A good apartment move out cleaning list for Germany covers every room. It should focus on what landlords actually look at during the handover. That means the kitchen and oven, bathroom limescale, windows and frames, the floors and anything left in the cellar or on the balcony. If these points are clean and the apartment is empty, the handover usually goes quickly and there is less to discuss about your deposit.
Below you will see how a typical German handover works and the full list room by room. After that come a good order for the last days and the most common mistakes.
What landlords check at a German apartment handover
In Germany the handover (Wohnungsübergabe) is usually a walk-through with the landlord or the property manager. You go through each room together. Anything that is dirty, damaged or missing is written into a handover protocol (Übergabeprotokoll). The meter readings and the number of returned keys are usually noted there as well. If you have the protocol from when you moved in, bring it. It helps to show what was already there before you.
The deposit (Kaution) is usually paid back after the landlord has checked the apartment and any open costs are clear. How and when that happens depends on your contract and your situation. If you are unsure about your rights, ask a tenants’ association (Mieterverein) or a legal advisor. This article is about the cleaning, not about legal questions.
Many rental contracts use the word besenrein, which roughly means broom-clean: swept and free of rough dirt. In practice, many landlords and new tenants expect more than that, especially in the kitchen and bathroom. Read what your own contract says. It is also worth checking whether it mentions cosmetic repairs (Schönheitsreparaturen) such as painting, because those are a separate topic from cleaning.
Your apartment move out cleaning list, room by room
The table gives you a quick overview. Below it, each area is broken down into concrete tasks.
| Area | What is usually checked | Easy to forget |
|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | Oven, hob, extractor hood, sink, cupboards inside and out | Grease filter in the hood, the gap next to the stove |
| Bathroom | Limescale on taps, tiles and shower, toilet, drains | Shower head, silicone joints, the floor behind the toilet |
| Living room and bedrooms | Floors, skirting boards, walls, light switches | Marks where furniture stood, corners behind doors |
| Windows and doors | Glass, frames, sills, handles, door frames | Window tracks and seals, the outside of the apartment door |
| Radiators | Dust on the surface and between the fins | The wall behind the radiator |
| Balcony and cellar | Swept floor, railing, empty cellar compartment | The balcony drain, stains from plant pots |
| Final check | Empty rooms, keys, meter readings | Name tags on the doorbell and mailbox |
Kitchen
The kitchen takes the longest, so start here once it is no longer needed.
- Oven inside, trays, racks and door glass. Soaking trays overnight saves a lot of scrubbing.
- Hob and extractor hood, including the grease filter. Many metal filters can go in the dishwasher, but check the manual first.
- Fridge and freezer emptied, defrosted and wiped. If they stay in the apartment switched off, leave the doors slightly open so no smell builds up.
- Cupboards inside, outside and on top, plus handles, tiles behind the hob and the sink with its tap.
In many German apartments the kitchen belongs to the tenant. If you take yours with you, the wall and floor behind it will be visible for the first time in years. Plan time to clean those as well.
Bathroom
- Limescale on taps, the shower head, glass walls and tiles. Be careful with acidic cleaners on natural stone and sensitive fittings.
- Toilet inside and under the rim, outside, the base and the seat hinges.
- Sink, bathtub or shower tray, with hair removed from the drains. Check silicone joints for dark spots.
- Mirror, bathroom cabinet inside, the fan cover and the area around the washing machine connection.
Living room, bedrooms and hallway
- Vacuum and mop all floors, including corners and under radiators. Parquet and laminate only need a damp cloth, not a wet one.
- Wipe skirting boards, door frames, doors on both sides, light switches and sockets.
- Look at the walls for marks. Whether you need to fill dowel holes depends on your contract, so check or ask before you start.
- Empty and wipe built-in wardrobes and shelves.
Windows, radiators and roller shutters
Clean the glass on both sides where you can reach it safely. Then do the frames, the sills and the bottom tracks where dirt collects. Roller shutters (Rollläden) are common in German apartments and are often looked at too. Radiators collect a surprising amount of dust between the fins. A narrow radiator brush makes this much easier.
