Another nice-ity is attempting to clear the drains. If you don't have PVC pipes, boil a kettle of water (or two) and dump it down the drain. If you have PVC pipes (or think you have some clogs forming) use baking soda and vinegar to clear them up.

I also replace any burnt out bulbs. Granted, most apartments have incandescents stock, so I usually have replaced a good number with CFLs (as long as the CFL doesn't have a drastically different color temp), so I basically end up putting all the old bulbs back.

If you have a front-loading washer, clearing the drain augur is always good to do. For condensation dryers it's good to ensure the heat-exchanger/condenser duct is clean, and cleaning the gaskets, so no mold/mildew grows.

Tip on the oven - if you can loosen most gunk with sponges, you can avoid the oven cleaner with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It'll probably *destroy* the entire eraser, but it gets it spotless without resorting to oven cleaner or a self-clean cycle.

Stainless steel kitchen appliances can be cleaned with WD-40 then buffed out with a cloth for a showroom shine.

All I can think of. I'm known for returning an apartment in BETTER shape than it was given to me.

I once had an issue with a large rental company not giving me my deposit back though I'd left the place spotless. I fought it successfully and got my deposit back. There's tons of good info out there if you end up needing it. Nolo Press has always been great and if your city has rent control laws, then there's most likely a renter's help board online. Just a side note :)

More often than not,no matter how well you clean the apartment or house, they'll find a reason to keep your deposit. In my experience, you can get the deposit back if you rent from an individual or a very small company. From a large management company, don't hold your breath. One apartment complex kept my deposit saying that I'd failed to clean the outside of the windows. I lived on an upper floor and the windows didn't tilt or anything. I'd have had to hang out the window and clean them. The management stalled and stalled until I finally got sick of asking them and just classed the deposit as lost.

One thing I've done is buy a disposable camera take photos (half) the day I move in and then the day I move out I take the other half. You can just write on the camera what the move in/out date and apartment locale is so you don't forget. I've never needed these photos but in the case that I do I have them. (You could obviously do digital too, but I started this plan before I got a digital camera.)

Toothpaste works wonders for filling tiny holes from picture hangers.

Plain white, that is. Don't use Aquafresh.

Leave toilet paper! I've moved into places where people forgot to do this, and it's just inconsiderate. Moving in is as stressful as moving out, and it's just one less thing for the people who come after you to think about. My mother has always extolled the necessity of leaving a couple rolls for the people who come after you.

David, great tip about the toothpaste!

Re the "leave the apartment how you found it", I would actually change that to "leave it as you would like to find it". I was once moving out of a flat and the Landlord asked me to leave it as I found it. To which I could only reply that it wouldn't be possible to get it that dirty in the short time available.

"One apartment complex kept my deposit saying that I'd failed to clean the outside of the windows."

Three words: Small Claims Court

Rob Gomes: I would LOVE to have you as my tenant.

And to Terry in Silver Spring: "kept my deposit saying I failed to clean the outside of the windows."
That is preposterous!! Unless it was stated in your lease that you were responsible for the exterior windows, 99.9% of all residential apartment leases are for the INTERIOR of the unit. If you rent a single family home, then that is a completely different subject, with yard maintenance etc.
I am so sorry you did not get your deposit back.

I'm a landlord for 3 houses..these are all awesome tips. Wish my renters would be this considerate. I definitely agree that small businesses & landlords of just a few places are more likely to give you back your deposit. We try to give back as much as possible (late fees & other charges come out of the deposit for us).

The apartment I currently live in was a bit worse for the wear when I moved it. I took digital pictures of everything and printed them out to include them with my lease along with a note that I would be fixing any simple projects.

And I ALWAYS leave toilet paper!

Do NOT use toothpaste to cover holes. Good grief. A small container of compund is the right material to use and just as easy.

I cannot re-stress the "don't leave anything behind" rule enough! When I moved this time, the former tenants were "kind" enough to leave me a shitty vacuum cleaner, three cabinets full of nasty leaking chemical cleaning supplies, miscellaneous paper plates/cups/sponges/towels, AND plants (that are toxic to my cat). Lovely! Except not so much...

Do NOT put toothpaste in the wall holes.
that is totally inconsiderate.
that is not a good idea.

the place should be cleaned between tenants by the landlord/management.

i've never heard of leaving tp for the next guy. surely anyone would think to put tp in their dop kit. it's not like you didn't have it at your old place.

that picture looks like it was taken in my apartment complex.

