Move-In Cleaning Checklist for New Homeowners and Renters

A move-in clean covers the home you’re entering, not the one you’re leaving, so the priority is every surface your boxes and furniture are about to touch: cabinet interiors, drawer bottoms, closet shelves, and anything a previous owner or builder left behind. For a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home, that runs $308 through Clover’s move-in cleaning service. The checklist below covers every room in the order an empty home should actually be cleaned in, cabinets and closets first, floors last.

Why an empty home needs its own checklist

Move-in and move-out cleaning hit a lot of the same rooms, but the goal is different enough to change what gets prioritized. A move-out clean is judged against someone else’s inspection standard, covered in the move-out cleaning checklist. A move-in clean has no inspector. Nobody is deciding whether to hold back a deposit based on how the cabinets look, so this checklist treats cabinet interiors, drawer bottoms, and closet shelves as the priority instead of an afterthought.

Timing is the other real difference. A move-out clean happens after a home empties out. A move-in clean should happen before it fills up, ideally with zero furniture and zero boxes in the way. Every previous owner or tenant left something behind that a walkthrough doesn’t catch: dust settled inside empty drawers, soap film on shower tile, a thin layer of grease on the inside of a cabinet door near the stove. None of it shows up in listing photos, and none of it goes away once your belongings are sitting on top of it. For the full reasoning behind cleaning order, cabinets first and floors last, see What to Clean Before You Unpack.

Kitchen: cabinets, drawers, and appliances first

The kitchen holds the most surfaces you’ll fill directly with things you eat off of, so it gets the most detailed pass on this list.

• Inside every cabinet, shelf by shelf, including corner cabinets and any lazy susan. Old shelf liner should come up if it’s peeling, curling, or stained, since it traps crumbs and moisture underneath.
• Inside every drawer, especially the ones near the stove. Cooking grease travels further than people expect, and a thin film on a drawer front near the range is one of the most common things a move-in crew finds that a walkthrough never catches.
• Inside the oven, door glass, interior walls, and racks pulled out and cleaned separately. Even a brand-new oven needs this pass to clear manufacturing residue before the first bake.
• Inside the refrigerator and freezer, shelves and door bins wiped down. Let the unit run a few hours to reach temperature before groceries go in.
• Inside the microwave, including under the turntable.
• Cabinet fronts, handles, and the inside of the pantry, corner to corner.
• Countertops, backsplash, and sink, including under the sink, where a previous owner’s cleaning supplies usually leave rings.
• Behind and around the fridge and stove, if they aren’t built in and can be pulled out safely.

Do this before a single dish, pot, or box of pantry goods goes into a cabinet. Once shelf liner is down and cans are stacked on top, that cabinet won’t get emptied again for years.

Bathrooms: descale before your toiletries move in

Bathrooms carry more soap-scum buildup than any other room, and unlike the kitchen, a quick wipe doesn’t clear it.

• Full descale of the shower, tub, and tile, grout lines included. Hard water spots and old soap film need an actual descaling product and scrub time, not a paper towel.
• Inside vanity cabinets and drawers, before toiletries go in. Check under the sink specifically, this is where a previous owner’s half-used cleaning bottles and dust from the plumbing access panel tend to collect.
• Toilet, base, and behind it, an area skipped in almost every walkthrough-only clean.
• Mirrors, counters, and light fixtures.
• Exhaust fan cover removed or wiped, and the housing vacuumed of dust. A fan that’s been off for weeks between owners collects more than it looks like from the ground.

If the home has more than one bathroom, don’t assume the guest bath gets a lighter pass. A rarely-used bathroom in a home that sat on the market can hold more dust and standing mildew smell than the primary bath, since nothing has been running the fan or the water regularly.

Closets, drawers, and built-in storage

Every closet floor and shelf needs a wipe-down before a single box or hanger goes in, top shelf to floor.

• Closet floors and shelving, corner to corner. Dust settles into the corners of an empty closet faster than most people expect, especially in a home that sat vacant for weeks between the last tenant and your move-in date.

• Linen closets and any built-in storage, wiped shelf by shelf.
• Closet door tracks, especially sliding doors, where debris packs into the groove and a regular vacuum never reaches.
• Garage or storage room, if included in your unit, floor swept and shelving wiped if it’s staying with the home.

Closets are also where lingering odor shows up first, a musty smell a quick walkthrough won’t catch since nobody opens every closet door during a showing. If a closet smells off, air it out and wipe the shelves with a real cleaner instead of just a duster, since the smell usually means moisture, not just dust.

HVAC vents: check them before you’re breathing through them

Air vents are one of the most overlooked items on a move-in checklist, and they matter more than dusting because of how directly they affect what you’re breathing in a home you haven’t lived in yet.

• Wipe down every supply and return vent cover you can reach. They carry a visible layer of dust even in a home that looks clean everywhere else.
• Check the visible return-vent filter. A previous owner’s pets, or months of a vacant home sitting idle, can leave a filter clogged before you’ve run the system for a single day yourself.
• If the home has a ceiling fan, wipe the blades while you have a step stool out for the vents anyway, since dust up there falls onto furniture later.
• Vent covers and surrounding surfaces are what a cleaning visit reaches, not duct interiors. If the home sat vacant a long stretch or has an HVAC history you don’t know, book an actual HVAC service separately before relying on the system daily.

This step gets skipped constantly because vents blend into the ceiling and nobody thinks to look up, even though it’s the one item on this list that’s about air quality, not just appearance.

Bedrooms and living areas

• Baseboards, door frames, and window sills, dust that’s had weeks or months to settle undisturbed in a vacant home.
• Light switches, outlet covers, and other high-touch surfaces touched by movers, inspectors, and showings before you.
• Ceiling fans and vents dusted.
• Closets, wiped inside before boxes arrive, covered in more detail above.
• Walls spot-checked for scuffs near switches and corners.