Balcony and cellar
Sweep the balcony, wipe the railing and clear the drain. The cellar compartment (Kellerabteil) is the classic forgotten spot. It should be empty and swept. If you have old furniture to get rid of, book the city’s bulky waste collection (Sperrmüll) early. Then nothing is left in the hallway or in front of the building on handover day.
Exit clean checklist for the last days
The order matters more than people think. Cleaning while boxes and furniture are still in the rooms usually means doing it twice. This exit clean checklist keeps the work in a sensible sequence.
- In the week or two before the move, sort out what you do not need, arrange bulky waste pickup and defrost the freezer.
- Once the furniture is out, work from top to bottom in each room: lamps and cupboards first, then walls, radiators and windows.
- Do the kitchen and bathroom next, as they take the most time. Leave the floors for the very end and finish each room towards the door.
- The day before the handover, walk through the empty apartment with this list, fix what you missed and take photos of every room.
For the tools, you do not need anything special. Microfibre cloths, a bucket and mop, a bathroom descaler, oven cleaner and a hob scraper cover most of the work. A small step ladder helps with the top of cupboards and the upper part of windows.
Common mistakes before the handover
Most problems at a handover are not about big dirt. They come from small things that were overlooked or from rushing on the last day.
- Cleaning too early. Movers carry dirt in and out, so floors cleaned before they finish have to be done again.
- Forgetting hidden areas. Behind the fridge, on top of wall cupboards, the cellar and the balcony drain are often noticed by the person checking.
- Using the wrong products. A scouring pad on a glass-ceramic hob or an acidic cleaner on marble can leave marks that look like damage.
- Signing without reading. Read the protocol before you sign it. If you disagree with a point, say so and ask for it to be noted.
A realistic example from Düsseldorf: a couple moves from a two-room apartment in Bilk to a new place in Ratingen. The new keys come on Friday, the old apartment is handed over on Monday. With furniture to move and both of them working, the cleaning ends up squeezed into Sunday night. This is the point where the oven and the bathroom limescale usually get only half the attention they need.
Doing it yourself or booking a move-out cleaning
If you have time and the apartment is in normal condition, you can do the whole list yourself. Getting help makes sense if you are moving to another city or your two leases overlap by only a few days. It also helps if you work full time or the kitchen and bathroom need more than a quick clean.
At Spotless we clean apartments before the handover in Düsseldorf and nearby cities such as Neuss, Meerbusch and Duisburg. For a move-out cleaning with handover guarantee we bring our own products, and eco-friendly ones on request. Our insured team can come early, late or at the weekend, so it fits around your moving day. The guarantee runs until your apartment handover. If you want the windows cleaned as well, you can add them. Every apartment is different, so you get an individual quote with a final price. As a small business under § 19 UStG we do not charge VAT.
Before you hand over the keys
Go through the list one last time in the empty apartment, take your photos and bring your move-in protocol to the appointment. Then the handover is mostly a walk-through and not a discussion. If you would rather not spend your last days scrubbing, have a look at our move-out cleaning in Düsseldorf. Tell us briefly how big the apartment is, what condition it is in and when the handover is. Then you can request a quote with a final price. We are reachable Monday to Sunday from 08:00 to 16:00.
Questions about move-out cleaning in Germany
What does besenrein mean in a German rental contract?
It roughly means broom-clean: the apartment is empty, swept and free of rough dirt. Many landlords still expect a clean kitchen and bathroom, so check what your own contract says.
Do I have to clean the oven before moving out?
Whether you have to depends on your contract, so check what it says. The oven is one of the things landlords often look at, and a clean oven, trays and racks avoid a common point in the handover protocol.
Can the landlord keep part of the deposit for cleaning?
If the apartment is not handed over in the agreed condition, landlords sometimes deduct costs. What is allowed depends on your contract and situation, so ask a tenants’ association or legal advisor if you are unsure.
When should the final cleaning happen?
After the last furniture and boxes are out, ideally the day before the handover or on the same morning. Cleaning earlier usually means doing the floors twice.
Which areas does Spotless cover for move-out cleaning?
Düsseldorf and places within about 40 km, including Duisburg, Neuss, Meerbusch, Ratingen, Krefeld, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Oberhausen, Essen and Moers.