Move-Out Cleaning — What It Costs, What Landlords Actually Check, and How to Get the Deposit Back
A move-out clean is an inspection-grade clean of an empty property, done to the checklist a landlord, leasing agent or property manager signs off against — not a tidy-up. It covers appliance interiors, inside cabinets, baseboards, tracks, marks and every surface a walk-through touches.
Hello Cleaners manages the whole job end to end — your booking, coordinating the vetted local team, the clean itself and after-service care backed by our 24-hour re-clean guarantee.
Expect $190–$260 for a studio, $210–$320 for a one-bedroom, $260–$380 for two, $320–$480 for three, $400–$600 for four and $500–$750 for five bedrooms. A two-bedroom takes three to five hours with one cleaner, or about two with a pair.
Who this is for
Tenants with a deposit at stake
Your inspection is booked, the keys go back on a fixed date, and the deduction you are trying to avoid is usually bigger than the clean. What matters here is that the work maps to the inventory report, not to a generic checklist — the oven, the range hood filter, the window tracks and the inside of the cabinets are what get photographed.
Landlords and property managers turning a unit
The property is between tenants and every empty day costs rent. You need it photograph-ready for the listing and clean enough that the incoming tenant has nothing to log on their inventory. Repeatability across units matters more than any single clean.
Sellers and buyers at completion
A seller leaving a property in clean condition avoids a last-minute retention; a buyer arriving after a departing family wants the kitchen and bathrooms reset before anything is unpacked. If you are on the arriving side, a move-in clean is the same work aimed at hygiene rather than inspection.
What it costs
These bands are copied from our published price page. Your exact price is confirmed in a free quote before anything is booked.
What pushes the price to the top of the band
- The property is not empty. Furniture, boxes and trash bags left behind turn a clean into a clean plus a clearance, and nothing under an object gets cleaned. This is the single most common reason a quote moves.
- Heavy grease in the kitchen. An oven that has not been cleaned in a two-year lease, an range hood filter thick with grease and a stovetop with burnt-on residue are hours of soak-and-scrape, not wiping.
- Hard-water scale and mold in the bathroom. Shower screens, grout and seals in a hard-water area need chemical dwell time and, past a point, replacement rather than cleaning — we will tell you which it is instead of scrubbing a stain that will not move.
- Pets. Hair in carpet pile and upholstery needs extraction at $45–$120 a room; vacuuming alone does not pass an inspection.
- Redecoration residue. Paint spots, filler dust and adhesive left by a landlord's contractor mid-lease are removal work. If the property has just been worked on, it is a post-construction clean, not a move-out.
An empty property, utilities still connected, parking within reach of the door, and a clean booked before the carpets are the last thing standing. Booking the clean and the carpet extraction together on the same visit avoids a second call-out and keeps the drying time inside your handover day.
How long it takes
| Property size | One cleaner | Two cleaners |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 2–3 hours | 1–1.5 hours |
| 1 bedroom | 3–4 hours | 1.5–2 hours |
| 2 bedrooms | 3–5 hours | 2–2.5 hours |
| 3 bedrooms | 5–7 hours | 2.5–3.5 hours |
| 4–5 bedrooms | 7–10 hours | 3.5–5 hours |
Add 60–90 minutes for a heavily used oven and 30–45 minutes per carpeted room if extraction is included. Carpets also need drying time — typically four to six hours — so they are done last and the property should not be walked on until they are dry.
What's included
- Kitchen: inside and outside of every cabinet and drawer, countertops, backsplashes, sink and drain, stovetop, range hood and filter, oven interior including racks and door glass, fridge and freezer interior where they are staying.
- Bathrooms: descale of shower screen, tiles, grout, taps and shower head, toilet including behind and beneath, bath, basin, mirrors, range hood cover, and all seals wiped and dried.
- All rooms: baseboards, door frames, doors and handles, light switches, sockets, radiators, picture rails, wardrobes inside and out.
- Floors: vacuumed and mopped throughout, including edges, corners and under where furniture stood.
- Windows: interior glass, frames, sills and tracks — tracks are one of the most commonly inspected details and one of the most commonly skipped.
- Finishing: cobwebs removed, marks spot-cleaned from paintwork where the paint allows, bins emptied and washed, keys and meter readings left as agreed.
What's not included, unless you ask
- Clearance and disposal. Furniture, mattresses and trash removal are a separate job. Tell us in advance if the property will not be empty so the visit is quoted correctly.
- Exterior windows and anything above ground-floor reach. Interior glass is included; outside glass is not.
- Carpet and upholstery extraction. An add-on at $45–$120 per room and $110–$180 for a three-seater sofa, not part of the base price.
- Damage and repairs. Chipped paint, broken fittings, burns, scratches and holes are maintenance. We will photograph and report them; cleaning does not fix them.
- Outdoor areas. Patios, driveways, decking and garages are pressure washing, from $150.
- Mold remediation. Surface mold is cleaned. Structural or recurring damp needs a specialist, and we will say so rather than paint over it.
What happens on the day
Access and walk-through (0:00)
We walk the property with your inventory or inspection checklist if you have one, and photograph anything already damaged or unusually soiled before we touch it. If the property is not empty, this is when we tell you what that changes.
