Getting Your Maximum Rental Deposit Back

You’ve lived in your apartment for five years, but it’s time for a change. Do you remember the deposit you paid when you moved into the home? If you want to get that entire deposit back, you’ll need to take care of a few things before you leave.

Part of the rental deposit is likely what your landlord will use to clean the apartment, condo, or house when you leave the property. And, when you leave the space as clean as it was when you moved in, you’ll receive the bulk of your deposit back.

You might assume that cleaning on your own will save some money. However, if you’re busy with packing everything up and getting into your new space, coming back to the apartment after spending days packing and hauling boxes around might not be the best way to get settled in your new place.

Reading the Lease Before You Move In

If you’re looking for a new place to live, take a look at the lease you’ll need to sign. Sometimes your landlord will take a cleaning fee out of your deposit whether you leave the residence clean or messy.

In such cases, you’ll want to leave everything you can in good shape, but you won’t need to leave the residence sparklingly clean. Also, depending on how many years you’ve lived in an apartment, you might not even have to switch the walls back to white.

When a single tenant lives in an apartment for at least five years, many apartment complexes will automatically paint the walls and will even replace the carpet. However, don’t assume that a long time spent in one apartment will negate the need for cleaning.

Always check with your landlord to see what they expect to see when you move out so you can plan your cleaning services accordingly.

Tip: When you move into your apartment, you’ll want to inspect the property and take pictures. Document anything you see that’s not in tip-top shape, or tell your landlord about the imperfections, so you’re not charged to repair those issues when you move out.

According to a helpful article on HowStuffWorks:

You should also ask the landlord to document the age of certain parts of the property, like a carpet or the paint. Odds are you won’t need that information, but if you end up having to fight for your security deposit, the age of things like that could play a key role in how much you’re able to get back.

Keeping Your Apartment Clean While You Live There

If you’ve just moved into a new apartment or house, you’ll want to keep that space clean for your family, and you’ll also want to make sure everything looks good when you move out. To accomplish this goal, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to things like carpet cleaning.

Don’t assume that you can have a professional carpet cleaner come into your home after a decade and get a dirty carpet back to the way it looked when you first moved into the apartment. Carpets take a beating, and they’ll age quickly if you don’t remove the dirt on a regular basis.

Also, if anything breaks while you’re living in the house or apartment, don’t wait too long to contact the landlord about the issue. While you’ll probably be responsible for replacing burned-out light bulbs and routine cleaning, your landlord should expect normal wear and tear on the space.

According to MSN Real Estate, items that usually don’t fall under the idea of normal wear and tear include:

• Large holes in the doors or walls
• Broken blinds and ripped shades
• Stains or burn holes in the carpet
• Broken windows and doors

If you can no longer pull the venetian blinds up because one of the cords is frayed and old that’s probably not something that you need to worry about. On the other hand, if your cat decided to jump through a set of relatively new blinds and destroyed them, you might be on the hook for replacing them after you move out.

Want to Get Your Entire Security Deposit Back?

Are you about to move out of your home and want to make sure you get the biggest security deposit back you can? At Sweep Home Chicago, we are fully committed to providing all of our customers with quality cleaning services. Get a Free Cleaning Estimate in the Chicago area today!