When you move out of an apartment you know that you need to pack all of your stuff and do some apartment cleaning before leaving for the last time. Not only is this a nice thing to do for the landlord and the next people who will move in, but you may have money on the line in the form of your security deposit.
If you do not clean your apartment well enough, your landlord may have the legal right to keep some or all of your deposit so that they can hire a professional cleaning company to clean up after you. This is your money, and you should spend it the way that you want to, so make sure that your apartment is well cleaned before you hand back the keys to your landlord.
To make sure that your landlord is happy with the cleanliness of the apartment before you move out, it is recommended that you should hire an apartment cleaning service to do the work for you so that you don’t miss anything and you get your full deposit back.
Professional apartment cleaning will be a lot cheaper than if your landlord decides that you didn’t clean well enough, so hiring a one time apartment cleaning could make a lot of sense for you.
To help you see all of the work it will take you to do a full apartment cleaning we have created this list of the ten cleaning tasks most renters forget to clean when they move out. You can use this list to make sure that everything gets cleaned well enough for you to get your deposit back in full.
Table of Contents
1. Oven and Stove Top
It can be really easy to think that you don’t need to clean your oven and stove top because they don’t seem dirty, but if you have a picky landlord, or worse, a landlord who is looking for a way to keep your security deposit, they may just have a look at your oven and stove top and decide that it is not clean enough.
Be sure to scrape or wash any burnt on food particles off of the inside of the oven and stove top.
You may even be required to lift up the trays from under the burners and clean any gunk that has fallen down there. Apartment cleaning can seem like a real drag when you have to do cleaning tasks like this.
Even if your oven says it is self cleaning, you should probably give the inside a good scrub, as well as take the racks out and clean them well in the sink with soap and water.
2. Refrigerator
Not many people like to clean the refrigerator, but it will need a good, deep cleaning before you move on to your next home. Be sure to remove all of the shelves and clean them well. You want to get in there and scrub any sort of stuck on food that has been sitting in little crevices.
You may even want to move the refrigerator out from its normal spot so that you can clean dust and dirt from under and behind the refrigerator. Don’t forget that you also need to scrub down all the exterior of the fridge as well.
3. Dust Baseboards
Dusting and cleaning the baseboards is almost certainly one of the most boring parts of apartment cleaning, but one that will certainly be easy to notice if it is not done correctly.
You can simply use a damp rag and go over all the surfaces of the baseboards, making sure that your rag stays clean enough that it is not just spreading dirt around.
This one is especially difficult because you will need to be on your hands and knees to get down there and wipe the baseboards.
4. Windows
A lot of people think that they don’t have to clean the windows before they move out of their apartment, but it can often be a sign to the landlord that you will not be getting your deposit back in full. Make sure to use a good glass cleaner and that you don’t leave any streaks behind.
If you live above the first story, you probably won’t be able to clean the outside of your windows safely, but all the insides need to be cleaned. If you have any glass doors you will need to clean them too, inside and outside.
5. Blinds
The window blinds are something that we hardly ever clean, even though they trap a lot of dust. When you move out, you will certainly want to clean the blinds to make sure that the apartment is truly clean.
Apartment cleaners everywhere forget to clean the blinds when they move out, because they are just not used to thinking about cleaning the blinds at all. You want to make sure that you use a duster or a damp rag to get all the dust from in between the blinds.
This could take some time and effort, but be sure not to forget.
6. Inside Cabinets
It is easy to think that you only need to make sure the cabinets look good on the outside, and that you don’t leave anything inside of them and they will be clean enough. Unfortunately some landlords will look inside of cabinets to see if they have been dusted and cleaned as well.
At minimum, just use a damp rag to wipe down the interior of the cabinets to give a fresh start to whoever might be moving in after you and you should be good.
7. Ceiling Fan
If your apartment has a ceiling fan, you will probably want to skip cleaning it because it is so high up there and it doesn’t really look too dirty, but you will need to clean it. You may need to use a step ladder or you can just stand carefully on a chair to reach the ceiling fan, then wipe the tops and bottoms of the blades with a damp rag.
If the ceiling fan has a light fixture on it, also make sure that you clean it so that it looks good too. If you can safely reach the base of the ceiling fan, where it connects to the ceiling, try to clean that as well.
8. Clean the Walls
The walls of the apartment are an often overlooked part of apartment cleaning. Go over them with a damp rag and remove any cobwebs from the corners.
If you have put some nails or tacks into the walls, you will probably want to remove them and you may even need to repair the holes you made. You can ask your landlord what to do about the holes, as repairing them could be complicated.
9. Behind the Toilet
Most people will remember to clean inside the toilet, but there is that space behind the toilet which can collect a lot of dust, hair and other nasty things. Be sure to reach back there and disinfect the area well and also remove any debris.
10. Outdoor Spaces
If your apartment has a private outdoor area like a patio or balcony, you will be responsible to make sure it looks as clean as when you arrived. Be sure to pull any weeds that may have grown and wash the floors.
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