Moving out
The 20-minute walk-round before your check-out
Agents check the same dozen places every time. Walk them yourself the day before the inspection and you will know what the report is going to say.
4 min read Job time: 20 minutes
Check-out inspections follow a pattern. The clerk has your check-in inventory in one hand and a camera in the other, and they go to the same places in every flat. Walk them yourself the day before, with the inventory open on your phone.
Kitchen, eight minutes
- Open the oven. Look at the door glass, the roof and the back panel, not just the floor.
- Pull the fridge drawers out. Most marks hide under them.
- Run a finger along the top of the extractor hood and the tops of the wall cupboards.
- Check the plughole and the tap base for limescale.
Bathroom, six minutes
- Look at the shower screen against the light. A white haze counts as dirty.
- Check the grout lines at the bottom of the shower and behind the taps.
- Lift the toilet seat and look under the rim.
Everywhere else, six minutes
- Skirting boards and the tops of door frames: dust shows up in photos.
- Light switches and sockets: fingerprints are the most-flagged item after ovens.
- Inside every cupboard and wardrobe, including the top shelf.
- Window tracks and sills.
Soil or stain?
As you go, sort what you find into two lists: things that are dirty and will clean off, and things that are stained or damaged and will not. The first list is a cleaning job. The second is a conversation with your agent, and it goes better if you raise it first, with the check-in photos beside you.
If the first list is long, that is what our end-of-tenancy clean is for, and the photo report we hand over covers exactly these places.
