tell me which.
• Utilities still on. I need hot water and electricity. It sounds obvious, but the water and power being switched off the morning of a move-out clean is the single most common way these bookings fall apart.
• Access sorted. Keys, codes, or someone to let me in — and a plan for locking up afterwards if you’ve already gone.

If anything is going to be a problem, tell me when we book rather than on the day. Almost all of it can be worked around with notice.

What it costs

Quoted per property, based on size, number of bathrooms and the condition it’s being left in. An empty, reasonably kept two-bedroom is a very different job from a four-bedroom that’s had tenants and pets for six years, so I price it after seeing it.

Quotes are free, and per-property figures are on the pricing page. If you’re on a deadline, say so when you call — I’ll tell you straight away whether I can make it work.

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