The Complete Move-Out Cleaning Checklist

Moving out means cleaning far more of the home than a normal week does — appliance interiors, closets, cabinets and corners you may not have touched since you moved in. Here’s the short version of what’s ahead, with the full room-by-room checklist below it.

A move-out clean goes faster and gets more thorough the more you set up for it first. Three things to sort out before you pick up a cloth:

Remove your belongings

Clean after everything is out, not before. An empty room lets you reach every cabinet, closet and corner without working around furniture or boxes — and you won’t end up cleaning the same spot twice once something finally gets moved.

Gather your supplies

• All-purpose cleaner and a degreaser for the kitchen
• Glass cleaner for windows, mirrors and glass shower doors
• Bathroom cleaner and a grout brush
• Microfiber cloths — plenty of them, kitchen and bathroom kept separate
• A vacuum with a hose attachment for closets, vents and corners
• A mop and bucket, plus broom and dustpan
• Rubber gloves and trash bags

Work systematically

Work room by room and top to bottom in each one — ceiling fans and light fixtures before floors, so nothing you knock loose lands on a surface you’ve already cleaned. Finishing one room completely before moving to the next also makes it much easier to track what’s left when you’re tired and the list feels long.

The kitchen usually takes the longest, mostly because of the appliances. Work through it in this order:

• Inside the oven — remove and degrease the racks, then clean the interior walls, floor and door glass.
• Inside the fridge and freezer — remove shelves and drawers, wipe every interior surface, and dry it all before you leave — a closed, damp fridge left running or unplugged for a move-out can develop odour or mildew.
• Inside the dishwasher — wipe the interior and the door seal, and clean the exterior.
• Inside every cabinet and drawer — empty, wipe the shelves and interior surfaces, and dry before closing.
• Stovetop, range hood/fan, and the exterior of the oven, fridge and microwave
• Microwave, inside and out
• Sink, faucet and backsplash, plus countertops and cabinet fronts
• Dust reachable surfaces, including the vents and the top of the fridge
• Sweep, vacuum and mop the floor last

• Toilet — bowl, seat, exterior and base
• Tub and shower, including a real scrub of the grout, not just a rinse
• Shower drain, and glass doors if you have them
• Sink and vanity, inside and out, plus polish the faucet
• Mirrors and any glass surfaces
• Cabinet fronts and interiors, wiped and dried
• Exhaust fan cover, dusted or wiped clean
• Light switch plates and door handles, disinfected
• Baseboards and the floor, vacuumed and mopped last

• Closet — shelves, rods and floor, wiped and vacuumed (full checklist below)
• All reachable surfaces and any built-in shelving, dusted
• Light fixtures and ceiling fan blades, dusted
• Walls spot-cleaned where needed, and any nail holes noted for patching
• Windowsills, tracks and interior glass
• Light switches and doorknobs, disinfected
• Baseboards, detail-cleaned rather than just spot-checked
• Floors vacuumed and mopped, or vacuumed thoroughly if carpeted

• Dust all reachable surfaces, shelving and any built-ins
• Light fixtures, ceiling fans and vents, dusted
• Windowsills, tracks and interior glass
• Walls spot-cleaned where needed
• Light switches, doorknobs and railings, disinfected
• Baseboards throughout, detail-cleaned
• Entryway and hallway floors and closets included, not skipped
• Floors vacuumed and mopped last, once everything above is done

Closets are one of the easiest places to under-clean, since they look empty and get a quick glance instead of the same attention as the rest of the room.

• Vacuum and wipe every shelf, including the top one
• Wipe down closet rods
• Vacuum and wipe the closet floor, including corners
• Wipe interior walls where marked or scuffed
• Linen closets and pantry shelving, if applicable
• Any storage locker, garage or shed included in your move — same shelf-and-floor treatment

A few tasks apply to the entire home rather than one room, and they’re easy to forget once you’ve worked through each room individually. Do a final home-wide pass for:

• Baseboards in every room, including behind doors and where furniture used to sit
• Window tracks and sills throughout the home
• Door frames and doors, wiped down
• Light switch plates and doorknobs throughout, disinfected
• Vent covers, dusted or wiped
• All floors — vacuumed, then mopped or spot-cleaned as needed, done last so nothing gets tracked back over them

Once every room is done, walk the whole home one more time before you hand back the keys:

• Every cabinet, drawer and closet door — opened and checked, not just assumed clean
• Nothing left behind — check high shelves, behind doors and inside any storage areas
• All trash removed and bins left empty
• Lights off and any appliances left in the state you were asked to leave them
• Doors and windows closed and locked
• A final look, room by room, with fresh eyes rather than the eyes that have been cleaning all day

These are the spots that get skipped most often — usually because a room looks clean at a glance without them:

• Baseboards behind doors and where furniture used to sit
• Closet shelves — especially the top one
• Inside cabinet and drawer interiors, not just the fronts
• Window tracks and sills
• Light switch plates and doorknobs
• Vent covers and the tops of appliances or tall cabinets
• The exhaust fan cover in the bathroom
• Inside the dishwasher and around its door seal

This checklist applies the same way to an apartment or condo as it does to a house — the rooms are just smaller. A few extra things are worth thinking through for a rental unit specifically:

• Check your lease or ask your property manager exactly what's expected at move-out, since this can vary by building and by landlord.
• If you have a balcony or patio, sweep it and wipe down the railing along with the rest of the unit.
• Book elevator or loading dock access ahead of time if your building requires it for moving day.
• Confirm how and when to return keys, fobs or parking passes.
• Take dated photos once the clean is done, in case questions come up about the unit's condition later.

More on cleaning by home type: apartment cleaning and condo cleaning in London, Ontario.

This checklist works well if you have the time and want to handle it yourself. The honest trade-off is what it costs you elsewhere on moving day:

A small, lightly-used apartment on a flexible move-out date is the most DIY-friendly case. A larger home, a hard closing date, or a lease that spells out a specific standard to meet is where professional move-out cleaning in London, Ontario tends to earn its cost back in time and certainty — see what it costs and how long a professional clean takes. Moving into a new place instead? The same checklist above works for a move-in clean, too.