Auckland property managers do not pass a bond because the house “looks pretty tidy”. They work a list: oven, hob, rangehood, cupboards, bathroom grout, window tracks, carpet edges, skirting, and the garage if it was in the tenancy. This guide is the list we clean to, and the timing that actually works in this climate.
If you are a tenant, use it as a honest DIY map — or send it to us and we will quote the same scope. If you are a property manager, you can treat this as the subcontract brief we onboard to.
Kitchen
The kitchen fails more bonds than any other room. “I wiped the benches” is not a clean.
- Oven interior, racks, door glass and hob (including around knobs).
- Rangehood filters if they come out; exterior if they do not.
- Cupboards and drawers inside and out, including the under-sink trap area.
- Fridge and freezer vacant, wiped, doors left ajar if the power is off.
- Dishwasher filter and door edges.
- Splashback, sink, tapware and floor, including the kickboards.
Bathrooms and laundry
Grout, shower glass and extractor grilles are the usual inspection notes. A bleach fog without agitation will not save mould that has been growing for a summer.
- Toilet, including hinges and behind.
- Shower glass, screen tracks, grout and rose.
- Vanity, mirror, extractor, floor and skirting.
- Laundry tub, taps and the floor the machine sat on.
Windows, tracks and floors
Auckland inspections look at window tracks. Dust them. Vacuum them. Wipe them. Interior glass should be done; exterior is often on the agreement too. Carpets almost always need a professional steam clean at the end of a tenancy — vacuuming is not the same thing. Hard floors need edges, not just the middle of the room.
Do not book a steam clean three hours before the inspection in humid weather. Damp carpet looks like a problem even when it is just wet. Sequence the bond clean and the carpet extraction so drying has a chance.
Inspection day
The house should be empty. Cleaning around stacked boxes wastes money. Be present or available by phone. Wear and tear (sun-faded curtains, honest scuffs) is not a cleaning defect; uncleaned oven racks are. If Optimus cleaned the property and the manager flags something we were scoped to do, we return. That is the guarantee. Damage you did not declare is a different conversation.
Need the work done rather than the list? See our end of tenancy cleaning in Auckland or call +64 28 404 4205.
Related service: Move-out & end of tenancy