How to Get the Deposit Back on Your Student Accommodation

Posted on 02/07/2015

Easy Cleaning Steps for Spotless and Pristine Student Accomodation

Students are a dirty, lazy, disorganised breed, too busy watching entire television series in a day to bother taking care of their house and cleaning. That’s what everybody thinks, right? But what if you’re one of those students that flip the script and don’t want to get tarred with the unwashed brush of stereotype that is painted across the student community?

How can you make sure that your student accommodation is so spotless and pristine when you move out that no amount of assumption on the part of your landlord will see you losing your deposit?

Maintain a clean living environment all year round
When you have deadlines looming and all-nighters to pull, it can be very difficult to take any time out to for cleaning. But if done as part of your daily routine, a quick 20 minute run round the house to clear all your dirty plates, hoover, clear your desk, dust, put the bins out and wash your clothes can act as a nice short break from work.
Furthermore, a clean and pleasant working space has been proven to help with focus, concentration and productivity.

Start with the basics
When it comes to your final cleaning effort before moving out of your accommodation, start with what you know. Pack what you can first, get as much out of your way as you can, and then focus on the cleaning. Start by wiping down all surfaces and sides and throwing out all rubbish from your time at the house and your packing, sweep and wash all your hard floors and hoover all of your carpets

Leave no stone unturned
Think about what you would look for if you were trying to catch somebody out. This isn’t necessarily what your landlord is doing, but it makes sense to assume that it is.
Clean all your skirting boards and doors. Hand prints and smudges from those drunken nights you’ve fallen from your front door mount up and aren’t an easy thing for you to miss, but your landlord won’t.

Clean all sockets and switches. On your computer, phone charger, lamps, TV, kettle and all those other electrical products that are important to the student community, there will be a lot of marks.
Sanitise the bathroom. A no-brainer, but still important to remember to go to every corner, every nook and cranny in your bathroom to make sure there are no unpleasant marks or stains remaining.
Polish everything you can. Nothing adds to the appearance of a clean house like shiny, clean woodwork.

Clean the inside and outside of cupboards. It’s great to make the outside of your cupboards look stunning, but if you forget to open the cupboards, clear out any leftover produce and scrub all stains and marks from the inside of the door and all corners of the cupboard, your hard work will be for nothing.
Don’t be scared to call in favours from your mates. Remember that time you stayed up with your neighbour making them endless cups of coffee while they were cramming for a test until 6 in the morning? This is where they can make it up to you. Also, be aware that floors and surfaces may need another clean if you clean before moving your stuff out.
Make a comprehensive checklist of everything that needs doing, if you mark off everything as you go then you can be sure that all necessary cleaning has been done.

If you follow these simple steps you can get all of your cleaning done, get your deposit back, and still have time to check out that new series you’ve heard about.