You signed the lease, lived in the place, and now you want your full deposit back. Here is the cleaning list that actually gets you there.
Most move-out checklists you find online were written for landlords. They tell you what a perfect handoff looks like. They do not tell you what a Savannah landlord actually inspects, where deposits actually get docked, or what is worth your time versus what is worth paying someone to handle.
This one is written for renters. Room by room, with the spots that matter most, plus a straight answer on when to do it yourself and when to hire it out.
What landlords actually inspect
Before you start scrubbing, it helps to know what your landlord or property manager is grading you on. A walkthrough inspection in Savannah typically focuses on three things.
Surfaces that show neglect. Greasy range hoods, soap-scummed shower doors, dusty baseboards, mildew on grout. These are the marks of a tenant who lived in the place without maintaining it. They get docked because they take time to fix.
Damage versus normal wear. A faded carpet from four years of foot traffic is wear. A red wine stain in the middle of the living room is damage. Cleaning cannot hide damage, but it can absolutely keep wear from being mistaken for damage.
The smell test. Pet odors, smoke, lingering cooking smells, and bathroom mildew get noticed in the first ten seconds. If the place smells lived-in when the inspection starts, the rest of the walkthrough gets stricter.
The room-by-room checklist
Work in this order. Top to bottom in each room, then floors last. Bring trash bags, microfiber cloths, an all-purpose spray, a bathroom cleaner, a degreaser, a glass cleaner, a vacuum, and a mop.
Kitchen. The kitchen is where most deposit deductions live. Wipe down the inside and outside of every cabinet and drawer. Clean the inside of the refrigerator and freezer, including the door gasket and the produce drawers. Clean the inside of the oven, the stovetop, under the burners, and the range hood and filter. Wipe down the dishwasher interior and door seal. Clear out the sink, scrub the basin, and polish the faucet. Counters get a full wipe-down. Empty the trash and wipe the bin.
Bathrooms. Scrub the tub, the shower walls, and the shower door or curtain. Grout lines need attention here. Wipe down the toilet inside and out, including the base and behind the seat. Clean the sink, faucet, and counter. Wipe the mirror streak-free. Clear out the medicine cabinet and under-sink cabinet, then wipe those interiors too. Empty the trash.
Bedrooms. Wipe down closet shelves and rods. Vacuum closet floors. Dust ceiling fan blades, light fixtures, and the tops of doorframes. Wipe baseboards. Clean inside window tracks. Vacuum the carpet edges where dust collects.
Living areas. Dust everything that holds dust: shelves, mantels, blinds, fan blades, light fixtures, the tops of door and window frames. Wipe baseboards and switch plates. Clean the inside of the windows. Vacuum upholstered furniture if it is staying with the unit.
Floors. Vacuum every carpeted room, including under where furniture used to sit. Sweep and mop all hard floors. In Savannah's heart-pine and oak originals, use a damp mop, not a wet one. Pay attention to corners and the edges where the floor meets the baseboard.
The spots people forget. Inside the dryer lint trap. Behind the toilet. The vent covers on the HVAC returns. The patio or balcony if there is one. Light bulbs (replace any that are burnt out). The mailbox key drop. Any nail holes you patched but never wiped clean of dust.
The security deposit math
Here is the question worth asking before you start. What is the cost of cleaning it yourself versus paying someone, and what is the risk to your deposit either way?
A typical Savannah rental deposit runs one month of rent, which in 2026 is somewhere between $1,500 and $2,500 for most units. A landlord who finds the kitchen and bathrooms below standard will typically deduct $200 to $400 to have them re-cleaned by a service. If they find pet odor in the carpet or grease on the range hood, that number goes up.
Doing it yourself takes most renters six to ten hours for a one-bedroom and ten to fifteen for a three-bedroom. That is not counting supplies, which usually run $40 to $60 if you do not already have everything.
Hiring it out costs a known number, and the work is done in one visit while you focus on the rest of the move. For a vacant Savannah home, Live Oak charges a flat per-square-foot rate. A one-bedroom under 1,250 square feet starts at $250. A 1,500-square-foot home is $300. A 2,000-square-foot home is $400. A 2,500-square-foot home is $500. Anything above 2,500 square feet adds $0.17 per square foot to that $500 base.
The math is simple. If your deposit is on the line for $300 worth of detail work and the clean costs $300, you broke even on the deposit and saved a weekend. If your deposit is on the line for more than the clean costs, you came out ahead.
When DIY makes sense and when it does not
Do it yourself if: the unit is small, you lived in it less than a year, you kept up with cleaning the whole time, and you have a full weekend with no other moving tasks competing for it. A one-bedroom in good shape is a real DIY job.
Hire it out if: the unit is larger than 1,500 square feet, you had pets, the place needs catch-up work in addition to the move-out clean, your lease ends on the same day you start a new job, or your moving truck reservation does not give you a free weekend on either side. Most multi-bedroom homes fall here.
Two situations almost always justify hiring it out. The first is a PCS move from Hunter Army Airfield, where the timeline rarely gives you a free day to clean. The second is a home with a pet, where odor remediation needs equipment most renters do not own. In both cases, the cost of the clean is small next to the cost of losing the deposit.
If you want the cleaners to handle it, see our move-in and move-out cleaning details for what is included and how the flat-rate pricing works.
What Savannah specifically does to a move-out
A few local conditions make this harder here than the generic checklist suggests.
Humidity finds the corners. Bathroom grout, shower door seals, the gasket on the refrigerator, the inside of the dryer vent, the underside of the kitchen sink. These spots mildew faster in a humid climate and they are exactly where a landlord will run a finger. If you have not addressed mildew in a year of living there, a single Saturday is rarely enough to roll it back. This is where a deep service clean pays for itself.
Coastal homes need extra attention to glass and metal. Salt air leaves a film on windows, mirrors, and bathroom fixtures that gets thicker the closer you are to the water. Tybee, Wilmington Island, and Isle of Hope rentals usually need glass cleaned twice to look right.
Original hardwoods need care. Many older Savannah rentals, especially in the Historic District, Ardsley Park, and the Victorian District, have original heart-pine or oak floors. A wet mop or a steam mop will damage them and damage shows on the walkthrough. Use a damp microfiber mop, not standing water.
Pollen season runs February through October. If you are moving out in spring or early fall, a thin layer of yellow pollen will land on every windowsill, every blade of every ceiling fan, and every baseboard between the time you clean and the time the landlord arrives. Plan to clean those last, and on the day of the inspection if you can.
Get the deposit back
The renters who get their full deposit back usually share two habits. They know what gets graded, and they pick the right tool for the job: their own weekend if the place is small and well-kept, a professional clean if it is large or behind. Either path works. Picking the wrong one costs money on the wrong side of the ledger.
If you want a flat-rate quote for a move-out clean in Savannah, you can see your price online in about two minutes. No phone call. No estimator coming to the house. If you would rather talk it through first, email hello@liveoakhomecleaning.com and we will sort it out.
And if you are a property manager reading this for your tenants, we have a partnership PDF that walks through pricing, turnaround windows, and the standards we hold our cleaners to. Email the same address and we will send it over.