Airbnb cleaning checklist: a London flat, room by room

A changeover cleaner works to the list you give them. "Clean the flat" gets you one person's idea of clean. A list gets you something you can check afterwards, with a photo of each room. This page is that list for a short let in England, built around a one or two bedroom London flat. It covers the host's whole turnover: some of it is cleaning, and some of it, like the safety checks, may be yours to do or to arrange. The last part is the linen arithmetic, which tells you whether you'll have clean sets to make the beds with.

Airbnb's cleanliness rating asks guests whether the home met its standards, which it describes as free of health hazards like mould and pests, and of extensive dust, pet dander, dirty dishes and the like. The lists below are there to get a yes to that question.

The checklist, room by room

Tick these as you go: the boxes remember your ticks on this device. Copy the lists into your property notes, cross out what doesn't apply, and add the details only you know, such as which cupboard holds the spare duvet.

The kitchen section of an Airbnb cleaning checklist

Bathroom

Bedrooms

Living room, hallway and the front door

Safety checks between stays

The Home Office guidance for small paying guest accommodation sets out weekly and monthly checks. Where staff or owners aren't present, as in a self-catering flat, the guidance says those tests should be carried out on each change of occupancy, which for a short let means every changeover.

The checks sit on top of a legal requirement. The guidance states that the Fire Safety Order requires a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment, and that the law applies if you charge someone to stay as a guest in a property not occupied as a private dwelling, even if it is just for one night.

The guidance also says a record of testing and maintenance should be kept, in a log book or electronically. A line in the changeover notes saying "alarms tested, all sounded" can be part of that record. The same guidance says that if you're responsible for the premises, you're legally responsible for making sure you comply. A cleaner can press the test button and tell you what happened, but the duty stays with you.

Gas and carbon monoxide

If the flat has a gas boiler or hob, HSE says landlords' gas safety duties apply to rented holiday accommodation, including flats, with an annual check by a Gas Safe registered engineer. For a guest staying 28 days or less, the regulations allow a copy of the record to be displayed prominently in the property. If that's where yours is kept, add a line to the checklist to see that it's still there and still current.

The carbon monoxide rules fit a short let less neatly. The rented-homes alarm regulations apply to a tenancy that grants one or more persons the right to occupy the premises as their only or main residence, for rent, and that isn't excluded by the regulations' Schedule. Don't assume either way that a short let booking is one. The paying guest fire guidance says CO detectors should be provided where there's a gas or solid fuel appliance, and Airbnb asks hosts to say whether detectors are present and, if they are, to keep them working and test them regularly.

Linen and laundry

This is plain arithmetic, not an official figure. Each bed needs the set it is wearing, plus one clean set for every changeover it will have before the used sets come back washed. On a same-day turnover the set coming off can't be the set going on, so that is never fewer than two per bed. Towels follow the same sum, per guest rather than per bed.

For washing, follow the care labels on your linen. Two NHS pages give a temperature. The norovirus page advises washing bedding with poo or vomit on it on a 60°C wash, separately from other laundry, when someone has norovirus. The bedbugs page lists spots of blood and small brown spots on bedding as signs of bedbugs, which is why the bedroom list asks for a look before the bed is remade. If spots turn up at a changeover, stop and tell the host rather than remaking the bed. The NHS says that if you think you have bedbugs you should contact your local council or pest control service, because they're very difficult to get rid of yourself. It lists washing affected bedding on a hot 60C wash and a hot tumble dry for at least 30 minutes among things you can try yourself, but says these are unlikely to get rid of bedbugs completely. If the flat has its own washer-dryer, clean the lint filter as part of the turnover.

What guests can be asked to do at checkout

Airbnb's preset checkout list has five tasks: gather used towels, throw rubbish away, turn things off, lock up and return keys. You can add details and extra requests for your home, but Airbnb's own guidance says guests expect an easy checkout without any cleaning tasks, and guests can flag "excessive checkout tasks" when they rate you.

You can't charge for a skipped task either. Airbnb's ground rules say hosts may not charge guests for failing to do specific cleaning or checkout tasks, and that the cleaning fee is meant to cover standard cleaning between reservations. What guests are required to do is finish checkout, including returning keys, by the checkout time on the reservation.

Timing the cleaner to the checkout

Airbnb sends guests a checkout reminder at 17:00 the day before, if they have the app and notifications on. That's a useful moment to confirm the cleaner's arrival time too, so nobody is standing on the landing while the last guest packs.

Handing this to a cleaner

Mark up these lists with your own details and the listing photos, then split them: what you want a cleaner to do, and what stays with you. The Airbnb cleaning service page sets out what a Crystal Clear Cleans changeover covers and what it leaves to you. Washing linen away from the property is one of those. Anything beyond that page is agreed when you get your quote. For a short let in Uxbridge or anywhere in the London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow, send the number of bedrooms, how often you turn over and your postcode through the quote form.