Moving out sounds simple until you're on your hands and knees scrubbing oven grease at midnight while the landlord's walkthrough is at 9 AM. I've done that. It's miserable. The list below is the version of moving out that doesn't end that way — start it the weekend before, not the night before, and you'll walk into that inspection with nothing to apologize for.
The tiny holes are the ones people skip, and they're the first thing a landlord finds. That's literally their job, and a wall full of picture-hanger holes reads as damage even when each hole is the size of a pinhead. The fix is basic: spackle, let it dry, sand it flush, touch up with matching paint. Our guide to patching small drywall holes covers the technique if you've never done it. If you don't have the original paint, chip off a dime-sized flake from an inconspicuous spot — inside a closet corner works — and have the hardware store color-match it.
Doorknob dings in the drywall behind doors get the same patch-sand-paint treatment, about five minutes per hole. Doorstops exist for a reason, but the previous tenant apparently didn't install them either. For the squeaks and sticks: WD-40 on the hinge pins handles the noise. If a door sticks, check the screws in the top hinge first — they back out over time and pull the door against the frame. Tighten them before you reach for a sander. More on that in our squeaky hinge walkthrough. Baseboards and door frames collect dust like glue; a damp cloth over all four walls of every room takes half an hour and makes the whole unit look cleaner than it actually is.
The oven is gross but necessary. Spray oven cleaner, let it sit overnight with the door closed, wipe it out in the morning. Pull the racks and soak them in the bathtub with degreaser. If your oven has a self-clean cycle, run it a day early — it smokes and stinks for hours, and doing it the morning of the walkthrough means the whole unit smells like burnt carbon when the landlord arrives.
For the fridge, unplug it the night before and let the freezer defrost with towels on the floor. Wipe every shelf, drawer, and door seal. Then pull it away from the wall and clean underneath — you'll find things you wish you hadn't. Slide the stove out too, and sweep and mop under both. Landlords look under appliances specifically because tenants never clean there. Being the tenant who did is worth real money.
The bathroom spots that matter are the ones you skip all year. Get the mold out of the caulk lines; if the caulk is beyond saving, cut it out and redo it. A $6 tube of silicone saves you a $200 cleaning deduction, and re-caulking a bathtub is a half-hour job once you've done it once.
For drains, pour boiling water down each one, then a half cup of baking soda followed by vinegar. Wait ten minutes, flush again with more hot water. Snake the hair out of the tub drain while you're at it. Wear gloves. It's foul, and a slow drain on walkthrough day looks like a plumbing problem you're leaving behind.
Dead bugs in the window tracks are universally disgusting and universally noticed, so vacuum the tracks and wipe the sills after the glass. Bulbs are about signals as much as light: a missing or dead bulb — even the one in the closet you never use — tells the landlord you stopped maintaining the place months ago. Same logic with the HVAC filter. Pop open the return air grille and swap it. A clogged filter says you didn't maintain anything for your entire lease; fair or not, that's the impression, and impressions are what walkthroughs run on. Here's how to pack for a move.
Smoke detectors are the one item here that's more than cosmetic. Press the test button on each one and replace the battery if it chirps. One dead detector is a lease violation in most places, and it will get flagged. Floors last: a stain pen that matches the color for hardwood scuffs, a magic eraser for light vinyl marks (a dab of seam sealer for deeper ones), and a rented steam cleaner for carpet. Pet smells don't come out with vacuuming alone, and landlords check with their noses.
After you're done cleaning, before the walkthrough, take photos of everything. Every room, every wall, every appliance, every floor surface. Get close-ups of anything that was already damaged when you moved in. Turn on the date stamp. This takes fifteen minutes and it is your only real defense against unfair deductions — when a charge shows up for damage that predates you, a dated photo ends the argument in a way your memory never will. Run the same photo round in reverse at the next place, before a single box gets unpacked — it is the first item on the first-week checklist for new homeowners, alongside the shutoffs, filters, and detectors to sort out in those first days.
Running the oven's self-clean cycle the morning of the walkthrough tops the list — hours of smoke and burnt-carbon smell, right when the landlord walks in. Run it a day early. Close behind: skipping the space under appliances, which landlords check precisely because nobody cleans there, and leaving one dead light bulb in a closet, which poisons the impression of an otherwise clean unit. And the quiet one — doing all fifteen jobs above and taking no photos. The work protects your deposit only if you can prove the condition you left the place in.
It's a lot of work, sure. But losing $1,500 of your deposit over stuff you could fix in a weekend hurts way worse.
Give it a full weekend. Most items take under 30 minutes each, but the oven cleaner needs to sit overnight, the fridge needs a night to defrost, and the self-clean cycle — if you use it — belongs a day before the inspection, not the morning of.
Usually not. Patch, sand, and touch up with matching paint handles most move-outs. Here's how to change your address when you move. If you don't have the original paint, bring a dime-sized chip from an inconspicuous spot to the hardware store and have it color-matched.
That's exactly what the final photo round is for. Photograph pre-existing damage in close-up with the date stamp on, and pair the photos with any move-in records you kept. Condition you can document is condition you don't pay for.
Yes — cleaning deductions are among the most common, and a cleaning crew call-out costs far more than the job itself. A $6 tube of caulk or a night of oven-cleaner dwell time is cheap insurance against a $200 line item.
During most leases, yes — filter swaps are routine tenant maintenance, which is why the checklist includes it. A clean filter at the return grille also quietly signals that you kept up with the place.