MOVE-OUT CHECKLIST
Free move-out checklist — and a new home checklist for the other end
The last two weeks in the place you're leaving, from giving your date to counting the keys back, and the first week in the one you're moving into. Two sheets, free in Word and PDF — each PDF prints on one page — for renters, owners and the movers and cleaners who hand them out.
Word and PDF · Free · No email, no sign-up
The short answer
A move-out checklist is everything between deciding to leave and handing back the keys: put the date in writing and get the landlord's own list two weeks ahead, pick a last day for the utilities and start the mail forwarding, take down what you put up, open every cupboard and closet once the home is empty, clean it, photograph each room, read the meters and count the keys back.
The new home checklist is the same job facing the other way — photos of the empty rooms before a box comes in, every tap, light and alarm tried, the water valve and the breaker panel found, and the new address sent everywhere it needs to go. Print both if you're moving. If you run a moving or cleaning business, put your name on the Word files and send them with the quote.
Below: the move-out checklist, the new home checklist, what to check at each end, every block explained, what this list is not if you rent, and how movers and cleaners use it. For the weeks of packing before all this, the moving checklist starts eight weeks out.
FREE CHECKLIST · WORD AND PDF
The move-out checklist, one page
Four blocks — two weeks before, put-backs and repairs, once it's empty, and hand-over day — with a line at the top to count the keys back. Letter size, portrait; the PDF prints on one page. Free, no email address, no sign-up.
Checklist · check off every line
| [Your moving company] | |
| Move-Out Checklist | |
| Two weeks out to handing back the keys — check off each line | |
| Name: ______________________________ Phone: ______________________ | |
| Leaving: ______________________________ Hand-over date: ____________ | |
| Keys handed back — door: ____ mailbox: ____ garage or fob: ____ To: ______________ | |
| Two weeks before | |
| ☐ | Give the landlord or agent your move-out date in writing, and ask for their move-out list |
| ☐ | Book the move-out clean, or keep a whole day free to do it yourself |
| ☐ | Pick a final service date for power, gas, water and internet |
| ☐ | Request mail forwarding — allow at least 7 to 10 business days |
| Put-backs and repairs | |
| ☐ | Take down the hooks, shelves, TV mounts and adhesive strips you put up |
| ☐ | Put back anything you swapped out: blinds, shower heads, light fixtures |
| ☐ | Patch small nail holes if the list asks for it; replace dead bulbs |
| Once it's empty | |
| ☐ | Open every cupboard, drawer and closet, then the attic, basement, garage and shed |
| ☐ | Empty the fridge and freezer; switch them off only if you've been asked to |
| ☐ | Clean to the move-out cleaning checklist, or have a cleaner do it |
| ☐ | Photograph every room, wall, floor and appliance once it's clean |
| Hand-over day | |
| ☐ | Read the power, gas and water meters and photograph each one |
| ☐ | Hand back every key, fob, remote and parking pass — count them above |
| ☐ | Walk through with the landlord or agent; leave your forwarding address |
| ☐ | File this sheet, the photos and the meter readings in your moving folder |
| Selling, not renting? Swap the landlord lines for the buyer's agent. | |
| [Your moving company] · [Your phone] · [Your website] | |
The Word file is a standard .docx — a mover or a cleaner can put their name and phone in the brackets and add their own lines; anyone moving can print the PDF as-is. Print at “Actual size”, not “Fit to page”.
NEW HOME CHECKLIST
The new home checklist — moving in, the first week
Before the truck (with what to have on hand the first night), moving-in day, safety in the first week, and settling in — with spaces at the top to write where the water valve, the gas valve and the breaker panel are. Word and PDF; the PDF prints on one page.
