Move Out Checklist for Tenants: Get Your Deposit Back
A dated timeline, a room by room move out cleaning checklist and an inspection checklist to get your security deposit back. Add your state and move-out date for real dates.
Your move-out checklist
More options: notice date, house or apartment, pets, carpet
Move-out checklist
Move-out timeline
Enter your move-out date above to put a date on each step.
Now
Need the letter? Notice to vacate letter
Not sure how much notice you owe? Notice period calculator
30 days before you move
2 weeks before
Move-out week
Move-out day
After you leave
Charged for something? Check a deduction
Deposit late or short? Security deposit demand letter
Your deposit rules
Pick your state above to see your deposit deadline, what your landlord must send, and the penalty for missing it.
Move-out cleaning checklist
Kitchen
Appliances
Bathrooms
Bedrooms
Living areas
Floors
Walls
Windows
Move-out inspection checklist
What to photograph, what to ask for, and what to keep, so you can answer any deduction.
Photos and video
The walk-through
Handing back the home
Still need to give notice? Write it with the notice to vacate letter.
Normal wear and tear vs damage
A landlord can take cleaning and repair costs from your deposit only within your state's rules. Several of the deposit laws on this site keep normal wear and tear out of the deposit. What each one says, with the law's own words in quotation marks:
- Colorado (HB25-1249): What the act added, effective January 1, 2026 and applying to conduct on or after that date, is a bar on retaining a deposit "for any damage or defective condition that preexisted the tenancy", and a wider definition of "normal wear and tear" at C.R.S. 38-12-102(4), which now reads "deterioration, damage, or uncleanliness" arising from the use a unit is intended for "or reasonably and typically used".
- Idaho (Idaho Code § 6-321): The same subsection says the landlord "shall not retain any part of a security deposit to cover normal wear and tear", defined as deterioration from the intended use "without negligence, carelessness, accident, or misuse or abuse of the premises or contents by the tenant" or members of the household or guests.
- Maine (14 M.R.S. § 6031): Under § 6033(1) a deposit "shall not be retained for the purpose of paying for normal wear and tear," and § 6031 defines the term as deterioration "without negligence, carelessness, accident or abuse" by the tenant, household members or their guests.
- New Mexico (NMSA 1978, § 47-8-3): Section 47-8-3 defines "normal wear and tear" and adds that "uncleanliness does not constitute normal wear and tear."
- Wisconsin (Wis. Stat. § 704.28): Section 704.28(3) bars withholding "for normal wear and tear", and a note to ATCP 134.06(3)(c) gives "routine painting or carpet cleaning, where there is no unusual damage caused by tenant abuse" as examples.
Colorado's wording counts some uncleanliness from ordinary use as wear and tear, while New Mexico's says uncleanliness is not. Clean either way.
From ordinary living
- Paint or blinds faded by sunlight
- Light scuffs where furniture stood
- Carpet worn flat along walkways
- A few small nail holes from hanging pictures
- Grout and fixtures worn by use
From an accident, neglect or misuse
- Large holes or broken doors
- Burns or deep stains in carpet or counters
- Pet scratches, chewing or urine stains
- Broken windows, blinds or fixtures
- Holes left by a wall-mounted TV or shelves
Practical tips, not law. These examples sort common items by the words in the definitions above: ordinary use on one side, negligence, accident or abuse on the other. Your state's law, your lease and the facts decide any charge. See the security deposit rules for your state.
From move-out day to your refund
- Before you leave: give notice in writing (notice to vacate letter) and check how much your state asks for (notice period calculator).
- On move-out day: photos and a video of every room, keys back for a dated receipt, and your forwarding address in writing.
- The deadline: your landlord's date for the deposit and any itemized list, worked out from each date that counts (security deposit return calculator).
- If something is wrong: check a deduction (security deposit checker), and if the deposit is late or short, send a security deposit demand letter.
Move out checklist questions
Every room you used, and every appliance. For an apartment the checklist above has 38 cleaning tasks in 8 areas: kitchen, appliances, bathrooms, bedrooms, living areas, floors, walls and windows. It adds yard and outdoor areas, garage and shed, parking and storage and appliances you brought when they apply. The jobs most often left undone are inside the oven and the refrigerator, the range hood filter, window tracks and baseboards. Read your lease and ask your landlord for their move-out list, since either can ask for more, then take dated photos when you finish.
Leave the home as clean as you found it, and be able to prove it. Give notice in writing the way your lease asks. Clean every room and appliance, fix only what your lease lets you fix, and compare the home with your move-in checklist and photos. On the last day, take date-stamped photos and a video of every room, return every key for a dated receipt, and give your forwarding address and your request for the deposit in writing. Then watch for the deposit and any itemized list by your state's deadline, and answer any deduction you disagree with in writing.
No rule quoted on this page makes you attend, but going is the best way to see a problem while you can still fix it. In the deposit laws we have verified, 7 states give the tenant a stated way to ask for a move-out inspection or be present at one: California, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Virginia. Pick your state above to read the rule. For another state this page shows no inspection rule, which does not mean your state has none; ask your landlord in writing for a walk-through either way, and take your own photos.
The wear a home gets from ordinary living, as opposed to damage from an accident, neglect or abuse. States word it differently. Idaho's law, for example, describes deterioration from the intended use "without negligence, carelessness, accident, or misuse or abuse of the premises or contents by the tenant". Colorado's definition now reads "deterioration, damage, or uncleanliness" arising from the use a unit is intended for "or reasonably and typically used", while New Mexico's says "uncleanliness does not constitute normal wear and tear." So clean before you leave whatever your state.
It depends on your state, and on which day starts the clock. Of the 51 places in our table (the 50 states and DC), 48 set a day count: from 14 days in Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Nebraska, New York and Vermont (business days in Arizona) to 60 days in Alabama, Arkansas and West Virginia. 30 days is the most common, in 21 states. Louisiana counts one month, and for Kentucky and Tennessee we found no refund deadline in the deposit law we read. The clock usually starts when you move out or the lease ends, but in 7 states it waits for your forwarding address (Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming) and in 5 for your written demand (Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina), so give both in writing. Pick your state above to see your date.
Read your lease first, and vacuum and spot clean either way. Some deposit laws speak to it. In Wisconsin: "Section 704.28(3) bars withholding "for normal wear and tear", and a note to ATCP 134.06(3)(c) gives "routine painting or carpet cleaning, where there is no unusual damage caused by tenant abuse" as examples." In Missouri: "A carpet cleaning fee agreed in the lease may be withheld only if the lease also tells the tenant he or she may be liable for actual carpet cleaning costs beyond ordinary wear and tear, and the landlord must give a receipt for those costs within 30 days of the end of the tenancy."
More tools for moving out
- Notice to Vacate Letter: Write the notice that starts your move-out, dated and ready to send.
- Notice Period Calculator: How much notice your state asks a tenant to give.
- Security Deposit Return Calculator: Your state's deadline from each date that counts, and the penalty.
- Security Deposit Checker: Check a deduction your landlord took from your deposit.
- Security Deposit Demand Letter: Deposit late or short? A letter that cites your state's rule.
- Prorated Rent Calculator: Moving out mid-month? Work out the rent for the days you pay.