Floors are usually the most expensive thing on a turnover, and they are the thing most likely to get replaced when they did not really need replacing.
We get called into a lot of flats between tenancies, and a fair few of the floors we are asked to price for replacement turn out to be perfectly good floors under two years of the wrong cleaning.
The order to think about it in
Before you price anything, work out which of these three you are actually looking at, because the gap between them is enormous.
Dirty. Grit down in the grain and the bevels, residue on top from whatever the last tenant was using. Looks grey and flat, never quite comes clean. This is the most common one by a distance, and it is a cleaning job.
Worn. The finish has gone through in the walkways. On timber that is worn lacquer, on laminate or LVT it is a worn wear layer. Cleaning will not touch this. Timber can be sanded and recoated. Laminate and LVT cannot, so it is replacement in that area.
Damaged. Swollen joints from water, gouges, lifted boards, a plank that has been dropped on. That is repair or replacement, whatever the rest of the floor looks like.
Most floors we see between tenancies are the first one. The mistake is pricing it as the third.
Why the cheapest option is usually the right one
The rough order of cost, lowest to highest, is deep clean, then recoat, then sand and recoat, then full replacement. Each step up is a serious jump, not a small one, and a replacement also costs you void days that a clean does not.
We will not quote figures here because it depends entirely on the property, but the shape of it is worth holding onto. A yearly clean across a portfolio is a small, predictable cost. A replacement is a big unplanned one, and it usually arrives at the worst moment, which is the week before a new tenancy starts.
Turnaround, which is really the point
The reason this works for rentals is the drying.
We use a professional scrubber-extractor. It puts a pH neutral solution down, two brushes work it in, and the dirty solution is sucked straight back up in the same pass. The floor is walk-on dry within minutes rather than hours.
In practice that means:
- It fits inside a turnover day rather than taking one over.
- Other trades can work around it. We are not asking the painter to stay off the floor until tomorrow.
- It can be the last thing done before check-in without holding anything up.
- No smell, no wet floor, nothing for an incoming tenant to walk into.
For an HMO where you are turning several rooms at once, that matters more than anything else about it.
What a clean will and will not do at check-out
We would rather be clear about this before you book than have you disappointed after.
What it does. Lifts the embedded grit out of the grain, the texture and the bevels. Takes off the residue film from supermarket cleaners, polishes and shine restorers. Brings back the sheen the floor actually has. Gets rid of that grey, tired look in walkways where the problem is dirt rather than wear.
What it does not do. It does not remove scratches. It does not fill dents. It does not bring back a finish that has already worn through. It does not reverse water damage or a swollen laminate edge. And it will not disguise a floor that genuinely needs replaced.
If a tenant has dragged a washing machine across the hall, no clean is fixing that.
The deposit and inventory side
This one is worth being organised about.
Fair wear and tear is not something you can charge a tenant for. Damage is. The trouble is that a dirty floor and a worn floor look similar in a check-out photograph, and that is exactly where disputes come from.
A couple of practical things:
- Get the floor deep cleaned before check-in, and photograph it then. That is your baseline, and it is a proper one rather than a mopped one.
- Photograph again at check-out before any cleaning. If a clean brings the floor back, it was dirt, and that is not a deposit matter. If it does not, you have evidence that it is damage.
- Keep the invoices. A record of a floor being professionally maintained on a schedule is far more persuasive than an assertion that it was in good condition.
We are not adjudicators and we will not write a report that says a tenant caused something. But we will tell you honestly what we are looking at, and a before and after tends to speak for itself.
HMOs and high footfall
Different rules apply where the traffic is heavy. Student HMOs, professional shares, short lets and anything with a communal hall.
- Every three to six months, not annually. The hall and the kitchen are doing the work of a whole house.
- Matting matters more than anything else you can do. Long mats at the entrance, and in an HMO that means the front door of the flat as well as the close.
- Communal halls take the worst of it. Everybody’s grit, all year, and nobody feeling personally responsible for it.
- Do not rely on the tenants’ cleaning. Not because they are careless, but because the products in the cupboard of a shared flat are whatever was cheapest, and those are exactly the ones that leave residue.
Warranties, which people forget about
Most flooring manufacturers require evidence of correct maintenance for a wear layer warranty to stay valid. If you have got a floor that is only a few years old and failing, the first thing the manufacturer will ask for is your maintenance record.
For a landlord that is worth more than for a homeowner, because you have got a floor being used harder by people who did not choose it. Keeping a scheduled clean on file is cheap insurance.
If you are specifying a floor for a rental
Since you are usually replacing at some point anyway, it is worth getting the next one right. Broadly, a brushed and lacquered finish hides day to day scratching far better than a smooth one, a thicker wear layer buys you years, and a mid-tone floor shows less than either a very dark or a very pale one. Our thoughts on this are on the flooring service pages, and there is a specific answer on the best flooring for an Airbnb that applies just as well to a let.
Common questions
How often should a rental property floor be professionally cleaned?
Between every tenancy as a minimum. For a long tenancy, once a year on top of that. For an HMO or a short let, every three to six months.
Can it be done with furniture in the property?
Yes, we work around what is there, though an empty flat between tenancies is obviously quicker and gives a better result because we can get everywhere.
How long does a flat take?
A typical two or three bedroom flat is a few hours start to finish, and it is walk-on dry within minutes of each area being done. It will not hold up your turnover.
Do you work across a portfolio?
Yes. If you have got several properties it is usually more sensible to put them on a schedule than to call us in a panic each time somebody hands notice in.
Related questions
If you have got a floor you are not sure about, or a portfolio you would rather put on a schedule than deal with property by property, tell us what you have got. Get a free quote or give us a ring on 0131 285 6435.
We look after floors across Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.
