What landlords look for, what cleaners charge, and the exact scope that gets your full deposit returned in 2026.
Every month I get the same call. "I moved out yesterday and my landlord is keeping $400 of my deposit for cleaning. Can you help?"
By then it is too late. The deposit is already gone. The trick to keeping it is knowing exactly what a move-out clean needs to cover before the landlord walks through the unit with a flashlight.
I run a cleaning business based in Scarborough. We do roughly 15 move-out cleans a week across Toronto, Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York. This is what I have learned about how landlords actually inspect, what they always flag, and what an honest move-out clean costs in 2026.
What landlords actually look at
The inspection is faster than most tenants think. The landlord walks through once with a clipboard and checks about 12 things. Get any of these wrong and they will deduct from your deposit at retail cleaning rates, which means $80-$150 per task.
The 12 things, in the order they check them:
- Stove top and inside oven. Greasy oven = $80-$120 deducted, every time.
- Inside the fridge and freezer. Food residue or mystery stains = $60-$100.
- Inside the dishwasher filter. Yes they check. $40-$60.
- Bathroom grout and caulk lines. Pink mold = $80-$140.
- Behind the toilet. Always missed. $40-$60.
- Inside the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Crumbs = $60-$100.
- Window tracks and sills. Most people forget these entirely. $40-$80.
- Baseboards. Dust line = $40-$60.
- Range hood filter. Greasy = $60-$80.
- Light fixtures and ceiling fans. Dust = $40.
- Inside closets, top shelves. $40.
- Front entry, behind the door. $30.
Add it up and a landlord can legitimately deduct $600+ if a unit fails inspection. Which is why DIY move-out cleaning almost always loses you money.
What honest move-out cleaning costs
I quoted 14 GTA cleaning companies last week for a 2-bedroom 1-bathroom move-out clean, empty unit, all inside-appliance work included:
| City | Low | Average | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto core | $295 | $345 | $445 |
| Scarborough | $275 | $325 | $415 |
| Etobicoke | $290 | $340 | $445 |
| North York | $290 | $340 | $440 |
Anything below the low end usually means inside-appliance work is excluded and will be added on after booking. For a 2-bedroom move-out clean in the GTA core, budget $295-$345 from a real insured company. That is the price that gets your full deposit back.
The scope that actually passes inspection
Skip a single line item on this list and the landlord will find it.
Kitchen: inside oven (all racks, walls, glass), inside fridge and freezer, inside microwave, inside dishwasher and filter, stovetop and burners, range hood and filter, inside and outside cabinets and drawers, counters and backsplash, sink and faucet.
Bathrooms: toilet bowl, base, and behind. Shower and tub including grout. Glass doors including tracks. Inside medicine cabinet. Vanity and faucet. Mirrors. Floor including behind toilet.
Bedrooms and living areas: baseboards, doorframes, light switches, outlet plates, closet shelves and rods, window sills and tracks, inside windows where reachable, vacuumed and mopped floors, cobweb removal, light fixtures and ceiling fans wiped.
What I charge for each city
For full transparency, here is our flat-rate move-out pricing across these four cities — 2-bedroom 1-bath empty unit, all inside-appliance work included, deposit-back focus:
- Toronto — $345 flat — details here
- Scarborough — $325 flat — details here
- Etobicoke — $340 flat — details here
- North York — $340 flat — details here
Bottom line
If your damage deposit is $1,000 or more, a professional move-out clean at $300-$345 is the best ROI on cleaning you will ever spend. Most tenants who try to do it themselves lose $400-$700 from their deposit.
Get the receipt, hand it to your landlord, walk away with your deposit intact. That is the whole game.
If you want a flat-rate move-out quote in 60 seconds with no follow-up call, you can run our form at procleaningpros.ca/get-quote.
Rumy Reyal runs Pro Cleaning Pros, a family-operated cleaning company based in Scarborough serving the GTA.
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