Work this move out cleaning checklist in one order: clear the unit completely first, then clean. Done that way it is roughly three to five hours for an apartment and a full day for a house. Work top to bottom in every room, leave the kitchen and bathroom for last because they take the longest, and take dated photographs of the empty unit when you are finished. Those photographs are the single most useful thing you can do for your deposit.
To be straight with you: Calculated Moving does not offer cleaning services. We move people and we haul away what they are not taking. This move out cleaning checklist exists because our crews walk out of empty Winnipeg apartments every week, and the tenants who get their deposit back in full are the ones who did the same handful of things. We were founded here in 2018 by Kade Cote (president) and Evan Martin (vice president), and hold a 4.9 star rating from over 483 Google reviews.
Clear the Unit Before You Clean It
This is the mistake that costs people a whole extra day. Cleaning around furniture and boxes means cleaning twice, because you cannot reach the floor behind a sofa or the wall behind a dresser, and both of those are exactly what a landlord looks at.
The sequence that works is: move out, remove what you are not taking, then clean an empty unit. If you are booking movers, that means scheduling your clean for the day after the move rather than the same afternoon. For the items you are leaving behind, book junk removal in Winnipeg, and doing it on the same day as the move is usually the cheapest way because the crew and truck are already there.
The Move Out Cleaning Checklist, Room by Room
Top to bottom in every room. Dust and dirt fall, so ceilings and fixtures come before floors, always.
Every Room
- Light fixtures and ceiling fans, including inside glass shades
- Replace burnt out bulbs. This is a common deduction and it costs almost nothing to avoid
- Vents and air returns
- Walls: marks, scuffs and handprints, especially around light switches and door frames
- Baseboards, door frames, doors and handles
- Windows inside, sills and tracks. Tracks collect a surprising amount
- Blinds, slat by slat, or curtains washed if they came with the unit
- Closets, including shelves and the rail
- Floors last: vacuum, then wash
Kitchen, the Longest Room
- Inside the oven, including the racks and the door glass
- Stove top, drip pans and the drawer underneath
- Range hood and the filter, which is usually the greasiest thing in the unit
- Fridge inside and out, including the seals, the drawers and underneath the crisper
- Pull the fridge and the stove out and clean the floor and wall behind them
- Dishwasher inside, and the filter at the bottom
- Microwave inside and out if it stays with the unit
- Inside every cupboard and drawer, then the fronts
- Counters, backsplash and the sink, including the drain and the taps
- Under the sink, where the cleaning products lived
Leave the fridge and freezer running unless the landlord has told you otherwise, and if you do turn them off, prop the doors open so they do not develop a smell.
Bathroom
- Toilet, including the base, behind it and the bolt caps
- Tub and shower, including the grout, the surround and any build up on the tiles
- Shower head and taps, descaled
- Sink, counter, mirror and medicine cabinet inside
- Exhaust fan cover, which nobody ever cleans and everybody notices
- Under the sink and behind the toilet
- Replace the shower curtain if it came with the unit and it is past saving
Balcony, Locker and Parking Stall
These three get forgotten more than anything else in an apartment move out cleaning, because they are not inside the unit and nobody walks them on the last pass.
- Balcony swept, and anything stored out there removed
- Storage locker completely emptied and swept
- Parking stall cleared, including oil marks if that is in your lease
- Any building storage room you were assigned
Normal Wear and Tear, and What Is Actually Damage
This is the line that decides most damage deposit disputes, and it is worth understanding before you start scrubbing things that were never your responsibility. The Manitoba Consumer Protection Office guide to renter rights is a plain language starting point.
A landlord cannot deduct for normal wear and tear. That is the ordinary deterioration that happens through everyday living: paint that has faded, carpet that has flattened in a walking path, small nail holes from hanging pictures, a door handle loosened by years of use. Deductions are for damage beyond that, for unpaid rent or utilities, and for extraordinary cleaning where a unit is left in poor condition.
- Usually wear and tear: faded paint, worn carpet in traffic areas, minor scuffs on walls, small picture nail holes, a sticking door.
- Usually damage: holes in drywall, burns or large stains on carpet, a cracked counter, a broken window, pet damage, or a unit left needing a full clean.
The Manitoba Residential Tenancies Branch is the authority on where that line sits, and it is the body that decides a dispute if you and your landlord do not agree.
Getting Your Deposit Back
In Manitoba, if your landlord has no claim against the deposit it is returned within 14 days of the tenancy ending. If they intend to make a claim, they have to notify you in writing, generally within 28 days, and if the claim is for less than the deposit they must return the rest. Confirm the current numbers on the Residential Tenancies Branch deposits page, because the timelines are what the process runs on.
Four things protect you, and all of them happen before you hand back the keys.
- Photograph the empty unit. Every room, wide and close, including the oven, the fridge interior, the bathroom, the closets and the floors. Dated photographs of an empty clean unit end most disagreements before they start.
- Find your move in condition report. If a mark was there when you arrived and it is on that report, it is not yours.
- Do the walkthrough with the landlord if you can. Anything raised in person is easier to fix on the spot than to argue about later.
- Give a forwarding address in writing. A deposit cannot be returned to an address nobody has.
If you and the landlord cannot agree on a deduction, either side can ask the Residential Tenancies Branch to decide. Mediation comes first, then a branch officer rules on it.
What to Do With What You Are Not Taking
Leaving items behind is one of the fastest ways to lose a deposit, because a landlord who has to pay someone to empty a unit will charge you for it, and it usually costs more than doing it yourself.
- Sell it early. Anything with resale value needs weeks, not days.
- Donate what is in good condition. Check what each organisation accepts before you load a car.
- Book haul away for the rest. Old mattresses, broken furniture and the contents of a storage locker are exactly what junk removal in Winnipeg is for, and same day is usually cheapest.
- Cardboard is not always welcome in building bins. Ask the building where flattened boxes go, or take them with you.
Timing the Move Out Cleaning Checklist Around Moving Day
Most Winnipeg leases end at the end of the month and most possession dates land on the first, which means the clean gets squeezed into the same twenty four hours as the move. It does not have to be.
- Ask whether you can keep keys for one extra day. Many landlords will agree, and one day makes the difference between a rushed clean and a proper one.
- Book the move early in the day so the unit is empty by the afternoon.
- Keep cleaning supplies out of the truck. They belong in your open first box, which our guide on what to pack last and open first covers.
- If you are in a building, your elevator slot governs everything. See condo and apartment moving in Winnipeg.
Our Winnipeg moving checklist puts the clean in context with the tenancy notice, the utilities and everything else in the eight weeks before you hand back the keys.
Book the Move, and the Haul Away
We will not clean your apartment. We will empty it, take away what you are not keeping, and get you into the new place on schedule, which is the part that makes the clean possible in the first place.
Call (204) 250-4075 or request a quote online. See moving prices and rates in Winnipeg, or the full range of apartment movers in Winnipeg services we offer.
