Texas law gives a landlord 30 days after you move out to return your deposit or send an itemized list of what they kept and why. "Cleaning" is the single most common line on that list, and in our experience it almost always comes down to a few specific things that were missed rather than the home being dirty overall. Here's what a walkthrough actually looks at.
The oven and the refrigerator. These are the first two places a property manager opens, because they're the two places tenants most often skip. The oven needs the inside cleaned — racks out, baked-on grease off the floor and walls, glass door done inside and out. The refrigerator needs to be emptied, every shelf and drawer pulled and washed, the gaskets wiped, and the freezer cleared. If the fridge is staying, leave it on. If it's yours, it needs to be defrosted and dry.
Inside every cabinet and drawer. Not just wiped out — emptied and wiped out. Crumbs in the silverware drawer, a sticky ring under where the oil bottle sat, the dust in the corner of the cabinet over the fridge. Property managers open all of them. Pull the shelf liners if you added them.
Bathrooms, especially the grout and the exhaust fan. A bathroom that looks clean can still fail a walkthrough on the details: soap scum on the shower door, hard-water spots on the fixtures, the ring at the water line in the toilet, mildew in the caulk line, and the dust on the exhaust fan cover. Scrub the tub and shower properly, polish the fixtures, and take the fan cover down and wash it.
Walls, baseboards and switch plates. You don't need to repaint, but you do need to spot-clean scuffs, fingerprints around switches and door handles, and any marks where furniture sat. Wipe every baseboard by hand — it's the fastest way to make a room read as clean to someone standing in the doorway. Check behind where the couch and beds were; that's where the dust is.
Closets, light fixtures and vents. Closet shelves and rods get wiped, and the closet floor gets vacuumed. Light fixtures get dusted, and if there's a glass shade with dead bugs in it, take it down and wash it. Air return and ceiling vents get the dust wiped off the slats.
Windows, sills and tracks. Interior glass cleaned, sills wiped, and the tracks — where the window slides — vacuumed and wiped out. This is the one that surprises people most, because nobody looks at tracks until they're checking a move-out.
Floors last, always. Vacuum everything, including the edges along the walls, and mop the hard floors. Doing floors last means you're not walking dirt back across them while you finish the rest.
One more thing that isn't cleaning but affects the deposit just as much: photograph everything when you're done, room by room, with the date visible. If a deduction shows up that you disagree with, those photos are what settle it.
If you'd rather hand the whole thing to someone who does it every week, that's what our move-out cleaning is. We work from this exact list, we work best once the furniture is out, and we schedule to your handover date. Call or text (469) 835-4937 or (469) 835-5293 for a free quote anywhere in Plano and the Dallas–Fort Worth area.