According to the Standard Residential Tenancy Terms in ACT, tenants are expected to return the property in “substantially the same condition and level of cleanliness it was in at the beginning of the tenancy (as noted in the condition report), allowing for fair wear and tear. You cannot be made to improve the property”. Here we focus on discussing the cleanliness of the property.
In most cases, the agent or landlord can act in an collaboratively manner and finalise the tenancy fast and smoothly, however we can’t rule out circumstances that agent or landlord pushes boundary and raises unreasonable requests. For example, we have seen a property manager who does not trust the tenant’s choice of cleaners and sends her own “preferred cleaners” in without notifying the tenant, but demands payment afterwards, and the bill is very expensive compare to the market. Another case is that a landlord asks the tenant to remove the oil stains from the driveway even though they were there before the tenancy. Unfortunately the tenant turns around to us demanding the service even though he did not pay for the service, simply because the landlord seems like a decision maker who is holding the bond whereas we seem to posses a weaker bargaining position in the relationship. Also we have seen an agent using wet baby bottom wipes to check all the kitchen appliances and cupboards, her standard is that if there is tiny little discolouration on the wipe, then it is classified as not clean.
So in summary you should
Know the pre-tenancy condition of the property, to determine if the cleaning request from agent/landlord is reasonable
Know your rights, the agent/landlord should act diligently to carry out the inspection and provide feedback in a timely manner. Because dirt and dust can build up quickly, on windows, country yard and balcony if it is an apartment, especially in bad weathers.
Notify the cleaning company you engaged with if there are any issues they are responsible for. Most cleaning companies have a certain guarantee period, like our guarantee period is 3 days. If the cleaning company is notified 2 or 3 weeks later, whether it is due to the agent/landlord or the tenant themselves, most probably the cleaners won’t agree to return and fix.
A useful site to provide free information on tenants’ rights is http://www.tenantsact.org.au, make sure you read through it and know your rights and obligations.
Need help getting your bond back? Privilege Cleaning offers end of lease cleaning services in Canberra. We clean every inch of your property, from top to bottom, ensuring it meets inspection standards. Contact us today!
Dirty oven? Food is not as tasty as before? It is time to have your oven thoroughly cleaned. You can do-it-yourself following the steps below or simply give us a call and we will take care of it for you.
DIY
Effectively you will need to take out all the loose parts like trays, racks and side holding racks, apply the right cleaning agents and let them soak for a period of time before cleaning.
Clean inside the oven as well as the oven door, make sure you carefully work around the heating components and lights.
Take off the oven door seal and clean it.
Thoroughly rinse and dry all the parts before putting them back in the oven.
Cleaning all the control knobs and polish the external surfaces to bring out the shine.
There are a number of tutorial videos available on YouTube, you can use those as a guidance when doing your DIY.
Sounds pretty easy, huh? But the tricky part is the cleaning products you use and the techniques you apply. We are the experts in doing house/kitchen cleaning, if you are not quite confident with the DIY project or would like to spend the time with family and friends, give us a call and we will look after it for you.
If your fridge is not regularly cleaned, like a couple of times every year, quite often the bad smell can build up inside of your fridge and give you a shock when you open it. How to deal with it? The answer is quite simple, clean it and use a fridge odour remover.
Cleaning
The recommended frequency is twice a year, and there is no special fridge cleaning products or techniques to apply. Just take apart the shelves, drawers and trays, give them a thorough clean with soapy water as well as the fridge itself. Some fridges come with a drip tray which is located beneath the fridge, make sure you clean that as well if there is one.
Fridge odour remover
It can also be called fridge bacteria eater or fridge purifier, essentially they are the same thing, just some activated carbon sealed in a perforated container, to absorb any unpleasant smell. Below is a picture of what I have been using, I like it because it is made of bamboo and good looking.
I don’t have a particular product or band to recommend but if you search on Google or eBay, you will find quite a few choices. Some people suggest baking soda or coffee grounds in an open container, personally I don’t quite like the idea because they might get accidentally spilled when you are handling food, plus the odour remover works better and last longer.
