Vacate cleaning
Vacate Cleaning in Melbourne
Vacate cleaning in Melbourne for tenants handing back offices, shops and rental homes, and for the agents and landlords who inspect them. We clean against the document that decides the outcome, whether that is the entry condition report or a commercial make-good clause, and we give you a written record of what was done. Commercial vacates are most of our work, with residential rentals alongside. Cleaningia is a Melbourne cleaning company for deadline jobs, and a vacate is the definition of one.
Four kinds of people book a vacate clean with us. Commercial tenants handing back an office or shop, usually with a make-good clause and a landlord's agent waiting to inspect. Residential renters who want their bond back without an argument. Property managers who need a tenancy turned around quickly between leases. And landlords getting a property back into shape after a long tenancy. Each wants something slightly different, but all of them are judged by the same thing: a comparison between how the property looked at the start and how it looks when the keys go back.
For tenants
You want the inspection passed and the bond or security deposit returned in full. We work from your condition report, clean everything in it, and give you photos to keep. If the agent raises a cleaning item from our scope, you forward it to us rather than arguing it yourself.
For property managers
You need a tenancy turned around fast so the next lease can start. We can take instructions directly, meet your inspection times, and send the report straight to you, so there is one less thing to chase between tenants.
For landlords
After a long tenancy, a property often needs more than a standard vacate. We can combine the vacate clean with window tracks, floors, upholstery or a full presentation clean if you plan to sell rather than re-lease.
Agent standard
What does vacate cleaning in Melbourne to agent standard mean?
It means cleaning to the standard the property was in when the lease started, as recorded in the condition report or described in the lease, so the agent or landlord has nothing cleaning-related to claim against. Vacate cleaning in Melbourne is judged at the final inspection, not by how the place looks to you.
"Agent standard" gets used loosely, but the real test is written down. For a residential rental, it is the entry condition report and the photos taken when the tenant moved in. For a commercial lease, it is the make-good clause, which can range from a simple clean through to a list of named items such as professionally cleaned carpets or windows washed on both sides.
So a good vacate clean starts with that document. We ask for it when we quote, read what it says about each room, and build the scope around it. Where the report notes something was dirty or damaged at the start, that is not your problem to fix, and we won't waste your money trying.
A vacate is also different from a regular clean in where the time goes. Inside ovens and rangehoods, inside every cupboard and drawer, the tracks of every window and sliding door, light switches, skirting boards, exhaust fans and the corners of every floor are where inspections find problems, so that is where we spend it.
What you get at the end matters as much as the clean itself. Vacate cleaners in Melbourne should leave you with more than a clean floor: we send the ticked checklist and date-stamped photos of every room, which you can forward to the agent or keep in case a question comes up later. If a claim is ever made, that record is often what settles it.
Offices and shops
How does a commercial vacate clean work for offices and shops?
We read the make-good clause, agree which cleaning items are ours and which belong to other trades, and time the clean for after furniture is out and make-good works are finished. The tenancy is then cleaned to handback standard and documented for the landlord's agent.
| Item in the clause | What it usually means | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| General clean | Floors, kitchens, bathrooms, glass, fittings, inside joinery | Us |
| Hard floors | Vinyl scrubbed or stripped and resealed, tiles cleaned | Us |
| Internal glass and windows | Partitions and windows cleaned, sills and tracks detailed | Us, external high glass by specialists |
| Carpets | Often "professionally cleaned", sometimes replaced | Carpet specialist, after our clean |
| Patch and paint | Walls repaired and repainted where fixtures were | Painter, before our clean |
| Remove fitout | Partitions, signage and cabling removed | Builder, before everything else |
Order is everything on a commercial vacate. The fitout comes out first, then patching and painting, then our clean, then carpets if they are being cleaned rather than replaced. Clean before the painters and you clean twice; clean after the carpet cleaner and wet carpets get walked on. We work the dates out with you or your fitout contractor so the tenancy is ready for inspection on the right day.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Three to four weeks out | Read the make-good clause, book trades, get cleaning and floor quotes |
| Two weeks out | Furniture, IT and stock removed; fitout strip-out begins |
| One week out | Patching and painting finished; our vacate clean and any floor sealing |
| A few days out | Carpet cleaning if required; walk-through with your team |
| Handback day | Landlord's agent inspects; any cleaning item raised goes to us |
Shops have their own checklist: display windows and their tracks, change rooms, stockrooms, staff kitchens and the shopfront itself, often including removing old signage adhesive from the glass. Food tenancies add kitchens with grease on walls, floors and canopies; we clean the visible surfaces and filters, while exhaust ductwork is a specialist job that the make-good clause usually names separately.
