When tenants go bad…professional cleaning for landlords!

It’s no great surprise that disputes over cleanliness are the top of the list of all disputes in the UK private rental sector; and reports say that the problem just seems to be getting worse.

Last year’s review by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) revealed that complaints about cleaning rose from 49 per cent in 2009 to 56 per cent in 2013 – the highest levels since 2007 when the TDS was introduced.

Landlords and letting agents have reported seeing a growing number of properties that are in need of professional cleaning services once a tenant has moved out, and that a general lack of respect for the homes they are living in combined with questionable hygiene levels has left some landlords with no option but to get their property sorted out by a professional cleaning service before they can even think of letting it out to another tenant.

Many tenants don’t see a need to leave a property in the same condition they found it – and some leave their former homes in what can only be described as a filthy state. Stains and marks on carpets are a major problem, as are dirty bathrooms, pet hair and excrement on floors, furniture and soft furnishings.

Tenants are often shocked that their landlords charge them for the costs of getting their properties habitable, claiming that the issues they left behind are simply down to ‘reasonable wear and tear’.

According to the TDS, when a tenant moves out, they should be made aware of any cleaning issues that have arisen, and how much it’s likely to cost of the problems aren’t rectified.  Stained and marked carpets are a really common bone of contention, and one that crafty tenants like to try and hide with rugs and furniture, although savvy landlords know to check everywhere. In some extreme cases, tenants have even been known to try and hide stains by cutting them out and filling the hole in the carpet with carpet from an area that’s hidden, such as under the bed!

At the end of the day, if you’re left with a house that’s been less than looked-after by ungrateful tenants, sometimes you just have to call in the experts to get the house back up to scratch so that another tenant can move in. At least there are reputable professional cleaning companies like 1st Choice Chemdry to help make your property good as new once again.

If it’s happened to you – give our friendly team a call and we’ll see how we can help.

Cleaning Up after a Fire in your Home

Once the initial shock and upset has subsided, time is of the essence when you’re dealing with the damage caused by a house fire. It can be incredibly traumatic to see your possessions ruined or damaged by smoke, even in a small fire, so it’s important to get things restored to some semblance of normality as soon as possible.

The contents of your home, along with the building’s structure, can all be damaged in a house fire, and secondary smoke damage can make things a whole lot worse. That’s why we’d recommend getting in a professional disaster restoration firm like 1st Choice Chemdry to make sure that your well-intentioned efforts to get things back to normal don’t actually make the damage worse. This is something that you should be able to organise though your insurer; 1st Choice Chemdry are called upon by many UK insurance companies to sort out the aftermath of a house fire.

As soon as the building has had all the correct safety checks, you should ventilate it as much as possible. This will help to remove the nasty stale smoke odours. Then call your insurance company (or your landlord, if you rent your home) to arrange a clean-up. Your insurer might take over on your behalf, which is great, some insurers work with their own approved contractors and others will let you choose someone and just cover the cost.

If you are not insured, you will need to make your own arrangements.

Before the professionals arrive, try not to walk through the affected areas if you can avoid it, as this will just move the soot around and grind it deeper into the carpets and upholstery. If the damage is everywhere, or in an area that gets a lot of traffic, you could put old towels down to prevent transfer.

DON’T try washing carpets or upholstery yourself. Leave it to the experts who will have their own professional products to do the job properly.

As soon as the disaster restoration experts are on the scene, they will start working to make sure that your home is back to normal. The first task will be to get rid of the soot and smoke contamination. Then we’ll remove any damaged items that need to restored outside of the home, eliminate any lingering smoke odours and finally thoroughly clean your home so that it looks and smells fresh again.

We’ll restore any items that we can using our professional range of cleaning products and move any furniture back into the house as soon as the work is done.

If you need advice about our services, please contact our friendly team who will be delighted to help.