The one rule behind every cleaning charge
California Civil Code 1950.5 lists what a deposit can pay for: unpaid rent, damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, cleaning, and replacing items the lease covers. The cleaning part is narrow. A landlord can use the deposit for the cleaning necessary to return the unit to the same level of cleanliness it was in at the start of the tenancy (Civil Code 1950.5(b)(3)).
Two things follow from that. If the unit was not spotless when you got the keys, the landlord cannot charge you to make it spotless for the next tenant. And the charge has to be a reasonable amount for the work actually needed, not a flat number picked in advance. The law limits these claims to a reasonable amount necessary to restore the unit to the condition it was in when you moved in (Civil Code 1950.5(e)(2)(B)).
This is why move in condition matters so much. Whatever the unit looked like on day one is the bar you are measured against at the end.
Professional cleaning and carpet cleaning
A lot of leases say the tenant pays for professional carpet cleaning or a professional clean at move out. Under the current law, a landlord cannot require you to pay for professional carpet cleaning or other professional cleaning, or take it from the deposit, unless it is reasonably necessary to return the unit to its move in condition, not counting ordinary wear and tear (Civil Code 1950.5(e)(2)(C)).
A lease also cannot call any part of a deposit nonrefundable (Civil Code 1950.5(n)).
In plain terms, if you leave the carpet as clean as you found it, apart from normal use, a carpet cleaning charge does not hold up just because the lease mentions one.
Dirt or wear and tear: how to tell them apart
The law does not give a list of examples, so here is how we sort it as the people who do this cleaning every week.
- Dirt is anything that comes off with cleaning: grease inside the oven, soap scum in the shower, crumbs in the drawers, dust on the blinds, trash left behind. Cleaning charges belong here.
- Wear is what cleaning cannot fix: carpet flattened along the walking path, paint faded by the sun, finish worn off a cabinet handle. The law says a landlord cannot charge for ordinary wear and tear, including its cumulative effects over one or more tenancies (Civil Code 1950.5(e)(2)(A)).
- Damage is a third thing, like a hole in a wall or a burn in a counter. It can come out of the deposit as a repair. That is a conversation with your landlord, not something a cleaner fixes.
The inspection you can ask for before you leave
Once you or the landlord gives notice, the landlord has to tell you in writing that you can ask for an initial inspection and that you can be there. It happens no earlier than two weeks before you move out, with at least 48 hours of written notice unless you both sign a waiver. Afterward the landlord gives you an itemized list of the cleaning or repairs they plan to deduct for, and you have until you move out to take care of them (Civil Code 1950.5(f)).
Here is the part that is easy to miss. If the unit is empty enough at that inspection for the landlord to see everything, they cannot later deduct for cleaning or repairs that were not on the list. The exceptions are things that happen after the inspection and things your belongings were hiding (Civil Code 1950.5(f)(4) to (f)(6)).
So ask for it, and schedule it after most of your things are packed. Then you know exactly what to clean instead of guessing.
The photo rules landlords now have to follow
Two newer rules apply. Since April 1, 2025, before deducting for repairs or cleaning, the landlord has to photograph the unit after you hand it back but before the work starts, and again after the work is done. For tenancies that began on or after July 1, 2025, the landlord also has to photograph the unit at or just before move in (Civil Code 1950.5(g)). When they deduct for cleaning or repairs, those photos go to you with the itemized statement (Civil Code 1950.5(h)(2)(D)).
Take your own photos too, on move in day and move out day, room by room: inside the oven and the refrigerator, under the sinks, the shower grout, the window tracks. Your phone dates them for you.
The deadline, and the paperwork you are owed
No later than 21 calendar days after you move out, the landlord has to send an itemized statement of what they kept and why, and return the rest (Civil Code 1950.5(h)(1)).
With it they have to include proof of any cleaning and repair charges. If someone else did the work, that means a copy of the bill, invoice, or receipt. If the landlord or an employee did it, that means a description of the work, the time spent, and a reasonable hourly rate. The photos go with it too (Civil Code 1950.5(h)(2)).
There is one exception. If cleaning and repairs together come to $125 or less, the landlord does not have to attach the paperwork. You can still ask for it within 14 days of getting the statement, and they then have 14 days to send it (Civil Code 1950.5(h)(4) and (h)(5)).
If the work cannot be finished within 21 days, the landlord can deduct a good faith estimate and send the real documents within 14 days of finishing (Civil Code 1950.5(h)(3)).
How big a deposit can be
For deposits collected from July 1, 2024 on, most landlords can ask for no more than one month of rent as the deposit. A small landlord, meaning a person or an LLC whose members are all people, with no more than two rental properties and four units in total, can ask for up to two months, except from a service member (Civil Code 1950.5(c)).
If you think a charge is wrong
Start with a letter to the landlord that names the charges you dispute and why, and keep a copy. That is the first step the California Courts self help guide recommends. If that does not settle it, you can sue in small claims court, where a tenant can ask for up to $12,500, according to the same guide.
If a judge finds the landlord kept the deposit in bad faith, the law allows up to twice the deposit as a penalty on top of what you are actually owed, and the landlord carries the burden of showing their charges were reasonable (Civil Code 1950.5(m)).
This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, a local tenant rights group or an attorney can tell you where you stand.
Where a move out clean fits in
From the cleaning side, the cheapest way to keep your deposit is to match the move in condition, not to go past it. If you asked for the initial inspection, hand that list to whoever is cleaning, whether that is you or us, and start there.
Our move out inspection checklist walks the rooms in the order a walkthrough usually goes. If you would rather have it done for you, here is how our move out cleaning works.