Vinyl floors are often the item that decides whether a make-good is signed off. A worn, grey floor can look neglected even after a thorough clean, and a strip and reseal usually costs far less than the landlord's claim for it. We can quote it alongside the vacate so it is done in the same visit.
Rental properties
Do you do vacate cleans for rental homes?
Yes. We clean houses, townhouses and apartments when tenants are leaving, working from the entry condition report so the clean matches what the property manager will inspect. It is a full vacate clean, room by room, not a quick tidy before handing back the keys.
Victoria's rules set the test. Consumer Affairs Victoria explains that a renter should hand the home back reasonably clean and in its starting condition, with fair wear and tear accepted, and that for agreements signed from 29 March 2021 a rental provider can't require professional cleaning unless the property was professionally cleaned before the renter moved in or it now needs it (see CAV on condition reports and cleaning).
That makes the condition report the key document. If it says the oven was clean at the start, it needs to be clean at the end; if it notes stains on a carpet, those stains are not yours to remove. Any bond claim is lodged through the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority, and the condition report is the evidence both sides rely on, which Consumer Affairs Victoria covers on its bond page.
Furnished rentals add soft furnishings to the list. If the lounge or dining chairs were clean at the start, they may need attention at the end, and our upholstery cleaning can be added to the same visit.
The type of home changes the job. Apartments mean booking the lift and the loading bay through the building manager, and following the owners corporation's rules on working hours. Houses bring outdoor areas, garages and more windows. Townhouses often have both. Tell us which you have when you ask for a price, along with anything unusual such as a spa bath, a wood heater or a pet door. Pets are worth a line of their own: hair in carpets and on skirting, nose marks on glass doors and scratch marks on doors all show up at inspection, so we allow extra time for homes that had them.
Most cleaning claims come from the same handful of places: a greasy oven or rangehood filter, soap scum on shower screens, dust in window tracks, marks on walls and light switches, and the inside of kitchen cupboards. Getting those right removes the most common reasons for a deduction.
Mould deserves a mention because Melbourne winters produce plenty of it. Surface mould on bathroom ceilings, window frames and silicone from everyday condensation can usually be cleaned off as part of a vacate. Mould that keeps returning because of a leak, poor ventilation or rising damp is a maintenance issue for the rental provider rather than a cleaning one, and we note it in the report so you are not blamed for it.
Inspection
What do agents check at a vacate inspection?
They compare each room with the entry condition report and its photos, and they look where cleaning is usually skipped: inside the oven and rangehood, inside cupboards, window and door tracks, shower screens and grout, exhaust fans, light switches, skirting boards and the edges of floors. Those areas decide most cleaning claims.
Kitchen
- Oven, trays, racks and door glass
- Rangehood filters and canopy
- Cooktop, splashback and grout
- Inside every cupboard and drawer
- Sink, tapware and dishwasher seals
Bathrooms
- Shower screen, soap scum and hard water marks
- Grout and silicone
- Toilet, including behind the pan
- Exhaust fan cover
- Vanity, mirror and cabinet shelves
Windows and tracks
- Glass inside, and outside where reachable
- Sills and window tracks
- Sliding door tracks and runners
- Fly screens dusted or washed
- Blinds wiped
Walls and doors
- Marks spot-cleaned where paint allows
- Doors, frames and handles
- Light switches and power points
- Skirting boards
- Cobwebs and ceiling corners
Living and bedrooms
- Built-in wardrobes inside and out
- Air conditioner and heating grilles
- Light fittings and fans
- Hard floors mopped, carpets vacuumed
- Floor edges and corners
Laundry and outside
- Laundry tub, cabinets and dryer lint area
- Balcony or courtyard swept
- Garage floor swept
- Bins emptied and rinsed
- Letterbox and entry
| What the inspector sees | Usually a cleaning issue | Usually fair wear and tear |
|---|---|---|
| Walls | Grease, fingerprints, food splashes | Faded paint, minor scuffs from normal use |
| Kitchen | Baked-on grease in the oven, dirty filters | Worn enamel, faded benchtop |
| Bathroom | Soap scum, mould on silicone, dirty grout | Old silicone discoloured with age |
| Floors | Dirt, sticky patches, dust in corners | Carpet worn in traffic paths |
| Windows | Smears, dirty tracks, dusty sills | Sun-faded blinds or curtains |
Want the full list to print or send to a tenant? Our vacate clean checklist for Melbourne properties goes through every room in detail, including what is usually treated as fair wear and tear rather than a cleaning issue.
