Many of our tenancy cleaning clients are landlords who are trying to make their rental unit fit for the next person who comes along. but tenants can hire cleaning services too. The need to clean a dirty rental is one of the primary reasons why landlords don’t return security deposits. Yet cleaning services rarely cost the entire deposit. However, walking into a dirty apartment can make a landlord angry. That anger has a bearing on what the landlord might accept as “normal wear and tear.” He may not be attempting to be malicious or to cheat you when he decides he’s not giving his security deposit back. His perception may be that you trashed the apartment. In addition, it’s awfully hard to take proof pictures of a dirty apartment, and you may not be really eager to invite the landlord in for a walk-through. This makes it harder for you to make the case that your security deposit should be returned to you. So it usually costs far less for you to order your own tenancy cleaning, even if you wind up using exactly the same service that your landlord would have used. To make the most of your tenancy cleaning you’ll want to schedule your cleaning service after you have moved everything out of the unit. This gives the cleaning service a chance to reach every corner of your apartment. When the tenancy clean is done stop and snap some pictures of your sparkling clean unit. Invite your landlord to do that walk-through. It’ll be easy, because you won’t have to be embarrassed about the state of the apartment. Taking the photographs, having the walk-through, and leaving a clean apartment dramatically increase your chances of getting your security deposit back, which means your decision to have your own tenancy cleaning done might just pay for itself!