"Leave toilet paper! I've moved into places where people forgot to do this, and it's just inconsiderate. Moving in is as stressful as moving out, and it's just one less thing for the people who come after you to think about. My mother has always extolled the necessity of leaving a couple rolls for the people who come after you."

No thanks. The last think I would want is to use toilet paper that has been left by a mystery person. I would only imagine the horrible places it had been, before it rubs against my delicate parts.

Also, toothpaste to fill in holes is just an a-hole move. It's a "lets just pretend we filled in the holes" trick, and nothing more.

I imagine toilet paper from a clean roll on it's proper holder is pretty safe. Sometimes the people looking at the apartment need to use the bathroom while they are there; certainly those people cannot be expected to bring their own.

These are great tips! I currently rent from an individual that owns several row homes in our historic district. Unfortunately, he has a history of keeping deposits citing bogus reasons. Here's to hoping when I move things won't go south for me thanks to the tips!

Toothpaste in wall holes is a college student move. Be a grownup and do a real repair.

I agree on totally clean- I will toss any TP I find in a place! The last time I moved into a "not totally clean" space, the TP was rust spotted and it took me 6 months to deep clean all the drawers and there were cabinets I never did open due to fear of the spiders. I stayed 9 months in that house. Leaving stuff behind is just nasty.

The exception was my first (perfect) apartment where the landlord included a small basket of cleaning supplies, TP, and a simple plastic shower curtain. It was all in a little plastic bucket with a "welcome home" note. I really appreciated that.

I used to work in several apartment leasing offices, and only once have I had someone try to keep my deposit. (One of my former employers in a college town - they were awful.)

I fought it and won - here are my tips:

Coat the bottom of white bathtubs with a thin layer of soft scrub - this works for plastic tubs that are scratched and won't come 100% clean. (That's what they did when people moved in - and as soon as you took your first shower, the stuff washes away and it never looks clean again.)

If furnished, take pictures of everything, including both sides of couch cushions. Video is even better (so you can tell you're not taking pics of one good cushion when the other is trashed). Include a newspaper showing the date. I am not kidding!

If the furnishings include drawers, clean the inside, tape them shut and don't remove the tape until you're walking out the door. (I've seen people dinged $15 each for a bit of dust in drawers.)

Clean all the ceiling fans and light fixtures. This was $25 each.

Replace drip pans on the stove. $10 each, I think.

Do NOT leave toilet paper! This can be considered "trash."

Spray a light mist of WD40 on any chrome faucets/fixtures - it eliminates water spots.

Clean the carpets really well - you may even be better off paying a professional yourself rather than having the leasing company charge you $$$$.

If you can, walk through them when they inspect.

And when you get the inspection form when you move in, put every tiny little exaggerated detail you can think of on the form and keep your copy! For every room, mention any dust. For bathrooms, mention spots, rust, fingerprints, etc. For carpets, mention any discoloration or traffic pattern. If you see a dead bug, write it down.

Everything that is on your move-in form will save you money when you move out. If they don't give you a form, I would write up a list and have them initial it just before you move in.

Wow BeeT, you sure had a nice first landlord!

PreludeInZ, while that's a nice idea, it's really not the previous renter's job to make sure you have toiletries. They probably take theirs to the new place they are moving which is also unstocked. And as you see, about half the people would just trash it anyway.

Toothpaste may be cheap for you to fill in holes, but is that what you'd want in the place you're moving into? Just spend 2 bucks and get some spackle. I'd be concerned about bugs with paste in the walls.

i wish anyone in any of the apts--or the house i bought--did this stuff before i moved in :(

I have always tried to be a considerate mover-outer, and have always had my deposit returned until this last time. After almost 15 years (179 months!) of being a no-problems-whatsoever tenant, my husband and I had to break the yearly lease one-month early (which, btw, allowed the management company to up the rent stabilized apt to market rate.) In order to try to get our deposit back, we fixed every hole, painted even, and cleaned everything - and then some. And we showed the tiny apartment to endless potential renters while we were trying to pack and move. All to try to secure the management company that one month of rent so we'd get our deposit back. Well, turns out they were asking WAY too much ($2250 for a apt. that went for $1800 after 8 weeks on the market) and we didn't get our deposit. The apt needed a renovation before anyone could move in anyway (because the cheapo particle board kitchen had long outlasted its lifespan - esp. for the price they were asking.)

