Preparing a Property for New Occupants

Turnover is the point at which a property is inspected most closely and by the least forgiving audience. An incoming occupant has no history with the property and no reason to overlook anything.

The turnover window is the opportunity

An empty property is the only time everything is genuinely reachable — inside cabinets, behind appliances, along floor edges, under where furniture stood. Work done now takes less time and covers more than the same work six months into an occupancy.

Sequence

1. 1Confirm the property is fully empty, including storage areas
2. 2Address any repairs or remedial work first — cleaning after trades, never before
3. 3High dusting: fittings, vents, frames, tops of cabinets
4. 4Cabinet and drawer interiors throughout
5. 5Appliance interiors, where in scope
6. 6Bathrooms in full, including grout, sealant, and glass
7. 7Kitchen surfaces, backsplash, and cabinet fronts
8. 8Skirting, frames, switches, and handles
9. 9Interior glass, sills, and tracks
10. 10Floors last, throughout, including edges

Where disputes originate

Turnover disagreements cluster in a small number of places, and almost all of them are avoidable by naming the item explicitly in the scope.

• Inside the oven — the single most common flashpoint
• Inside and on top of kitchen cabinets
• The refrigerator interior and its seals
• Grout and sealant condition, which is often wear rather than dirt
• Marks on walls, which are frequently decoration rather than cleaning

Separate cleaning from condition

A worn sealant, a scuffed wall, or failed grout will not resolve with cleaning. Distinguishing "not clean" from "worn out" before the clean sets expectations correctly and stops cleaning being blamed for maintenance.

If work has just been carried out

Where the turnover follows renovation or repair, treat it as post-construction clean-up rather than ordinary turnover cleaning. Construction dust is fine enough to resettle after surfaces are wiped, and needs a top-down sequence rather than a single pass.

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