Move-out inspections are not really about how clean a home looks. They are about a list. Whoever walks through is checking specific things in a specific order, and the deductions almost always come from the same handful of misses.
The five that cost people money
- Inside the oven. The single most common deduction, and the one that takes longest to fix properly.
- The fridge and freezer, cleaned and left switched off with doors propped open if the property is empty.
- Inside every cupboard, drawer and closet — crumbs and dust in an empty cabinet read as 'not cleaned'.
- Extractor and vent covers in the kitchen and bathrooms.
- Window tracks and sills, where months of grit collects out of sight.
Room by room
Kitchen
- Oven interior, racks and door glass degreased
- Fridge and freezer emptied, defrosted and wiped
- All cabinets and drawers cleaned inside and out
- Sink descaled, taps polished, drain cleared
- Behind and under freestanding appliances
Bathrooms
- Limescale removed from shower glass, screens and taps
- Grout scrubbed and any mould treated
- Vanities and cabinets cleaned inside
- Extractor vent cover removed and washed
- Behind and around the base of the toilet
Every room
- Closets cleaned inside, rails and shelves wiped
- Wall scuffs spot-cleaned, picture hooks removed and filled
- Baseboards, door frames and doors washed
- Light fittings and ceiling fans dusted
- Window glass, sills and tracks
- Floors vacuumed, then mopped last
Order matters more than effort
Clean top to bottom and finish with floors. Every professional move-out clean works this way for one reason: anything you dislodge from a high surface lands on a low one, so cleaning floors first means cleaning them twice.
When to do it yourself and when not to
A small apartment in good condition is a realistic weekend job for two people. A family home with a year of oven buildup usually is not, and the deduction for a failed inspection often costs more than the clean would have. If your deposit is meaningful and your time is short, the maths tends to favour booking it.