Checklist · the first week in
| [Your moving company] | |
| New Home Checklist | |
| Moving in — before the truck, on the day and through the first week | |
| New address: ______________________________ Move-in date: ____________ | |
| Water valve: ______________ Breaker panel: ______________ Gas valve: ______________ | |
| Before the truck arrives | |
| ☐ | Photograph every room empty, before a single box comes in |
| ☐ | Clean the empty kitchen and bathrooms first, inside every cabinet |
| ☐ | Check the power, water, gas and internet are all on |
| ☐ | Tape a room name on every door so the crew knows where boxes go |
| ☐ | On hand for the first night: toilet paper, soap, a shower curtain, a plunger, trash bags |
| ☐ | Tools out: a screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, flashlight and box cutter |
| Moving-in day | |
| ☐ | Check each numbered box off the inventory sheet as it comes in |
| ☐ | Put the beds together and make them before you unpack anything else |
| ☐ | Run every tap, flush every toilet, and try every light and outlet |
| ☐ | Write down anything broken and tell the landlord or builder that week |
| Safety, the first week | |
| ☐ | Rekey or replace the outside locks |
| ☐ | Locate the main water valve, gas valve and electrical panel; label the breakers |
| ☐ | Press the test button on every smoke and CO alarm |
| ☐ | Change the furnace or AC filter and clean the dryer vent |
| Settling in | |
| ☐ | New address to the DMV, bank, insurer, employer and voter office |
| ☐ | Find out the trash and recycling pickup days |
| Keep the empty-room photos and the list of anything broken with the rest of your moving paperwork. | |
| [Your moving company] · [Your phone] · [Your website] | |
Fill in the three shut-off spaces on the first day and stick the sheet inside a kitchen cabinet door — it's the page you'll want in a leak, not the week after.
Build the website
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BOTH ENDS OF THE MOVE
What to check when you leave, and when you arrive
The same parts of a home, seen from the door you're closing and the door you're opening.
| What | Leaving the old home | Arriving at the new one |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities | A final service day for power, gas, water and internet | Power, water, gas and internet checked on before the truck |
| Mail and address | Forwarding requested at least 7 to 10 business days ahead | New address to the DMV, bank, insurer, employer and voter office |
| Keys and locks | Every key, fob and remote handed back and counted | Outside locks rekeyed or replaced |
| Walls and fixtures | Hooks and mounts down; swapped fixtures put back | Lights and outlets tried; anything broken written down |
| Cupboards and water | Every cupboard, drawer and closet opened and emptied | Every tap run, every toilet flushed, the main valve found |
| Bulbs and alarms | Dead bulbs replaced | Every smoke and CO alarm tested |
| Photos | Every room once it's clean, plus the meter readings | Every room empty, before the first box |
| Paperwork | This sheet, the photos and the readings in the moving folder | The water valve, gas valve and breaker panel written at the top of the sheet |
STEP BY STEP
How to use the move-out and new home checklists
Two sheets, one for each end of the move — get the sequence right and the dates sort themselves out.
Start at two weeks
Put the date in writing, ask for the landlord's own list, and book the clean. Everything else on the sheet hangs off those three.
Close the accounts
Pick the last utility day and request the mail forwarding while there's still time for both to take effect.
Undo what you added
Mounts, hooks, shelves, the shower head you upgraded — down or swapped back before the cleaner arrives, not after.
Empty, clean, photograph
Open every cupboard and closet, clean against the move-out cleaning checklist, then photograph every room and appliance.
Meters and keys
Photograph each meter, count every key and fob back, and leave your new address. File the sheet with the photos.
Turn the page over
At the new place, the new home checklist starts before the truck: photos of the empty rooms, the utilities checked, a room name on every door.
Every block, explained
Two weeks is the least notice the hand-over needs. The date in writing gives everyone the same day to plan around, and the landlord's or agent's own list tells you what they'll look at — some want nail holes filled, some want them left. Booking the clean now matters most in summer and at the end of the month, when cleaners book up first.
Utilities and mail need lead time. Pick a last day for each service so you're not paying for the next occupant's heating. USPS asks you to allow at least 7 to 10 business days for forwarding to start, and standard forwarding lasts 12 months — long enough for the annual mail you'd otherwise miss.
Put-backs are the lines people skip. The TV mount, the adhesive strips, the shower head you swapped and the blinds you took down are what a landlord notices first.
An empty home shows everything. Open every cupboard, drawer and closet, then the attic, basement, garage and shed — the forgotten box is always in one of them. Clean to a written list, and take the photos only once it's clean, so they show the home you handed back.
Hand-over day ends with numbers. A photo of each meter settles the last utility bills, and a key count written at the top of the sheet settles how many came back. The sheet, the photos and the readings go in one folder.
The new home checklist runs the other way. Photos of the empty rooms come first, then the utilities, then a room name on each door so the crew puts boxes where they belong. In the first week: the locks, the water valve and breaker panel written at the top of the sheet, the alarms, the furnace filter and the dryer vent — and the address changed everywhere it lives.
