We clean about thirty-five move-outs a month, and the walk-through notes landlords send back are nearly always the same. They rarely mention floors or counters. They mention the places nobody looks at while living somewhere.
The seven spots landlords flag most
- The oven, especially its floor and the inner door glass.
- The fridge door seal, where crumbs and mold gather in the folds.
- The bathroom exhaust fan cover, which is usually gray with dust.
- Window tracks, full of grit, dead bugs and cottonwood fluff.
- The top edges of door frames and baseboards.
- Inside the kitchen cabinets, above all under the sink.
- The toilet’s base and the floor behind it.
If you only have an hour, spend it on these. A spotless counter won’t save your deposit if the oven is crusted.
What Minnesota law says about timing
Under Minnesota’s security deposit law (Minn. Stat. 504B.178), a landlord has three weeks after your tenancy ends and you give a forwarding address to return the deposit or send a written list of deductions. Normal wear and tear can’t be deducted. Dirt can. That is the whole reason move-out cleaning exists.
Take photos before you hand in the keys
Take a photo of every room from the doorway, then close-ups of the seven spots above. Our teams send you that set when they finish, but dated photos on your own phone are worth having too.
When to book the clean
After the movers and before the walk-through, ideally the day before. Clean an empty unit, not one with boxes still along the walls, or you will pay for a second visit to do the corners the boxes hid.