Floors, always last

Vacuum and mop every room only after every cabinet, closet, vent, and surface above floor level is done. Dust from wiping down a top shelf or a vent cover lands on the floor below it, so cleaning floors early just means cleaning them twice. This is the most common sequencing mistake in a DIY move-in clean: people start with floors because they’re the most visible, then undo that work over the next two hours without realizing it.

Entryway, garage, and laundry room

• Front door, entry closet, and mudroom area, if the home has one.
• Garage floor swept, shelving wiped if it’s staying with the home, and cobwebs cleared from corners a walkthrough never checks.
• Mailbox and exterior fixtures near the entry, the spots a previous owner cleans last, if at all, on the way out.
• Inside and behind the washer and dryer, if they’re staying with the unit.
• Lint trap and dryer vent checked, a fire-safety item as much as a cleanliness one.
• Shelving and any built-in cabinets above the laundry machines.

New construction still needs this checklist

Even a brand-new home needs this list, not just a resale. Construction leaves behind fine dust in cabinets, baseboards, and vents that settles for weeks after the builder’s final walkthrough. A certificate of occupancy means the home passed inspection, not that it’s clean enough to unpack into. Sawdust and drywall dust collect in cabinet corners and window tracks, spots a cleanup crew moves past quickly at the end of a build. Treat a new build the same as any resale home: clean before you unpack, not after.

Move-in cleaning vs. move-out cleaning

The two services share a lot of the same checklist items, cabinets, appliances, bathrooms, baseboards, but the standard they’re held to is different.

If you’re the one leaving a home rather than arriving at one, the move-out cleaning checklist covers that side room by room, including what a landlord’s inspection actually checks for.

Timing it right

Schedule the clean for an empty or lightly furnished home if at all possible. Access matters more than anything else on this list. A crew working around movers or stacked boxes reaches less than one working in a fully empty unit.

If you have early access before your official move-in date, use it. Buyers sometimes get a walkthrough window a day or two before closing, and renters occasionally get a lockbox code the day before their lease technically starts. Without early access, same-day cleaning once keys are in hand still gets ahead of your furniture arriving, especially if movers aren’t scheduled until the following day.

What move-in cleaning actually costs

Move-in cleaning uses the same base formula as every service on this site: a $60 base rate, plus $25 per bedroom, plus $35 per bathroom, then a 1.5x multiplier on that subtotal, the same multiplier as a standard deep clean, since the two cover similar ground.

A 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home, the most common size booked for this service, comes to $205 x 1.5 = $307.50, which rounds to $308.

What’s already included at every size, not billed as an add-on: inside all cabinets and closets, inside the oven, fridge, and microwave, a full bathroom descale, baseboards and window sills, floors vacuumed and mopped, and light fixture and vent dusting. That’s the checklist above, covered as the standard scope of the service.

A few things sit outside that standard scope and can be added to the same visit:

On a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom move-in with exterior windows added, the total goes from $308 to $348.

Beyond bedroom and bathroom count, price also moves with whether the home is empty or lightly furnished, since an empty home is faster to clean with nothing to work around. First-time customers get $39 off any booking, capped at 90 percent of the total, applied automatically in the quote. On the $308 example above, that brings the total to $269.

For your exact number by city, bedroom count, and bathroom count, use the instant quote on the move-in cleaning page, or see the full pricing breakdown for how this compares to every other service on the site.

Frequently asked questions

How is move-in cleaning different from move-out cleaning? Move-in cleaning is for the home you’re entering, judged by nothing but whether it’s actually clean before you unpack. Move-out cleaning is for the home you’re leaving, judged against a landlord’s or property manager’s inspection. The checklist overlaps, but the standard doesn’t.

Can the crew clean before I get the keys, and do I need to be there? Access to the unit is required first, but same-day cleaning is often available once you have keys, ahead of furniture and boxes arriving. You don’t need to be present either. Many clients grant access through a lockbox, an agent, or a property manager.

How much does move-in cleaning cost? It follows the same formula as every service on this site: $60 base, plus $25 per bedroom, plus $35 per bathroom, times a 1.5x multiplier. A 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home comes to $308. See the pricing table above or use the instant quote for your exact number.

Do you clean appliances that came with the home? Yes. Inside the oven, fridge, and microwave are cleaned regardless of whether the appliances are new or were left by a previous owner.

Is cabinet and drawer cleaning included, or is it an add-on? Included. Inside every cabinet, drawer, and closet is part of the standard move-in scope at every home size, not billed separately.

Does a brand-new construction home really need this? Yes. Construction dust settles into cabinets, baseboards, and vents for weeks after a builder’s final walkthrough. A certificate of occupancy confirms the home passed inspection, not that it’s clean enough to unpack into.

How far in advance should I book? A few days ahead guarantees your preferred date, though same-day appointments are sometimes available depending on local crew openings.

What if the home still has furniture in it? An empty home gets the most thorough result, since every cabinet, closet, and baseboard is fully reachable. The crew works around furniture when needed, but flag it at booking so the visit can be planned accordingly.

Do you check or clean HVAC vents? Vent covers get wiped down and dusted as part of the standard checklist. Duct interiors and full HVAC servicing are outside the scope of a cleaning visit. If the system needs actual servicing, that’s a separate appointment with an HVAC technician.

What if something gets missed before I move in? Tell us within 24 hours and the area gets re-cleaned free, backed by the satisfaction guarantee.

Get an instant quote for move-in cleaning and unpack into a home that’s actually been cleaned for you, not just shown to you.

Get Your Instant Quote, Save $39 or call +1 (949) 330-0081.