End of Lease Cleaning – Your Outdoor Cleaning Checklist

If you’re moving out of your rental property – whether to a new rental property or into a newly purchased home – you will be required to complete an end of lease clean. It’s your responsibility to ensure that your house is in a similar condition when you move out to what it was when you moved in.

Now it’s super important to clean the interior of the property and you can learn more about that in our post about How to Get Your Bond Back in NSW. However, you’ll also need to clean up the outdoor areas and should follow you agent’s recommended outdoor cleaning checklist. You can also find out more about Ending a Tenancy on the Fair Trading Website.

With this article, we wanted to share with you a brief checklist for your outdoor areas that you’re usually required to clean to get your bond back. If you are renting a house and there is an outdoor area, then your end of lease preparations must include these areas. Not doing so could impact getting your bond back. In this article we’ve outlined 6 areas of focus and what you need to do for each of these. 

End of Lease Cleaning – Your Outdoor Cleaning Checklist

Garden and Lawns

You need to clean and tidy the garden. You should mow the lawn, remove any weeds and trim any overgrown plants and bushes. If any plants have died in the time that you were renting the property you should probably replace them too – especially if their demise was as a result of you not caring for the plants. You should wash and sweep any paths as well – using a high pressure hose is recommended.

Balcony, Patio, Verandah, and/or Decking

Cleaning your balcony, patio, verandah or deck is a two step process. You should sweep away any debris and clear away any cobwebs or dust. After that you will want to give your decking or verandah a wash, using a mop or a high pressure hose if the dirt is really caked on.

When you book an end of lease clean with us, this is one of the optional extras you can add onto your service when you book it online. Take it off your outdoor cleaning checklist and put it on ours instead. You’ve got enough to do!

Pets

If you’ve been lucky enough to have pets at your rental property, then you need to make sure you clean up after them. If they’ve made a mess of the backyard you need to fill in any holes. In addition, if they’ve caused any damage you will need to get this repaired. If you have a dog make sure you’ve cleared up all of the dog poop.

Pools and Spas

If you have a pool or spa, then you’ll need to clean it up too. You’ll need to clear debris from the water and the filter. You’ll also want to clear the area around the pool and wash it down if necessary.

The Garage

The garage is an important area to attend to during your end of lease clean. Most importantly, you’ll need to sweep the floors and remove any cobwebs from the walls. If you’ve had any oil-spillage or similar on the floor you’ll have to degrease the floors as well. If there are any benches or shelving in your garage you’ll also want to wipe these down too. The same goes for any windows in the garage – these will need to be cleaner as well. 

The good news is that this is another item you can take off of your outdoor cleaning checklist and put onto ours instead. Just add the garage extra to your booking and let us know how big it is by telling us how many cars fit into it. 

Bins and Rubbish

Firstly, you’ll need to make sure that there is no rubbish left inside the property. If you leave any rubbish behind, then your cleaners may charge you extra to remove it for you.

Secondly, you will need to empty your rubbish bins and you may need to wash them as well. As part of cleaning and clearing your outdoor areas, you’ll likely have some debris that needs to be removed. When clearing up rubbish pay special attention to the little things. If you’re a smoker or like a drink, make sure you clean up any cigarette butts or bottle tops.

There’s a lot to think about when you move out – both inside and outside of the property. We’ve given you some tips for your outdoor cleaning checklist but we wanted to give you some final advice about your roles and responsibilities at the end of your tenancy.

Basically, as the tenant, it’s your responsibility to ensure that when you move out the property is as close to the same condition as it was when you moved in. If you break something deliberately or through negligent action, you are responsible for fixing it. Having said that, you’re not responsible for replacing some things in the house just because they’ve become old or “worn.” There is a provision for “fair wear and tear.” If you follow the checklist outlined above for your outdoor areas you should have no drama with getting your bond back. 

If this checklist is overwhelming, we are here for you. There’s a lot to consider when cleaning your outdoor areas at the end of your lease. We hope this checklist gives you a helpful guideline if you decide to do it yourself. If, after reading this article you’ve decided you’d like help with your end of lease cleaning and any other house cleaning, we can provide you with a no obligation quote. Get in touch today to discuss your needs.