Security Deposit Cleaning to Protect Your Refund

A security deposit is your money, held by the landlord against damage and cleaning at the end of the lease. At move-out, the landlord inspects the unit and decides how much of that money to return. Cleaning is one of the lines they look at hardest, because a unit left dirty is one of the easiest things to charge against. A security deposit clean is aimed at exactly that line: removing cleaning as a reason for the landlord to hold your money back.

We are Move Out Cleaning Company, and a deposit clean is the same careful work as a move-out clean, pointed squarely at the inspection. We bring the crew and the supplies, clean the empty unit to the checklist the landlord inspects against, and give you one flat price before we start. This page covers what landlords deduct for, what a deposit clean includes, how our flat quote works, and how all of it ties back to the money you get returned.

What landlords deduct from a deposit for

A landlord cannot keep your deposit for just any reason. State law and your lease set what is allowed, but the common deductions fall into a few groups:

• Cleaning needed to return the unit to its move-in condition, beyond ordinary wear and tear
• Unpaid rent or other charges you still owe under the lease
• Damage past normal wear, like holes in the wall, stains or broken fixtures
• Items left behind that the landlord has to haul away and dispose of

Of those, cleaning is the one most squarely in your control at move-out, and the one a deposit clean is built to remove. We cannot fix unpaid rent or repair damage, but we can make sure the unit is not held against you for being dirty, which is often the largest cleaning-related line on the list.

What a security deposit clean covers

A deposit clean is a deep, detailed clean of the empty unit, done to the checklist the inspection uses rather than to a general idea of tidy. It reaches inside, behind and underneath, because that is where an inspector looks. Here is what it covers, room by room:

• Kitchen: inside the oven, stovetop and range hood, inside and out of the fridge, and inside every cabinet and drawer
• Kitchen surfaces: counters, backsplash and sink, with hard-water marks worked off the faucet
• Bathrooms: the tub and shower, tile and grout, the toilet inside and out, and the vanity, sink and mirror
• Floors vacuumed and mopped in every room, with closets and hallways included
• Detail: baseboards, doors, door frames, switch plates, window interiors, sills, tracks, light fixtures and vents

The move-out checklist we clean to

A deposit decision is made against a checklist, so that is what we clean to. Send us your landlord’s list and we follow it line by line. Without one, we work from a standard move-out checklist that covers the points most inspections share. The kitchen and the bathrooms carry the most weight, because that is where a dirty unit shows first, so they get the most attention, from inside the oven and fridge to the grout and the vanity.

One flat quote and a free re-clean

A deposit clean is priced the same way as everything we do: one flat quote, given before we start, based on the size of the unit and the condition it is in. No hourly meter runs while the crew works, and no fees are tacked on at the end. You know the number before anyone shows up, and that number is the number.

And if the landlord or property manager inspects the unit and flags a cleaning item on the checklist that we cleaned, we come back and re-clean that item at no extra charge. The flat quote plus the free re-clean is how we take the guesswork out of booking a clean that your deposit may ride on.

How cleaning affects the deposit

Here is the honest version. Cleaning is one of the most common reasons money is taken out of a deposit, so handing back a unit cleaned to the checklist removes that reason and gives you your best chance at getting the deposit back in full. We cannot control what a landlord decides, and we do not promise a particular outcome. What we do is clean to the standard they inspect against, and re-clean a flagged item for free, so cleaning is not the thing that costs you.

Deposit rules, including how many days a landlord has to return the deposit and what can be deducted, are set by your state and your lease, so they differ from place to place. Treat everything here as general information, not legal advice, and confirm the specifics in your own lease and your state rules. Our end of lease cleaning page covers the lease side, and apartment move-out cleaning is written for leasing-office rentals.

Timing your deposit clean

A deposit clean works best once your things are out and before the final walk-through, while every surface is reachable and the inspection is still ahead of you. Tell us your move date and your walk-through time and we schedule the clean into that window. Leases most often end at the close of the month, so that stretch is the busiest for move-outs, and a few days of notice helps us fit you in. Our how it works page walks through the three steps, and the faq page answers the questions we hear most.

However you reach us, the quote is free and the decision stays yours. We clean the empty unit to the inspection checklist, come back at no charge if a cleaning item is flagged, and leave you ready for the walk-through that decides your deposit. Send the form above when you are ready.

Questions people ask