So, long story short: if there is ANYTHING that might keep you from getting your security back, I wouldn't bother doing any of the other things. I usually don't live my life like that, but I caused myself way too much hassle - and money - trying to be a super good renter and learned my lesson that management would be looking for any reason not to give us the deposit.

RE: take everything

I moved into a place where the previous folks took every single light bulb in the place, including the ones in the refrigerator and oven. I arrived the night before the movers did and wandered around a dark house. And, not only was there no TP, which was OK with me, but the TP dispensers were missing the piece that the roll rests on.

As a landlord, I really appreciate AT getting this info out there! I would have thought most of these items were either common sense or common courtesy, but apparently not. I had one tenant who left about five years of dust bunnies in every room and partially filled kitchen cabinets and refrigerator - not to mention little soap nubs in the bathroom, which was completely disgusting. I had another tenant who cleaned and left everything LOOKING nice - but I came to find out that none of the shower fixtures worked. I don't know how or why he broke them all right before moving out, but apparently he did (and of course didn't mention it to me). I understand what a stressful process moving is, but still!

Here's a question for landlords in general...

Do people really clean? I don't own property, but in moving about quite a bit in my first years I always noticed people just don't... try. My sister is that way. As are most of my friends.

I once lived in a very swank place that was definitely full of money - my neighbor had a 911 Turbo AND an Audi RS6. There were a few M3s and an M6 around. Someone even had a Ferrari F430 Coupe. Neighbor next door is moving out, asks to borrow my vacuum. <I>Already packed the vac?</I> <B>Uh, no. We don't own one.</B>

@ _ @

$200,000 of cars outside, an entire 20-foot truck filled with furniture, and that unit you lived in was anything but cheap, but... no vacuum? Really?

The scary thing is... not the first time I've seen that. When I left that community, the maintenance guys seemed pleased that someone cleaned their unit (and was handy and took care of old problems).

OMG. I would LOVE to leave this place in the wrecked, disgusting state these jerk rented it to me. I found cherry stems in the drawers, grime on everything, and it smelled like cigarette smoke. I cleaned for at least 5 days straight after I moved in. They installed new carpets before I moved in but that didn't do anything. Two gallons of vinegar, a container of swiffer pads, and a box of baking powder for the carpet later I'm still trying to get the smell out. I wish people would clean up after they move and I really wish landlords/apartment complexes made sure the place was clean before letting people move in.

Perfect timing for these leaving a rental/signing a new lease tips- just signed a new lease Friday and am moving in a week and a half!

When we moved into a not-so-nice apt building while we were establishing our credit we learned a thing or two about how pathetic some landlords can be. We moved into a place with carpet so worn out it took THREE shims to level our bookcases to the wall! And the layers of filth were quite unreal. We took pictures of EVERYTHING on our digital camera, wrote a list of items that were worn/damaged/dirty referencing the pictures and had the whole thing initialed by the apt manager on site before we moved in a single item. Upon move out, we repeated the pictures. The apartment manager was thrilled at the condition of the place and signed off that nothing needed to be done. When we got our deposit check back a month later we were missing $80. We called the apt manager and asked if he had had to do any work to the unit after he initialed our move-out list and were told he'd rented it exactly as it was. So we called the landlord asking for reciepts of exactly what work was done for the $80 withheld for "cleaning, painting, patching and general maintence." He said he had no recpeits because the apt manager did the work. We replied that was funny, since we'd just talked to him and he did no work....so receipts or issue us a check. We got the check after we threatened to call the housing bureau on him.
Lesson? Document EVERYTHING. It may save your butt later.

If you don't get your deposit back but feel you definitely should, hire a lawyer. Too many people think they can't afford it, but that's what I had to do and I got my full deposit back plus the lawyer fees. It didn't cost me anything extra.

I once stayed up all night hand cleaning old worn out (disgustingly dirty when I moved in) plastic blinds b/c the landlady was a nutcase. She broke most of the rules I had read that exist in Oklahoma's Renter's Rights, so I was afraid I was going to lose my deposit if I didn't clean up previous renters' grime.

