What is Included in a Move Out Cleaning [A Complete List]

House cleaning is hard work, and moving out can be extremely stressful. Which makes cleaning your entire house while you’re moving out feel like an insurmountable task. 

However, while it may be physically exhausting, giving your house a thorough clean one last time before you move is essential. Not only does it ensure that you get your full security deposit back, but it also makes life easy for new tenants moving in. 

Now, knowing the importance of move out cleaning is all well and good, but how do you actually go about it? Which areas should you target and what should come first? Well, your landlord should be able to help you out with that. In fact, they should provide you with a full checklist of areas you have to take care of. 

In case they don’t, this guide should serve as a complete room-by-room checklist of areas that you should cover during the move out cleaning process. So, without any further ado, let’s get straight into it. 

What’s Included in a Move Out Cleaning Checklist?

The first thing to remember about move out cleaning is that it's not a standard cleaning of the house. Instead it involves proper, thorough deep cleaning of every area inside of your home. Please note, the property should be completely empty before beginning your move out clean. 

So, to answer the question, every area of your home should be included in your move out cleaning checklist. Our purpose in telling you this is not to overwhelm you, but to make you aware of the work you’ll have to put in to restore your house back to its former glory. 

If you do feel overwhelmed though, you can always opt to hire an experienced move out cleaning service like Happy Home Helpers to do the job for you. Regardless of what you decide, here’s a detailed overview of how every area in your home should be cleaned. 

Bedrooms

Start with the bedrooms as they’ll help you ease into the whole process seeing as they’re much easier to clean, especially compared to the bathrooms and the kitchen. 

Bedrooms often contain your most precious valuables as well, so going for them first might help you find items that you may have missed while packing. 

Once you’re done decluttering your bedrooms for the final time, here’s the checklist you should follow for cleaning them. 

• Dust ceiling fans
• Dust all surfaces
• Clean your closets’ interiors and exteriors
• Clean any marks on the walls and baseboards
• Hand wipe all baseboards, shutters and/or blinds
• Clean the interior of all window sills and window tracks
• Clean mirrors
• Wipe all door knobs, door frames and doors
• Wipe all light switches
• Collect and empty the garbage
• Vacuum and mop all hard surfaces
• Vacuum all carpets and area rugs

Bathrooms

Bathrooms require extra effort when deep cleaning. Fortunately for you, you don’t have items or linens in there anymore so you can really give it a thorough clean and wash without worrying about your own belongings. 

Just set down a towel or bath mat outside the bathroom and start checking things off the checklist provided below. 

• Clean and sanitize your bathtub, shower walls and glass doors. 
• Clean and sanitize your sink. 
• Clean and sanitize both the exterior and interior of the toilet.
• Clean the insides of all window sills and window tracks.
• Wipe mirrors after spraying an all-purpose cleaner.
• Clean the interiors and exteriors of all cabinets.
• Dust and wipe all surfaces including countertops and shelves.
• Wipe all light switches and lighting fixtures.
• Clean and wipe all door knobs, door frames and doors.
• Wash off any marks on baseboards and walls.
• Wipe all baseboards thoroughly.
• Empty and dispose the garbage.
• Scrub all grout
• Wash and vacuum the floor.

Kitchen

Kitchens are by far the most difficult area of the house to clean, especially when you’re completing a move out deep cleaning. This is where the food is prepared, it’s the social gathering spot of the home and easily one of the most heavily trafficked space in the home.

Below is the checklist you should follow when cleaning the kitchen.

• Deep clean the interior and exterior of all appliances still left in the kitchen (stovetop, oven, dishwasher, refrigerator, microwave).
• Dust and wipe all surfaces including countertops and shelves.
• Clean the exteriors and interiors as well as on top of all cabinets.
• Clean and sanitize the sink and backsplash
• Clean the garbage disposal
• Clean the insides of all window sills and tracks.
• Wipe all baseboards
• Wipe all light switches and light fixtures
• Clean all door knobs, door frames and doors.
• Empty the garbage
• Clean the floor.

Living Areas

Living areas include all the common areas in addition to your bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen. A few examples include the stairs, hallways, entry ways. Living areas also include rooms like the dining and family rooms. 

A tip for cleaning these areas is to look for areas that have recently been uncovered due to the removal of heavy furniture. These will require the heaviest cleaning, while the others a light cleaning if they’ve been cleaned regularly on a weekly basis. 

We’ve included all this and more in the living area cleaning checklist below. 

• Dust all surfaces.
• Clean all mirrors. 
• Clean the insides of all window sills and tracks.
• Clean any prior marks on walls and baseboards.
• Dust and wipe all baseboards thoroughly.
• Clean all door frames, door knobs and doors.
• Wipe all light switches and light fixtures
• Vacuum and surface clean all carpets and rugs.
• Empty the garbage.
• Vacuum and damp mop all hard floors.

Total Estimated Cost of Hiring a Move Out Cleaning Service

Now that you’ve got a measure of all the tasks you’ll have to do to perform a thorough move out cleaning, let’s calculate how much it’ll cost you to hire a professional cleaning service to do the job for you. 

In our experience, most cleaning services charge their clients based on the exact square footage and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms in their home. Based on our calculations, here are some average cleaning costs for different sized homes.

• 1-2 bedroom, 1-bath apartment/house (600 - 1200 square feet): $208 - $248
• 2-3 bedrooms, 2 baths apartment/house (1300 - 2000 square feet): $268 to $496
• 3-4 bedrooms, 2-3 baths apartment/house (2100 - 3000 square feet): $518 to $606

Of course the final decision is always yours, but hiring an experienced cleaning service will save you valuable time and will give you the peace of mind of knowing that it will be completed to the highest standard. 

Why You Should Hire a Professional Move Out Cleaning Service

Allows you to Focus on Your Other Duties

Moving can be an intensely daunting and emotional experience. There are a number of responsibilities tenants have when moving out of one property and moving into another one. 

Move out cleaning is the most extensive clean you can do on your property. Adding that to your list of responsibilities can become overwhelming and may distract you from a number of other responsibilities you have as you transition from one home to the next.

Hiring professional house cleaning services is an amazing workaround that allows you to focus on your other duties fully while leaving the cleaning part to experienced professionals. 

You Don’t have the Right Cleaning Equipment

A professional cleaning crew comes with their own specialized equipment that’s designed to efficiently and thoroughly remove all traces of the previous occupants. You, on the other hand, will most probably not have any specialized equipment to clean with, which may take you double the time it takes them to clean the entire house. 

Thus, sometimes it is wise to entrust duties to professionals, even if it does cost you a bit of money. 

Increased Chance of Getting your Full Security Deposit Back

Apart from having specialized equipment, another thing professional cleaning crews have going for them is their experience. Cleaning is their job and they can do a much better job at it then those that don’t have that same level of experience.

A fact that could prove advantageous for you as well, when it comes to you recouping your full security deposit back. 

Committed to Hiring a Professional Move Out Cleaning Service? Contact Happy Home Helpers Now for Your First Quote

The importance of a proper, thorough move out cleaning can never be underestimated, as it directly impacts you getting your full security deposit back. Oftentimes though tenants don’t recognize that and end up either not cleaning the property, or doing a lackluster job. Because the only thing on their mind is leaving that chapter of their life behind. The regret comes later. So, why not take action now and hire a professional cleaning service in Happy Home Helpers to handle all your move out cleaning needs. 

Happy Home Helpers will arrive at your home with all the specialized equipment necessary and a team consisting of experienced professionals who’ve spent decades in the cleaning industry. So what are you waiting for? Contact Happy Home Helpers through this link now and get your first quote today.