Our promise
What happens if the agent raises a cleaning item?
We come back and fix it. If the agent or landlord raises a cleaning item that was in our scope, within the window set out on your quote, the crew comes back and puts it right without charging you. Send us the agent's note or photo and we book the return visit as quickly as access allows.
- You forward the agent's list or photos to us.
- We check each item against the scope we cleaned to.
- We return, re-clean anything in scope and send photos you can pass on.
The promise covers cleaning in the agreed scope. It can't cover damage, wear and tear, items that were never in the scope, or problems caused after we leave, such as removalists returning for a forgotten couch.
It works because of the record we leave. With dated photos of every room, it is quick to see whether an item was missed or whether something happened after we left, and that protects you as much as it protects us.
Prices
How much does a vacate clean cost?
It depends on the size of the property, its condition, and extras such as ovens, windows, blinds and walls. Residential vacates are usually priced by bedrooms and bathrooms, commercial tenancies by floor area and the make-good items. Photos let us give you a fixed price before booking.
Condition makes the biggest difference within the same size. A well-kept two-bedroom apartment takes far less time than one with a greasy oven, heavy soap scum and marked walls. That is why we ask for photos of the kitchen, bathroom and any problem areas rather than quoting a flat rate blind.
Extras are itemised one by one on the quote: inside the oven, window tracks and external glass, blinds, walls, balconies, garage floors and upholstery. Take out anything the condition report says doesn't need it.
What a standard vacate clean doesn't include is worth knowing too: repainting or patching walls, steam cleaning carpets, pest treatments, rubbish removal and garden work are all separate trades. If your lease or condition report calls for any of them, book them in the right order around the clean.
For typical ranges and worked examples, see vacate cleaning prices in Melbourne.
What moves a vacate price
- Bedrooms and bathrooms, or floor area
- Condition of the oven, bathrooms and walls
- Windows and tracks, inside and out
- Blinds, balconies, garage and outdoor areas
- Hard floor sealing for commercial make-good
- Short notice or weekend timing
Book
When should you book vacate cleaners in Melbourne?
Book as soon as you know your handback date, and put the clean after the last box leaves and give it a clear day of buffer ahead of the agent's inspection. That leaves room for anything the agent raises to be fixed before the keys are due back.
- Send the detailsAddress, property type and size, the condition report or make-good clause, and your inspection date.
- Confirm the scopeEvery room and extra itemised against the report, with one fixed figure.
- Clean and recordThe clean, a checklist and photos you can forward to the agent.
Empty is best. Removalists, last-minute packing and a crew cleaning around boxes all slow the job and leave dust behind. If you can, finish moving the day before and leave us the keys, or meet the supervisor on site to hand them over. For homes going on the market rather than back to a landlord, a pre-sale clean is the better fit, because it is aimed at photos and buyers rather than an inspection.
Ready? Request your vacate clean quote and attach the condition report if you have it. Our vacate cleaning services cover Melbourne's inner city and suburbs, and we will confirm availability for your date with the price.
Try not to book the clean on the same day as the inspection. Agents run late, removalists run later, and a clean squeezed into the last few hours leaves no time to fix anything. A day's gap is the difference between a relaxed handback and a rushed one.
Keys and access are simple to arrange. Many tenants leave keys in a lockbox or with the agent, and we return them the same way when we finish. For commercial buildings, we sort out after-hours access, lift bookings and loading dock times with building management so the clean fits around other tenants.
Questions
What do tenants ask about vacate cleaning?
The re-clean, carpets and commercial work: the three questions that come up with nearly every booking.
Is the re-clean free?
Are carpets included?
Do you do commercial vacates too?
Handing back keys soon?
Send the address, the condition report and your inspection date. We will quote a clean that matches what the agent will check.