HMO and Student-Let Cleaning Between Tenancies: The Landlord’s Checklist

Written by Iva, founder of Iva Cleaning Services London.

A house in multiple occupation turns over differently from a family let. Rooms change hands one at a time, the shared kitchen belongs to nobody, and the landlord or manager carries legal duties for the common parts that do not exist in a single-household tenancy. The cleaning between tenancies has to deal with all three, and it has to be documented, because an HMO manager who cannot show the house was clean at the start of an occupation has no answer when the council or a deposit adjudicator asks.

This checklist is for private landlords and managers of student and professional HMOs in London. It is organised the way an inspection or a check-in is: by legal duty, then by room, then by the evidence to keep. It is the list we work to on student accommodation cleaning in London and between-tenancy cleans for HMO landlords.

What the regulations require

The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006 place duties on the manager of every HMO, licensed or not. The ones that are cleaning duties in practice:

• Regulation 4, fire safety. Means of escape must be “kept free from obstruction” and “maintained in good order and repair”; fire-fighting equipment and alarms must be “maintained in good working order”. Cleaning the hall and landing is also clearing the escape route; a bike, a bin bag or a stack of post on the stairs is a breach.
• Regulation 7, common parts. Common parts must be “maintained in good and clean decorative repair”, “in a safe and working condition” and “kept reasonably clear from obstruction”. That covers the shared kitchen, bathrooms, hall, stairs, landings, garden and bin store.
• Regulation 8, living accommodation. Each unit of living accommodation and any furniture supplied must be “in clean condition at the beginning of a person’s occupation of it”. This is the one that makes a between-tenancy clean a legal requirement rather than good practice.
• Regulation 9, waste. The manager must ensure “sufficient bins or other suitable receptacles are provided” and make arrangements for disposal.

Licensed HMOs will have further conditions from the borough, often including a cleaning schedule for the common parts. Most London boroughs run additional or selective licensing schemes on top of mandatory licensing, so check the licence conditions for the specific property.

Between tenancies: the room that has changed hands

Done to regulation 8, “in clean condition”, and photographed for the inventory before the new occupant arrives.

• Mattress stripped, vacuumed both sides, stains treated or the mattress cleaned professionally (a single is £28 plus VAT); replaced if stained through. A new protector on.
• Bed frame, wardrobe, drawers and desk emptied and wiped inside and out; drawers pulled out and the carcass vacuumed.
• Walls checked for mould, particularly behind the bed and in the external-wall corners; treated with a fungicidal wash and the cause (ventilation, cold bridge, drying clothes indoors) noted for the maintenance list. Mould in bedrooms is the most common complaint in London HMOs and the one councils act on fastest.
• Skirting, door, frame, handle, light switch, sockets, radiator, window and sill, blind or curtain.
• Carpet vacuumed thoroughly and, if the previous occupant was there for more than a year or the carpet is stained, professionally cleaned (£35 plus VAT per bedroom, £98 minimum visit).
• Smoke detector in the room tested; en-suite, if any, cleaned to the bathroom list below.
• Keys: room key and front-door key returned and recorded; lock changed if a key is missing.

The shared kitchen

The kitchen is where HMO cleaning fails, because every occupant assumes someone else owns it. Between any change of tenant, and on a regular schedule in any case:

• Oven, hob and extractor filter deep cleaned. In a five-person HMO the oven is used five times as hard as in a family home and needs a professional clean every three months, not once a year; the reasoning is in how often should you deep clean your oven.
• Every cupboard and drawer emptied of abandoned food and cleaned inside, including the one assigned to the departing tenant.
• Fridge and freezer: the departing tenant’s shelf cleared, seals wiped, the whole appliance defrosted and cleaned at least twice a year.
• Worktops, splashback, sink and taps degreased and descaled.
• Washing machine drawer and door seal cleaned; filter emptied.
• Floor washed, including under and behind the appliances.
• Bins: enough of them (regulation 9), washed, and the recycling arrangements clear on the wall.
• Fire blanket and extinguisher present and in date (regulation 4).

Shared bathrooms

Limescale and mould, the two London constants, build faster with five people showering than with two. Between tenancies and at least weekly in a managed HMO: taps, shower head and screen descaled; grout and sealant treated for mould and the sealant replaced when it stays black; toilet descaled under the rim and cleaned around the base; extractor fan grille cleaned and the fan checked to be working, because a failed fan is the usual cause of a bathroom mould complaint; plugholes cleared; floor washed. Our guide on getting rid of bathroom mould covers the prevention side, which in an HMO means a fan on a timer overrun and a rule about windows.

Hall, stairs and landings (the escape route)

Vacuum and mop; wipe the banister, the light switches and the door handles; check every fire door closes fully onto its latch and that the intumescent strips and cold smoke seals around the door edge are intact and not painted over or torn; make sure nothing is stored on the stairs or landing; test the alarm; check the emergency lighting if fitted; clear the letterbox area of post for departed tenants. A fire door propped open with a wedge is the breach inspectors find most often, and a cleaner who sees it and does not report it is not helping you.

Outside

Bin store swept and bins not overflowing; front path and steps clear; garden or yard free of rubbish and bottles; gate and side access clear; external light working.

The evidence to keep

Photograph the room and the common parts at the end of every between-tenancy clean, with the date on the file, and attach the set to the new occupant’s check-in inventory. Keep the cleaning contractor’s signed tick sheets for the common parts. Keep the oven and carpet cleaning invoices. This is what answers a council officer asking how regulation 7 is met, and it is what wins a deposit dispute when an occupant who inherited a grubby kitchen says it was like that when they arrived. What a check-out clerk photographs at the other end is in what the check-out inventory actually checks.

Scheduling it

The pattern that works for most HMO landlords: a weekly or fortnightly common-parts clean by a contractor (kitchen, bathrooms, hall, stairs, bins), a between-tenancy clean of the room each time one changes hands, and a full deep clean of the whole house in the summer gap, with the oven, carpets and mattresses done then. For student HMOs the summer deep clean is the big one and books up in June; the week between the last check-out and the first check-in is the only time the house is empty.

Managing one HMO or twenty? Get a free quote for a between-tenancy clean, a common-parts contract or a summer deep clean, and we come back within one working hour.