Moving out is already a full-time job: boxes, forwarding your mail, returning the keys on time. Cleaning gets squeezed into whatever hours are left, which is exactly when it's easiest to miss the spots a landlord or property manager will look at closely. This checklist is the one we'd hand a friend: room by room, in the order most people actually work through a home on move-out day.
Start with your lease, not a guess
Before you clean a single surface, open your lease and look for the section on move-out condition. Ontario leases vary: some ask for "broom clean," others spell out more. Your lease and the Landlord and Tenant Board are the source of truth here, not a blog post, so check your lease first for anything specific and don't rely on a general checklist alone for the legal side. What follows is the practical cleaning standard, not legal advice.
A good rule of thumb: leave the unit in the same clean condition it was in when you moved in, allowing for normal wear and tear. Normal wear and tear is not the same as dirt, so the goal is a clean place, not a repaired or repainted one.
Kitchen
The kitchen is where most move-out inspections focus, because grease and food residue build up in ways that are obvious the moment someone opens a door.
- Inside and outside of the fridge, including the door seal: unplug and prop the door open if you're the last one out
- Inside the oven, including the racks and the glass on the inside of the door
- Stovetop, drip pans or burner grates, and the hood or fan filter above it
- Inside every cabinet and drawer: wipe out crumbs and any shelf liner that's peeling
- Countertops, backsplash and the sink, including around the faucet base
- Exterior of all appliances, especially fingerprints around handles
- Floor, including behind and under anything movable like a trash bin
The kitchen and bathroom decide the impression. Everything else is detail work on top of a clean the inspector already trusts.
Bathroom
Bathrooms show neglect fast: soap scum, hard water marks and grout discolouration are the first things people notice, even if the rest of the unit is spotless.
- Tub or shower, including grout lines and the track of a sliding shower door
- Toilet, inside and out, including the base and behind it
- Sink, faucet and any built-in soap dish or shelf
- Mirror and any glass, cleaned streak-free
- Inside medicine cabinets and vanity drawers
- Exhaust fan cover, which collects dust most people never look at
- Floor and baseboards, including around the toilet base
Bedrooms & living areas
These rooms usually need less scrubbing and more attention to the details that get skipped during a normal week.
- All closets: shelves, rods and the floor, including any dust in the corners
- Baseboards throughout, which collect more dust than most people expect
- Window sills and window tracks
- Light switch plates and door handles, which pick up handprints over time
- Vacuum all carpets and mop all hard floors, including under furniture once it's out
- Patch and fill nail holes if your lease requires it: check that section again
Easy-to-miss spots
These are the details that separate an average move-out clean from one that holds up to a careful inspection.
- Inside the washer and dryer, if they're in-unit, including the lint trap and detergent drawer
- Air vents and the tops of door frames, where dust settles and stays
- Ceiling fan blades and any light fixture that collects dust or dead bugs
- Balcony or patio floor, if you have one
- Entryway and any front hall closet, which tends to get overlooked on the way out
When it's worth hiring out
Doing all of this yourself on top of a move is a lot to ask of one day. A move-out clean is one of our most requested services precisely because it's detailed, physical work at the exact moment you have the least time and energy for it. If you'd rather hand it to one dedicated cleaner who follows a checklist like this every time, that's exactly what we're here for, and because it's always the same person, nothing about your old place is a mystery to her by the time she arrives.