Checklist
Move-out cleaning checklist
Work through this on an empty property and you will have covered what an inspection actually looks at. It is also, item for item, the scope we clean to.
Two rules before you start
Empty first, and go in the right order. Almost every move-out clean that goes wrong breaks one of those.
Empty means empty. Not "everything except the garage" or "everything except a few boxes in the spare room". Anything left behind is a spot that gets cleaned around, and cleaning around things is exactly what an inspection finds.
The order is top to bottom, dry to wet, floors last. Dust falls. Cleaning a floor and then wiping the ceiling fan above it means cleaning the floor twice. Every room follows the same sequence: high surfaces, then middle, then fixtures, then floor.
One more thing: keep the utilities on. Cleaning without water is not possible and cleaning without lights is not worth doing.
The full checklist
Room by room. Print it, or check it against what a company is quoting you.
Kitchen
- Inside every cabinet and drawer
- Cabinet fronts washed full height
- Inside the oven, including racks and door glass
- Inside the refrigerator, shelves and drawers
- Behind and under the refrigerator if it moves safely
- Dishwasher inside, including the filter and seal
- Microwave inside and out
- Counters, backsplash and sink
- Under the sink and the trash cabinet
- Pantry shelves and floor
- Vent hood and filter, where accessible
- Floor to the edges and under appliances
Bathrooms
- Toilet inside, outside, base, behind and the bolt caps
- Tub and shower including the track and door hinges
- Tile walls floor to ceiling
- Grout lines scrubbed
- Hard water and soap scum from glass and chrome
- Inside vanity cabinets and drawers
- Medicine cabinet interior
- Mirror, sink, counter and taps
- Exhaust fan cover
- Floor to the edges and behind the door
Bedrooms and living areas
- Closet shelves, rails and floors
- Baseboards along their full length
- Door frames, doors and both sides of handles
- Light switch plates and outlet covers
- Ceiling fan blades and light fixtures
- Air return and vent covers
- Window sills, frames and interior tracks
- Interior glass
- Cobwebs in corners and above doors
- Marks on walls spot-cleaned
Floors
- Vacuum carpet including the perimeter and under where furniture stood
- Hard floors swept then mopped
- Edges, corners and transitions hand-detailed
- Stair treads and risers
- Threshold strips
- Closet floors
Laundry and utility
- Washer and dryer exteriors
- The gap between and behind them
- Dryer vent connection area
- Utility sink and taps
- Shelving and cabinet interiors
- Floor to the edges
Final pass
- Garage swept, if the lease requires it
- Patio or balcony swept
- Front and back entry areas
- All trash removed from the property
- Every room checked with the lights on
- Photographs taken for your own records
The last item is the one people skip and regret. Photograph every room after cleaning, with the lights on. It costs five minutes and it is the only evidence you will have if the condition is later disputed.
The order to work in
Doing it in this sequence means doing everything once.
- Step 1
Empty the property completely
Including the garage, the patio, the attic and anything in a closet you forgot about.
- Step 2
Repairs and paint first
Nail holes, touch-up paint, anything a handyman is doing. All of it produces dust and drips.
- Step 3
Top to bottom, room by room
Fans, fixtures, vents, frames, then walls and switches, then fixtures and surfaces, then floors. Finish each room before moving on.
- Step 4
Floors last, then leave
Once the floors are done, stay off them. Photograph, lock up, and hand over.
What inspections check first
If you are short of time, do these before anything else. They are the items that appear on almost every move-out inspection form.
- Inside the oven and inside the refrigerator
- Toilets, including the base and behind
- Shower and tub, including any glass
- Inside kitchen cabinets and drawers
- Floors, particularly edges and corners
- Trash removed from the entire property
Move-out checklist questions
- Does this guarantee my deposit back?
No, and nobody can promise that. A deposit decision is made by your landlord against your lease and covers things cleaning cannot affect — damage, wear, unpaid items and paperwork. What a proper clean does is remove cleanliness as a reason to withhold it.
- How long does this take to do myself?
For a two-bedroom apartment, most of a day if you are working steadily. For a three-bedroom house, realistically a full day and often two. It is more than people expect, mostly because of the appliance and cabinet interiors.
- What if my lease has its own checklist?
Use theirs as the authority and this one to fill gaps. If you are booking a professional clean, send the lease wording to the company beforehand so the scope covers what it specifies.
- Do I need to clean the carpets?
Check your lease. Some require professional carpet cleaning specifically, which is extraction by a specialist rather than vacuuming. That is a different trade from a cleaning company.
- What about walls and paint?
Spot-cleaning marks is cleaning; repainting is not. If the lease requires walls returned to a particular state, that is a decorating job and it needs doing before the clean.
Next step
Have it done instead
Give us the property and the date it will be empty, and we will work this list before your walk-through.
Book online in a few minutes, or call (972) 440-4421 — texting works too, if that’s easier.