How to Split Move-In Cleaning Costs With Roommates (2026)

You picked up the keys, walked in, and the “professionally cleaned” apartment has a mystery stain on the carpet, a grease film on the stove, and cabinets that clearly haven’t been wiped since 2022. Now three of you are arguing over whether to hire a cleaner, buy your own supplies, or just live with it. Learning how to split move-in cleaning costs with roommates saves you the fight and, more importantly, protects your security deposit at the end of the lease.

Fastest answer: everything before you unpack a single box is a shared cost, split evenly by roommate, not by bedroom size. Document the dirty state with photos before you clean anything.

What counts as move-in cleaning?

Move-in cleaning is the deep clean between the last tenant’s move-out and your first unpacked box. It’s different from your regular weekly cleaning and different from move-out cleaning. Include:

• Inside cabinets and drawers
• Inside the fridge, freezer, oven, microwave
• Baseboards and window sills
• All bathroom fixtures — even ones that “look fine”
• Vents and light fixtures with visible dust
• Floors, especially corners the previous tenant skipped

Skip the rooms that are already spotless. The goal is starting from a clean baseline, not scrubbing for the sake of scrubbing.

Should you hire a cleaner or DIY it?

Depends on three things: your budget, your timeline, and how bad the apartment actually is.

Hire a pro when:

• The apartment reeks or has visible mold
• You have less than 48 hours before your stuff arrives
• Any roommate is willing to pay their share of $150–$400 to skip it
• The landlord is refusing to fix a clearly dirty move-in

DIY when:

• The apartment is 80% there and just needs a wipe-down
• You have a weekend and cheap labor (your own)
• You’d rather use the cash for furniture

If you split the difference — DIY the easy stuff, pro-clean the carpets — that’s often the best value. Carpet cleaning alone runs $75–$200 and can be the difference between getting your deposit back at the end. Speaking of which, our guide to how to divide security deposit deductions with roommates covers what to document now to avoid deposit fights later.

How do roommates split the cost fairly?

Move-in cleaning is a shared benefit — everyone gets a clean apartment on day one — so the default is an even split across all roommates. Not per bedroom. Not per person’s mess (there is no mess yet). Even shares.

Exceptions:

• One roommate is arriving two weeks later? They still pay their share. They’re still moving into a clean apartment.
• One roommate wants pro cleaning, the other two want DIY? Whoever wants the upgrade pays the difference.
• Master bedroom has a private bathroom? That roommate covers their own bathroom deep clean; shared spaces still split evenly.

What supplies do you actually need?

If you’re DIY-ing, buy this list once and split the cost the same way you’ll split all household supplies going forward:

• All-purpose cleaner (Method or Mrs. Meyer’s)
• Bathroom cleaner with bleach
• Oven cleaner (spray on, walk away for 30 minutes)
• Microfiber cloths — a pack of 10
• Mop with washable pads
• Vacuum with hose attachment
• Rubber gloves for each person
• Trash bags

Total is usually $60–$90 and most of it lives on into your regular cleaning supplies. Roll it into your shared supplies budget — our post on how to split household supplies with roommates covers how to run that without one person always fronting.

Document the “before” or the deposit is gone

Before you clean anything, walk the apartment with your phone and take photos of every issue. Every stain, every scuff, every scratch. Timestamped photos are the only proof you have that a problem existed before you moved in. Send them to the landlord in writing the same day. Now the move-out inspection can’t pin someone else’s damage on you.

Where homies fits in

homies. tracks shared costs from day one — move-in cleaning, supplies, deposits, the whole starter kit — so you have a running record of what everyone paid before things get complicated. Split shares are calculated automatically, and the AI mediator can help settle who owes what when someone moves out mid-lease. Rooming, minus the drama. Join the waitlist at joinhomies.app.