Ask any homebuyer, “How clean must you leave your home when you sell?” and they’ll say, “Spotless.” Homebuyers always appreciate a clean home; actually, most buyers expect a clean home the day they move in, even if they didn’t ask for it in their purchase contract.
Confusion often arises over move-out cleaning when you’re selling your home because standard real estate contracts in BC don’t include specific cleaning standards. That leaves a lot open to interpretation.
Standards for cleaning when selling your home
Everyone’s cleaning standards are different. To address this, it’s common for buyers to add a “cleaning standards” clause when making an offer. As a homeseller, this may come across as picky or hurtful; keep in mind you have a chance to negotiate out those cleaning terms.
Try to keep this in perspective; it’s much easier to work through expectations upfront while negotiating than having an issue later. It’s common practice for the buyer to pay for the property before you pass on the keys, but as the seller, you’re still legally bound to deliver the property in the condition you promised, even if you already received payment. Because the buyer pays upfront and trusts the seller to fulfill their obligations, when it comes to cleaning, if the buyer feels you’ve left them a dirty home and didn’t fulfill your contractual obligations, they could take legal action, and a judge or arbitrator will decide what the repercussion are.
Buyers and sellers negotiate cleaning standards as a condition of the sale. In contrast, tenants and landlords use a standardized cleaning checklist provided by the BC government as a guideline. Where a landlord has access to a prepaid damage deposit to assist with cleaning costs if necessary, a home buyer typically does not. Without a standardized checklist or a damage deposit, it really is up to the buyers and seller to negotiate cleaning terms and understand each other expectations.
Professional move-out cleaning
If you agree to professional cleaning in your sale contract, then how clean you must leave your home when you sell will be for the buyer to judge when they move in. This may sound counterintuitive, but agreeing to the buyer’s addition of a cleaning clause means you’re agreeing to their standard of cleaning. If you plan to hire a cleaner for your move-out, remember that general cleaning is not the same as move-out cleaning. A move-out cleaning, even for an average condo, takes several hours. Move-out cleaning typically includes inside and outside cupboards, light fixtures, blinds, washing windows and doors, tile and grout backsplashes/tub surrounds, floors, and thoroughly scrubbing appliances, even inside the oven, to name a few.
Removing garbage and recycling
Many communities in the Lower Mainland have municipal garbage and recycling bins expected to stay with the assigned address. If your community has a city-assigned refuse system, you’ll leave the bins when you sell your home. Just like other included items such as appliances, the garbage, recycling and green bins should be debris-free. It may be tempting to stuff all your garbage into the street bins on your way out the door, but the same wording in the contract that allows you to remove all your personal belongings also requires that you remove all your rubbish.
In closing, patching nail holes, dusting the baseboards and cleaning behind the fridge might seem like going overboard, but by going the extra mile to leave your home deeply cleaned – You’ll be passing over a clean house and leaving with a clean conscience.