Renting? What this checklist is, and what it isn't
This is a to-do list for the person moving. It isn't a landlord's move-in or move-out condition form, and it carries no terms. If your landlord gave you a condition form when you moved in, find it and keep a copy with this sheet. In the US, security deposit rules are set by each state — how long a landlord has to return a deposit and what can be kept back differ from state to state — and the move-out cleaning checklist sets out two states' rules with their sources. Deposit and tenancy rules differ by state and country, so check your local rules.
For movers and cleaners: send both sheets with the quote
Someone searching for a move-out checklist has a date, a landlord or a buyer, and a list of jobs they haven't started. A moving company or a move-out cleaner who hands them this page with the quote has answered the next question before it's asked — and their name is on the sheet stuck to the fridge for the last two weeks.
If you build your moving or cleaning website with Zarla, add your business name and your town to the box above, and Zarla builds the site, with a page for each service and town you list. Then ask the editor for a “moving out?” section with the lines from this checklist, and it goes on the site, in a section you can edit any time.
Quotes go from the same dashboard: Zarla sends a quote as one link: your customer picks an option, checks off any extras and accepts it online, and Zarla drafts the invoice for exactly what they chose, with any deposit you asked for. The moving estimate template shows what to put on the price, and the moving invoice template shows what the bill carries.
Browse moving company website templates, how Zarla builds moving company websites and six moving company website designs.
Running the business behind the move?
Movers: read how to start a moving company for the licensing split between local and interstate work, and moving company pricing for what crews charge per hour and per home in 2026; then how to write a quote turns those numbers into a price.
Cleaners: how to start a cleaning business walks through getting set up, how much to charge for house cleaning puts move-out rates beside standard and deep cleans, and the move-out cleaning checklist is the room-by-room list for the clean itself — with a move-in cleaning sheet for the next home.
Move-out checklists: common questions
Yes. The move-out checklist and the new home checklist download free as Word documents and PDFs, with no email address and no sign-up; each PDF prints on one page. Print the PDF as it is, or edit the Word file first.
Four blocks in order: two weeks ahead, the date in writing, the landlord's or agent's own list, the clean booked, a last day for the utilities and the mail forwarding; then the put-backs — mounts, hooks and swapped fixtures; then the empty-home check of every cupboard, closet, the attic and the garage, the clean and the photos; and on hand-over day the meter readings, the key count and your forwarding address. Each of those is a check-box line on the printable above.
Two weeks before the hand-over at the latest. Mail forwarding alone needs 7 to 10 business days to start once USPS approves it, cleaners book up at the end of the month, and a landlord's move-out list can add jobs you didn't plan for. If you have longer, start the moving checklist eight weeks out and switch to this sheet for the final two weeks.
Empty every cupboard, drawer and closet, check the attic, basement, garage and shed, clean the home, photograph every room and appliance, read and photograph the meters, and count every key, fob and remote as you hand them back. Walk through with the landlord or agent if they'll do it with you, and leave your forwarding address.
The first week in a new place: photos of the empty rooms, the utilities checked and a room name on every door before the truck arrives; every tap, light and outlet tried on the day; the locks rekeyed, the water valve, gas valve and breaker panel found, the alarms tested and the furnace filter changed in the first week; the essentials for the first night; and the new address sent to the DMV, the bank, the insurer and the employer.
The new home checklist's first block has two lines for it: toilet paper, soap, a shower curtain, a plunger and trash bags on hand for the first night, and a screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, flashlight and box cutter out of the boxes. Past those, paper towels, dish soap and a phone charger save a trip on the first evening.
No. It's a to-do list for the person moving, with no terms and nothing to fill in for the landlord. If your landlord gave you a condition form, keep a copy with this sheet. In the US, deposit rules are set by each state; they differ by state and country, so check your local rules.
They send it with the quote. The customer sees the final fortnight in order under the company's own name, books the clean before the hand-over rather than after, and — once the mover adds them — finds the same lines on the company's website while they're still comparing movers. The Word file takes a business name, a phone number and any extra lines.
Sources
Read November 5, 2026.
- USPS — Forward mail and packages — standard mail forwarding lasts 12 months; once a request is approved, allow at least 7 to 10 business days for it to take effect
Hand customers the whole move, with your name on it
Type one line about your moving business and where you work: Zarla builds the site, a page for every move you offer and a quote form, all editable in chat.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.