Whether you’re a renter hoping to get your deposit back or a seller handing a home to its new owners, a thorough move-out cleaning matters. An empty home is also the easiest time to clean it, since nothing is in the way. Use this room-by-room checklist, and check your lease or sale agreement for anything specific your landlord or buyer expects.

Kitchen

  • Inside and outside of cabinets and drawers
  • Countertops and backsplash
  • Sink and faucet, including the drain area
  • Stovetop, knobs and the front of the oven
  • Inside the oven and refrigerator (often forgotten, and often checked)
  • Inside the microwave
  • Floor, including along the edges and under where appliances stood, if they can be moved

Bathrooms

  • Toilet, inside and out, including the base
  • Tub, shower walls and glass
  • Sink, faucet and mirror
  • Inside the vanity and medicine cabinet
  • Floor and baseboards

Bedrooms and living areas

  • Inside closets, including shelves
  • Baseboards, door frames and doors
  • Light switches and outlet covers
  • Window sills and tracks
  • Floors: vacuum carpets, clean hard floors

The spots people forget most often

  • The top of the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets
  • Light fixtures and ceiling fans
  • Scuffs on walls near doors and stairs
  • Window tracks
  • The inside of the dishwasher and washing machine

Tips for moving day

  • Clean after the last box leaves. Cleaning around furniture means doing parts of it twice.
  • Work top to bottom. Dust from shelves and fixtures falls onto floors, so do floors last.
  • Take photos when you’re done. As a renter, dated photos of the clean, empty home are useful if there’s ever a question about the deposit.
  • Leave time. A full move-out cleaning of a house takes many hours. Don’t schedule it for the same afternoon as the final walk-through.

Moving in? Same list, other direction

Cleaning a new home before your furniture arrives is the only time you’ll be able to reach every corner. The same checklist applies.

Rather hand it off?

Moving is stressful enough. Sonia’s Cleaning Services does move-in and move-out cleaning for houses, condos and apartments in Newton, Framingham and nearby towns. We’re bonded, licensed and insured, and if something isn’t right, we come back and re-clean it at no extra cost. Move cleaning is charged by the hour, and estimates are free. Request yours or call (508) 740-6959.