Ovens and soak work first (0:10)
Oven, racks, range hood filter and any hard-water scale-heavy bathroom surface get their chemicals on first so they dwell while other rooms are done. Working in the other order is what turns a five-hour job into an eight-hour one.
Kitchen (0:30–2:00)
Cabinets emptied of crumbs and lined dust, inside and out, then countertops, backsplashes, sink and drain, appliances inside and out, and finally the oven that has been soaking.
Bathrooms (2:00–3:00)
Descale first, agitate, rinse and dry — glass and chrome are finished dry so they do not water-spot in the inspection photos.
Rooms, floors and glass (3:00–4:30)
High to low: cobwebs, light fixtures, wardrobes, baseboards, doors and frames, sockets and switches, window glass, frames, sills and tracks, then floors last.
Carpets and final check (4:30–end)
Carpet extraction runs last where booked, then the checklist is walked room by room and you get a completion report with photographs you can send straight to the agent.
When to book
- Book the clean for the day after the property is empty, not the same day as the van. Cleaning around a removal is the most reliable way to fail an inspection, because nothing under a box gets done.
- Give 48–72 hours' notice in a normal week, and a week or more at the end of a month — the last Friday of the month and the last few days of August are the two peaks in every market we serve.
- Leave a day between the clean and the inspection. If something is disputed, you want time to fix it while you still have keys, not an argument after handover.
- Keep the utilities on. No hot water or no electricity means no clean, and a wasted call-out. This catches people out more than anything else on this page.
- Same-day is possible as an emergency booking with a $200 dispatch minimum on top of the cleaning price — useful when a handover moves, expensive as a plan.
The details most people learn the hard way
- Window tracks and the range hood filter decide more disputes than the floors. They are the two details an inspector checks specifically because they are the two that get skipped.
- Photograph the property when the clean finishes, not when you hand the keys over. Timestamped photos of a clean property are what settles a deposit dispute; a description of a clean property is not.
- An inventory report beats any cleaning checklist. If you send us the check-in inventory, the clean is done against the standard you will actually be measured on.
- Deposit deductions are usually kitchen and bathroom, not living space. Grease and hard-water scale are objective and photographable; dusty shelves are arguable.
- Carpets need to be dry before the inspection. Damp pile reads as a fresh spill in photographs and can smell for days if the property is locked up.
- Do not paint over marks the day before. Fresh mismatched paint is more obvious than the mark and reads as concealment.
- If the oven is beyond cleaning, get that in writing early. A pyrolytic liner that has failed or a scratched glass door is wear, not dirt, and it is easier to establish before the clean than after.
- Book carpets on the same visit. Two separate call-outs cost more than one and put drying time on the wrong side of the handover.
What customers say
The move-out cleaning helped us leave…
The move-out cleaning helped us leave our apartment in excellent condition. Appliances, cupboards, bathrooms, and floors were all cleaned carefully. Our landlord even commented on how clean everything looked.
We hired them for a move out cleaning…
We hired them for a move out cleaning before handling over the keys. The place looked better than when we first moved in. Oven, baseboards, inside cabinets - everything was spotless. Very reliable professional house cleaning service. Would definitely book again.
Quick and efficient. Excellent clean on my move out needs
Frequently asked questions
How much does a move-out clean cost?
$190–$260 for a studio and $210–$320 for a one-bedroom, up to $500–$750 for five bedrooms. Oven and fridge interiors run $60–$90 each where they are not already included, and carpet extraction is $45–$120 a room.
How long does a move-out clean take?
Two to three hours for a studio and three to five for a two-bedroom with one cleaner, roughly halved with two. Heavy ovens and carpet extraction add time.
Will it get my deposit back?
A clean removes cleaning as a reason for a deduction, and we work to the inspection checklist and photograph the result so you have evidence. It cannot resolve damage, wear or unpaid rent, and no cleaner can honestly promise a landlord's decision.
Does the property need to be empty?
Yes. Anything left in place does not get cleaned underneath, and a part-full property is quoted differently. If a clearance is needed, tell us before the visit.
Is the oven included?
Oven interiors are included in most move-out cleans. Where a property has an exceptionally heavy build-up or a second oven, appliance cleaning is priced separately at $60–$90.
Do you clean carpets as part of it?
Vacuuming is included; hot-water extraction is an add-on at $45–$120 per room. Book it on the same visit so drying time falls before your handover.
What is the difference between a move-out clean and a deep clean?
A deep clean is done in a lived-in home around furniture and people. A move-out clean is done in an empty property to an inspection standard, which is why cabinet interiors, tracks and appliance interiors are in scope.
Can you clean on the same day I move out?
Yes, but only once the property is empty. If the removal runs late the clean runs late, which is why the day after is the safer booking.
Do I need to be there?
No. A key, a lockbox or an agent handover is enough, and you get a photo completion report.
Do you provide supplies?
Yes. All materials and equipment are supplied for flat-rate services, including this one.
What if the landlord is not satisfied?
Send us the specific points from the inspection with photographs. Anything within the scope of the clean gets addressed; damage and wear are a separate conversation with your landlord.
Coverage
Move-out cleaning is available in the states we currently serve. Coverage status is shown per area on the locations directory — we do not list an area we cannot staff.