Under BC's Residential Tenancy Act a landlord can make deductions for damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, and a place left visibly dirty is the most common trigger for a dispute. The good news is that move-out inspections are predictable. Inspectors look in the same places every time, and almost all of them are places routine cleaning skips.
This is the order we work in on a move-out clean. Work top to bottom in each room so dust and debris fall onto surfaces you have not done yet.
Kitchen — where deposits are usually won or lost
The kitchen takes the longest and gets the closest look. Budget roughly half your total time here.
- Inside the oven, including the door glass, racks and the drawer underneath
- Range hood filter — degrease it or soak it in hot water and dish soap
- Behind and underneath the fridge and stove (pull them out if they roll)
- Inside the fridge and freezer, fully defrosted and dried so it does not smell
- Inside every cupboard and drawer, including the runners
- Cupboard doors and handles, where cooking grease builds an invisible film
- Dishwasher filter and door seal
- Sink, taps and drain, plus any limescale on the spout
Bathrooms
- Grout and silicone lines — mould here is the second most-cited deduction after the oven
- Shower glass, including the hard-water spotting our water leaves behind
- Extractor fan cover, which almost nobody cleans between tenancies
- Toilet base and the fittings behind it
- Inside vanity units and the medicine cabinet
- Mirrors, taps and towel rails
Every room
- Walls — spot-clean scuffs and any marks left by furniture or hooks
- Skirting boards, door frames and the tops of doors
- Light fittings, switches and their surrounds
- Window interiors, sills and tracks
- Blinds, slat by slat
- Inside all closets, including the shelving and rails
- Vents and radiators
- Carpets vacuumed, then steam-cleaned if the tenancy agreement asks for it
The bits people forget
These are the items we most often find left behind on a place the tenant thought was finished: the balcony or patio floor, the inside of the washing machine drawer and its rubber seal, the storage locker, the parking stall, and the garbage and recycling left in the unit. Empty them all — a full bin on inspection day undoes a lot of good work.
Give yourself a paper trail
Photograph every room once you are done, with the date visible in the file metadata. If a deduction is disputed later, dated photos of a clean unit are the single most useful thing you can produce. Attend the move-out inspection in person if you can, and get a copy of the condition inspection report before you hand over the keys.
When it is worth hiring out
A thorough move-out clean on a two-bedroom takes most people a full weekend, and the deposit at stake is usually half a month's rent. If you are also packing, moving and working, the maths often favours booking it. We clean to the checklist above and can supply an invoice for your landlord.
