Moving Out: 5 Things to Do Before Leaving a Rental Property

When the time for you to move out of your rental home comes, writing up a list of everything you need to do can feel daunting. However, ensuring everything is in order before you leave is vital.

Vacating your rental property goes beyond just giving your landlord notice, packing up, and leaving. You need to make sure that your landlord is happy to provide you with a good reference.

That’s why we’ve put this checklist together. Following the five tips below will not only help you maintain your sanity; they will help you keep your security deposit, too.

1. Deep-Clean the Home

Cleaning the home as thoroughly as possible will go a long way in ensuring that your tenant record remains squeaky clean.

Don’t neglect the carpets, kitchen fixtures, window blinds, and baseboards. Scrub everything clean. While this is a lot of work, it will be easier after you’ve moved all your belongings. If the home is furnished, don’t forget patio furniture cushion cleaning and storage. Hiring a professional cleaning service is the best way to handle tricky items like upholstery, curtains, and carpets.

2. Repaint and Patch Up the Walls

If you have drilled any holes in the walls to hang pictures and other décor, carefully remove every hook, fastener, and nail. Fill the gaps with some spackle and touch up the paint wherever possible.

Patching and tidying up any holes will be appreciated by your landlord – especially if you’ve lived in the home for a while and the walls need a fresh coat of paint.

If you’ve painted any walls yourself, you’ll need to repaint them and return them to their original color. Hosting a pizza-and-painting party with your friends just before moving is a way to get it done.

3. Tidy the Yard

If you have a yard, you’ll need to make sure it’s spick-and-span for the next tenant. Tidy the yard, pull out any weeds, trim the trees, and mow the lawn. If you have a pool, make sure it’s sparkling blue and clean.

If your landlord needs to hire a landscaping company to get the yard back to its original state, expect to be charged for the garden service out of your security deposit.

4. Round Up the Keys

Before leaving, find all the keys your landlord gave you for the property and keep them together so you can return them. This includes garage and gate remotes and any extra copies you made for your friends and family.

5. Remove Everything

Although you may think you’re doing the next tenant a favor by leaving pieces of furniture behind, your landlord may not appreciate it. You should leave the property as you found it. If the home is furnished, ensure every item on the lease agreement is there.

If you leave anything behind, your landlord may charge you if they need to hire someone to uplift it, so make sure you leave the property completely empty. If you have excess clutter, sort through it and donate everything you don’t intend to keep.

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