A careless student and an overly cautious landlord, a tale as old as time.

Whether you’re a disordered student or the parent of one, it’s a universal truth that university students and landlords do not share the most loving relationships, should we say. Entering my early twenties, I assumed my first problematic relationship would be with a tall, dark, handsome man. Instead, it was between me and my landlord. Let’s call him Greg. Greg’s and I relationship was filled with the essentials of any long-lasting marriage: passive-aggressive texts, wistful sighs next to an overflowing bin and a mindful score of who last mopped the floors. Greg and I’s relationship came to a halt recently after moving out of my university house in Brighton. However, our farewell letter left a sour taste in my mouth, the infamous and confronting deposit guarantee document.

After a couple of years of renting, especially student housing, you learn the cruel lesson that the deposit you paid at the start of your tenancy will most likely stay within the landlord's pockets. However, this didn’t stop me from giving it my final best go; after this year, I will no longer be renting student housing, so I considered it a challenge at best. I tapped into my Mrs Hinch side, which can be found in all of us if we are given the right guidance (lucky for you, you can find them here!). My four other housemates and I assembled in the living room, the epicentre for any student house, a week before our tenancy ended. Looking around the room, all that was in sight were tea-stained mugs, unclaimed towels and charger leads. My housemate May, the group’s mother hen, threw me a pair of lemon marigold gloves. Yellow is usually a colour I clear away from; it washes me out; however, at this very moment, yellow became MY colour. It sparked the clean freak in me, and suddenly all the mess I was blind to before came to light. For my students and first-time renters, I sieved through my past deposit guarantee documents to find the common mistakes students make. Hopefully, by the end of this read, your bank account will be jumping with joy, and your relationship with your own Greg can end amicably.

First, declutter.

As students, we are anxiously waiting to receive the letting agents’ email with the inventory attached; so when the time comes, we go into ‘clean, scrub, rub’ mode. Initially, we thought of all the fake tan marks on the bathroom basin and the questionable stains on the sofa. However, first, we have to declutter. The living room will most likely reflect the middle aisle in Aldi, full of unacclaimed underwear and the blender someone bought during their January health kick that has never been used. For my house of six girls, claiming lost property took up most of our time. My first piece of wisdom is that someone needs to sacrifice their car for daily runs to the recycling centre. While you’re at it, make sure to grab that Febreze - Mays ford fiesta didn’t smell of flowers and roses for a couple of days, I can say that. As the sentimental humans, we are, we attach meaning to our possessions and carry our items with us as homages to a past version of ourselves. But let’s be frank, that soggy deck of cards or stained mug is not a unique piece of memorabilia. Similarly, do not leave any furniture behind. We assume a landlord will appreciate a perfectly constructed set of IKEA drawers or cushioned desk chairs left for their use. Oh, how we were wrong. Although the landlord may keep your furniture, it’s a perfect opportunity to charge you for the removal costs. So if you want to make some cash, upload your furniture to Facebook marketplace or student housing pages. On the other hand, if you are in need of speed, head to your local charity shop.

Only landlords would notice!

Landlords have a miraculous skill of detecting any dirt or dust anywhere. So when it comes to the kitchen, arguably the dirtiest, most challenging place to clean in a student’s house, getting into the crevices is crucial. Student houses aren’t known for their well-constructed kitchen architecture, so often, the cupboards have multiple gaps between parts. These gaps become a safe home for crumbs and dirt. A personal tip would be to grab a cue tip with a dab of anti-bac or the pink stuff on it and run it through the edges. It seems tedious at the time, but there is nothing more defeating than being charged a hundred pounds each because you didn’t remove that line of sugar.

Mirror mirror on the wall; who’s the dirtiest of them all?

The most popular card a student landlord will pull to keep the most amount of money from your deposit is the marks scattered on the wall. This can be from a chair arm skating past the wall or imprints from post makeup fingers. One of the key weapons in this is the classic magic wall eraser sponge. Avoid using it on wood or furniture, but it works wonders on painted, non-glossy surfaces like bedroom walls. Just a simple wet and rub and watch the mark glide off. Like poorly crafted cupboards, students’ walls are often not painted well either. Hence, peeling off one small nub of blu tack from a poster can pull off the paint from the entire wall. So, note to self, use command strips on Amazon instead of using Blue Tack or sellotape to hang up any photos or posters.

Who fake tanned recently?

I have a flawlessly fake-tanned housemate who gave us the joyous task of scrubbing orange residue from the shower basin. Unfortunately, it’s one of those jobs that helps as you do it but fears not; layer The Pink Stuff on the dirt and scrub; leave it to settle for 20 minutes and then go in for a round two. A tip for cost-conscious, lazy students - fill a zip lock bag with vinegar, hook it over the top of the shower head to cover and have a restful night. When you wake up in the morning, loosen the zip lock bag, and the shower head will be copper-stain-free.

The five-minute jobs we forget!

Student landlords become one with the mess; they pick up every speck of dust or grime you have left. Therefore, don’t make the classic mistake of leaving the small jobs for the last person in the house to do before the key handover day. Here’s your reminder to clean the OUTSIDE of your windows and the window pane (use the pink stuff for this job), defreeze your freezer and remove any dust from the top of wardrobes and high furniture. When you are in a rush to clean your student house, you often forget to dust the high-up surfaces, such as the tops of wardrobes. If I had a penny for every time my landlord attached a photo of dust running on the top of impossible-to-reach furniture, I’d be a millionaire. Finally, the most physically demanding job - the garden. We’re not expecting any avant-garde gardening; however, pulling the weeds hiding in the stones and cutting back the overgrown hedge will save you some cash later. So shuffle around your shed at your parent’s home or pop down to your local range to grab a gardening shear.

So now it's time to get going. Get some sweet treats, stay hydrated, and press play on that feel-good Spotify playlist. Personally, Taylor Swift and The 1975 became our cheerleaders throughout the process. I'm confident you know all the fundamentals, but fingers crossed you've picked up a few tips and tricks from me. Leaving your student house can bring all types of emotions to the surface, covered with underlying anxiety and nostalgia. So although this is a practical guide to getting your deposit back in the bank, a central piece of advice is to BE KIND to each other during the clean, and please don't play the blame game (it never ends well). Save yourself the future regret and leave that house with the positive memories I'm sure you made over the year. For more advice and guidance, grab yourself a ticket and spend a day with us at the Clean & Tidy Home Show this October. Perfect timing for university students who are starting the new academic year with a clean state (and hopefully a clean home, too!)

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