Please leave the apartment completely empty and clean. It's so disgusting when you rent an apartment, open the storage cabinet in bathroom only to find a used baby diaper! Eww!

Reading this post bought back my horrific memories of my last nightmare landlord/apartment mate...

She didn't let me lock my own room's door, charged me "wall repairing fee" for the 6 nail holes I have sanded them after I've filled them with home depot's compound mixture with a putty knife (NOT WHITE TOOTHPASTE!), got her father to come fix a broken window... but never got it quite fixed... went into my room when I was at work, claiming she was making sure I had my window closed because she didn't want to be robbed... eeeeeepppppp!

Thank God it was a month-to-month contract!!

I moved out after 1.5 months... but I still had to deal with her for the next 3-4 months, because she was making a big deal about those holes, called me up to complain about her missing expensive macy's cookingware which I did not take and how I was rude living with her...

After all that nightmare, when she finally gave me back my security deposit after 3-4 months, she deducted a small extra amount just for my "Rudeness"...

I just don't see myself going through the small claim court to get those money back after having to deal with that psycho landlord/house mate.

Scary person...
: (

Better one - TAKE PICTURES of every single room when you move in and then when you move out. That way every single default was marked and you can't get a huge bill for repairs when you didn't cause any faults.

Magic Erasers clean a tub of soap scum with no other chemicals. So easy and a pro trick. You don't have to do it when you move out, they work even when you live there still. :D

Keep receipts of things like bathroom fixtures, new locks, etcetera.

When I moved in my apartment (which is part of a 100 year old house) the landlord said "hope you don't mind cleaning." I should have never signed the lease. Not only was it filthy but it was dilapidated. The entire house is caving in on itself, parts of the windows have been chewed by the previous owners dog, the kitchen floor looks like it also got chewed and ripped up by the dog, windows are cracked, and it took him three months to replace a non-working refrigerator (which he replaced with another barely working one that leaks). I found twinkies in the fireplace! Half of one wall was painted beige, but he left the other half because he "got tired of painting that wall". It took me two weeks to get the place ready to live in, and even now I can't get the place completely clean because of all the cracks and crevices that go along with living in a historic house.

HOWEVER

There was no deposit. I could pretty much leave the house in a worse condition than I found it in, and get away with no repercussions. I am moving out in May, and I cannot wait for the day that I will finally not have to hear the up-and-coming metal band next door or the girl with OCD downstairs who slams her door 18 or 19 times. It will be glorious.

(ps, there was an economy size roll of toilet paper as big as my head when I moved in, but I was not about to use it)

Don't use toothpaste to fill holes, not just because it is a college trick or because fools the eye, but because it is deceptive if not actionable and unethical. Talk about bad rental karma.

Take photos when you're moving out, so you can show how clean the fridge was, that you re-caulked the shower, and that damn tile was clean for once in it's life.

I had a "virtual" walk-through when I broke my lease, found a new tenant, and the landlords were on vacation (for 2 months, in Mexico). Walked through with the new tenants to make sure it was all up to their specs, and took photos to confirm with the landlords. It helped that both the landlords and the new tenants were all stand-up, responsible people.

As for leaving things behind, I have to beg to differ. That bottle of bleach went unused for most of the time I lived in my apartment, but having it there when I really needed it...lifesaver. Almost the same thing when I moved into my house, had a snowstorm the next week, and magically found 2 snow shovels in the basement.

I'm going to be moving out of an apartment this month, one we've lived in for about four years. I know that the place is going to be extensively renovated when we leave, so part of me wonders if it's worth going through all the work. Of course I'll leave the place clean, but I'm not going to shampoo the carpet when I know it's going to be ripped out. I just hope they don't ding us for having a dirty carpet when it's about to be tossed anyway.

When I moved out of a grad school apartment years ago, I got an angry phone call from my landlord because the place was a mess. Except that I had just moved my stuff out, I hadn't gone back yet to clean. My vacuum was sitting in the middle of the living room. After cleaning, when I had really left and turned in the keys, my landlord called to apologize and told me that I'd always be welcome back in one of his properties. Got back the entire security. The sad part is that all I did was clean thoroughly and take everything with me. What must his usual tenants have been like? And what did they leave behind? (This was in the preferred student--mostly grad--rental area of a big Ivy League university.)