Apartment Move-Out Cleaning Checklist for Getting Your Deposit Back

That Cleaning Girl · Apartment Cleaning

Moving out of an apartment is stressful enough without losing part of your deposit over a dirty oven. A good move-out clean gives you the best shot at getting all of it back. If you have been reading along, How to Keep Shared Spaces Clean When You Live with Roommates covered the day-to-day stuff. Move-out is a different job, and this checklist walks through it room by room.

A quick note before we start: every lease is different. Read yours for any cleaning requirements, and when in doubt, ask your leasing office what they expect. This is general advice, not a promise of what any landlord will do.

Start with an empty apartment

Move-out cleaning works best after everything is out. You can see the floors, reach the corners and clean inside every cabinet and closet without working around boxes. If you can, plan for the clean to happen the day after the movers, not the same afternoon.

Plan on it taking longer than a regular clean, too. Inside the oven, inside every cabinet and behind the appliances are jobs most people only do once a year, if that.

Bring your own supplies. You will need all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner, a degreaser, a soft scrub cleanser, plenty of cloths, a vacuum, a mop and trash bags.

The kitchen

The kitchen is where most cleaning charges come from, so give it the most time.

• Clean inside the oven, including the racks and the door glass.
• Clean the stovetop, drip pans or grates, and under the burners if they lift.
• Clean inside the fridge and freezer, including the drawers, shelves and door gaskets. Unplug and prop the door if your lease says so.
• Pull the fridge and stove out if you can do it safely, and clean the floor and walls behind them.
• Wipe inside and outside every cabinet and drawer.
• Clean the microwave inside and out.
• Scrub the sink and faucet and clean the disposal.
• Wipe the backsplash, the range hood and filter, and light switches.
• Sweep and mop the floor, including the edges.

The bathroom

• Scrub the tub, shower walls and fixtures, and remove soap scum and hard water spots.
• Clean the toilet inside and out, including the base and behind it.
• Clean the mirror, the vanity, the sink and the inside of the drawers and cabinet.
• Wipe the exhaust fan cover and the light fixture.
• Mop the floor and wipe the baseboards.

Bedrooms, closets and living areas

• Wipe closet shelves and rods, and vacuum the closet floor.
• Dust ceiling fans and light fixtures.
• Wipe window sills, blinds and tracks.
• Wipe baseboards and doors.
• Vacuum carpet thoroughly, edge to edge.
• Sweep and mop hard floors.

Walls, doors and switches

Spot clean scuffs and fingerprints with a damp cloth or a melamine sponge, testing in a corner first because some paints rub off. Wipe light switches, outlet covers and door handles. Check your lease before patching nail holes or touching up paint. Some landlords want you to, and some would rather do it themselves with the exact paint color.

The little things that get noticed

These are the details that are easy to forget on a long moving day:

• Replace burned-out light bulbs if your lease asks for it.
• Clean the dryer lint trap and wipe the washer.
• Wipe the front door and the entry closet.
• Sweep the balcony or patio and clean the sliding door track.
• Empty every trash can and take all trash to the dumpster.
• Check under sinks and on top of the fridge.

Document it

When you finish, walk through with your phone and take photos and a short video of every room, inside the oven, the fridge and the bathroom. Keep your move-in photos too. If there is ever a question about the condition, you have a record. Save them somewhere you will not lose them, like a cloud folder labeled with the address and the date, since deposit questions can come up weeks after you have moved. Return all keys, fobs and garage remotes and get a receipt if you can.

Booking a move-out clean

If you are juggling movers, a new place and work, a professional move-out clean takes a big job off your plate. We do move-out cleans for apartments in Waxahachie, Midlothian, Mansfield and around south DFW, and we can add extras like inside the oven, fridge, cabinets and blinds. We cannot speak for any landlord's decision, but we clean to a detailed checklist so the place is ready for the walkthrough.

If you are doing it yourself, give yourself more time than you think you need, and work from the kitchen and bathroom outward, since those rooms take the longest. Save the floors for the very end, once every cabinet and closet is done, so you are not tracking dust back across them while you carry out the last trash bag.

See how we handle apartment cleans of every size on our apartment cleaning page. Next, we look at what landlords actually check when you move out.