Cleaning on the cheap

As a landlord it is important to keep fit. In these turbulent days you may find that physical exercise will help you. Property Sparrow recommends cleaning as a way of keeping calm, losing pounds and saving pennies.

Here are her top ten cleaning tips:-

1. You need a bucket: Somewhere in your own home you should keep a small corner for your landlord’s bucket. Don’t buy one: your bucket will be an empty large plastic paint or timber preservative pot with a handle attached. If you haven’t got one take one out of a skip. Cut your old sheets and shirts into large squares. These are your cleaning cloths. 100% cotton works best on windows and mirrors. All of your old toothbrushes should go in your bucket, even the little heads from electric toothbrushes. These are for cleaning your taps. Whenever you have a vacant property, pick up your bucket and off you go.

2. Do it yourself: It’s your property and no one cares about it as much as you do. Think very hard before employing a cleaning company. They could charge well over £100 per property. If you pay yourself the minimum wage, you could save over £50 on a 7 hour day. With a cleaning company there is bound to be something about their work that disappoints you. And, how many calories are you burning sitting at your desk all day?

3. Set a date: This should be the day after your last tenant has moved out. The quicker your property is clean the quicker it will be relet. Book a day off work. Ring your tenant or Lettings Agent to check that the property is empty; that’s your cleaning date.

4. Think things through: Have you got the key? If you haven’t, who has? Check with your Lettings Agent – have they really got the key in their hand or is it in someone’s car, lost, not returned by the tenant, in the post, at another branch office three miles away? Is there a door entry system? Have you got a key to it? Is there an alarm and do you know what the code is? Check the key arrangements again the day before. If you are collecting it from your Lettings Agent, ring them to tell them when you will be arriving, you don’t want to be standing around in the office while someone tries to find the key.

Do you know what the refuse collection arrangements are at your property? If it’s a block of flats, where are the bins?

Do you know about the hot water system? Hot soapy water will make a big difference. If you can turn it on and off yourself this will save you time.

Do you know if the water is hard or soft? If it’s hard, it’s worth taking something that can remove limescale.

What are you really going to do if there is a lot of rubbish or old furniture left inside? You may not be able to deal with this yourself. Do you need the phone number of a house clearance company? Find out how quickly they can respond.

The night before: look up train times or fill up your car with petrol, check your bucket, charge up your phone, make your sandwiches and try and get a good night’s sleep.

5. An early bird: It may be tempting to wait for off peak rail fares to kick in but that’s false economy on cleaning days. By car, you need to try and get there before the rush hour starts at your destination. Aim for four good cleaning hours in the morning. You may start to flag in the afternoon but you will have done the worst parts by then. Use the daylight hours.

6. Essential items: a roll of black bin bags, two pairs of rubber gloves, supermarket own cream cleaner, toilet cleaner, toilet roll, your bucket, Stardrops. You should be able to get these at the market for less than £2.00. Don’t waste money on expensive bathroom foamy mousse or packs of disinfectant wipes.

Stardrops. Available from Asda, Morrisons and Wilkinsons. 67p for 600ml. It cleans everything a landlord could ever want to clean: baths, carpets, melamine, china, floors, fridges, cars, glassware, hobs, mirrors, paintwork, sinks, tiles, upholstery, UPVC windows and doors. Stardrops and a cream cleaner make an effective combination. The thing about Stardrops is that it makes everything shiny and shiny is what you want. Shiny taps, shiny bathtub, shiny windows.

7. Think about the floors: Consult your inventory Is there supposed to be a vacuum cleaner? Is it still there? When did you last see it? Does it work? Put your own vacuum cleaner in your car anyway but if you are not going by car, take a dustpan and brush. Do your best with whatever you’ve got to clean the carpets and you will be able to make a noticeable improvement. In an unfurnished property, clean floors make the rooms look bigger. But, be prepared to make a decision on whether your carpets need to be professionally cleaned.

8. Take a small alarm clock or pocket timer with you: Set the alarm to go off once an hour. That’s one hour per room. £5.73 per hour. In the bedrooms you may only need to wash down the paintwork (with Stardrops and one of your cloths) and clean the windows and you’ll be able to move to the next room before the alarm goes off. Use the time you have saved in the kitchen and the bathroom. Most properties will need straightforward cleaning and so it’s about getting your sleeves rolled up and your heart beat going. Do some light stretches if you feel you have to. If you are taking longer than an hour in a room you are not working quickly enough. Concentrate. Get your heart rate up. Start at the top of a house and work down. In a flat, do the bathroom and kitchen first.

Remember, this is a free aerobics class and far more motivating than any personal trainer. You want to let this house quickly again, don’t you?

9. Be brave but don’t take too many risks: When you first go in, check every room for human beings, furry animals, birds and a smell of gas. If in any doubt, leave it and get help. Make a quick decision on whether you can cope with the level of rubbish. Nine times out of ten you will be able to.
Introduce yourself to the neighbours; they may have some useful information.

Force yourself to deal with someone else’s hair in the plugholes. If there’s a toilet brush left behind, throw it away.

Open a window to let some fresh air in but be careful. You may forget to close it when you leave and, worse, the catch might be broken and you won’t be able to.

It’s your house or flat but you may not know it very well. It will have its own idiosyncrasies. Don’t fall down the stairs, don’t get locked out when you are going in and out to the wheelie bin (wear the key around your neck), don’t get up on a stepladder if there is no need to, keep your rubber gloves on all day and use the spare pair as soon as a hole appears.

10. When you have finished: Take pride in buffing up the taps and the light switches with one of your cloths that you have kept clean and dry. Take some photos.

Write down any little decisions you have made about repairs or renewing items. You are now the sole expert on the condition of your property and all of its fixtures and fittings. You have just spent 7-8 hours wiping every square inch of it with your own fair hands. No one can tell you that you need to buy a new shower – you will know whether you need to or not. This may save you hundreds of pounds in the next few months.

Make a note of what you have spent on your cleaning and travel. Work out how many calories you have used.

At home, enjoy a long hot bath and a bar of chocolate. Use your most expensive bubblebath and lashings of handcream.