Deep cleaning before you move in

An approved inspection doesn't mean clean by your standard

Whoever moved out left the home approved by an inspection. That is a judgement that the cleaning was carried out – not a promise that the cupboards are clean enough to put plates in. The difference rarely shows on the floors and almost always shows inside: wardrobes, kitchen cupboards, bathroom cabinets, behind appliances.

An empty home is the cheapest moment

A deep clean in an emptied home goes faster than the same clean does later, for a simple reason: nothing has to be moved. Floors, skirting boards, wardrobes and the space behind the fridge are all reachable without anyone lifting furniture. Wait until you have moved in and the same result costs more time – and some of it never gets done at all.

Prioritise in this order

• Inside the kitchen – cupboards and drawers, oven, fridge and freezer, the grease filter in the extractor. This is where food and utensils go on day one.
• Bathroom – limescale in the shower and taps, the floor drain, inside the cabinets.
• Wardrobes and storage – clothes move in before you have thought about it.
• Floors, skirting boards and door frames – easier now than with a furnished room.
• Windows – best before curtains and furniture are in the way.

After building work it's a different job

If the place has been painted, sanded or refloored before you move in, construction dust is not the same thing as dirt. It is fine, settles on every surface and comes back in several rounds. Say when booking that it is a post-construction clean – it is more work than an ordinary deep clean and needs the right amount of time set aside.

Fitting the clean into the schedule

The window is small: from the handover date to the removal van arriving. What works is booking the clean for the handover day or the day after, and the move the day after that. One single day is workable too, but then the company needs to know the home is empty and the time is fixed.

Waiting for keys? Book anyway – a time can be moved, but around a month-end it is rarely still there if you ask after the handover.

One thing to do yourself first

Walk through the home before the clean and photograph anything that is damage rather than dirt: scratches, discoloured silicone, a broken piece of trim. A deep clean will not remove those, and they are easier to raise with a landlord, a housing association or a seller in the first few days than a month later.

See companies and prices for deep cleaning, and read about what a deep clean includes.