Move-Out Cleaning Checklist to Get Your LA Deposit Back (2026)

In California your landlord has 21 days after you move out to return your security deposit or send an itemised statement explaining what was withheld. That deadline is why move-out cleaning is worth doing properly: the cost of the clean is usually smaller than the amount that gets withheld for it.

What actually gets inspected. Not the floors. Landlords and property managers in Los Angeles look inside the oven, inside the fridge, inside every cabinet and drawer, behind the toilet, at window tracks and at the state of the blinds. Our move-out checklist is 39 items and it is built around exactly those places, because that is where deposits are lost. Inside the oven and inside the fridge are add-ons at $49 each — worth adding when the landlord is known to open them.

Do it after the truck leaves, not before. Cleaning around furniture and boxes means the crew cleans what it can reach, and the landlord inspects what it could not. Book the clean for the day the unit is empty and the day before the walkthrough, not the same morning.

Photograph the finished unit. Take pictures with a timestamp of the empty, cleaned rooms — oven interior, fridge interior, inside cabinets, bathrooms. If a deduction is later disputed, those photos are the only record you will have. We take them as part of the job when you ask for them.

Ask for the pre-move-out inspection. California tenants can request an inspection before moving out, so the landlord tells you what would be deducted while there is still time to fix it. Most tenants never ask. It costs nothing and it turns a surprise into a list.

What it costs. Move-out cleaning is priced by layout: $260 for a 1 bed / 1 bath apartment, $315 for a 2 bed / 1 bath apartment, $445 for a 2 bed / 2 bath house, $520 for a 3 bed / 2 bath. Cabinets, oven and fridge inside are included, not extras.