Move-out checklist, and how to get your deposit back

Most deposit disputes in Dubai are not about big damage. They are about a list of small things nobody dealt with, totted up by someone who is seeing the property for the first time in a year.

The good news is that the list is predictable. Here is what gets looked at.

Start three weeks out, not three days

Everything below is cheaper and easier with an empty property and some time. A painter can do a flat in a day when the furniture has gone; the same job around your sofa takes longer and costs more.

Three weeks out is also when you still have time to get a quote, think about it, and decide what is worth doing versus what you will simply concede.

Photograph the condition now

Before you move anything, photograph every room, including the parts you expect to be argued about. Date-stamped photographs taken before the move are the single most useful thing you can have if the conversation goes badly.

If you have your original move-in inspection report, find it. It is the baseline the landlord’s list should be measured against, and more than a few “damages” turn out to have been there when you arrived.

Room by room

Kitchen

This is where most deductions come from.

• Inside the oven, including the glass and the racks
• The extractor hood and its filters — grease here is the classic finding
• Inside and on top of every cupboard
• Behind and under the fridge and washing machine where they can be moved safely
• Sink, drain and tap descaled
• Worktop joints and the silicone along the splashback

Bathrooms

• Limescale on glass, taps, the shower head and tiles
• Grout and silicone — mould here is noticed immediately
• Toilet including behind and underneath
• Extractor fan grille
• Mirror, cabinet interiors and the back of the door

Living areas and bedrooms

• Walls: marks, scuffs, and every hole from a picture, bracket or TV mount
• Skirting, door frames and switch plates — these collect grime and nobody cleans them
• Wardrobes cleaned inside, runners working, doors on track
• Windows inside, and the tracks the balcony door slides in
• Light fittings working, and every bulb present and matching

Balcony and outside

• Floor cleaned, drain clear
• Railings wiped down
• Anything you added — hooks, screens, planters — removed, and the fixings made good

AC

• Filters washed
• No water marks under indoor units
• If a service is due, having one done and documented is usually cheaper than being charged for one afterwards

The three things that cost tenants most

1. Holes in walls. Every TV bracket, shelf and picture hook. Filled, sanded and painted is a cheap job. Left as holes, it becomes “redecoration” at a price you did not set. Our painting and wall repairs page covers what that involves.

2. A clean that was not a deep clean. A weekly clean does not pass a move-out inspection. What is checked is inside the oven, inside the cupboards, the grout and the tracks — exactly what a routine clean skips. This is what move-out cleaning is for.

3. Things you stopped noticing. The wardrobe door off its runner. The handle that came loose in month two. The bathroom door that never closed properly. You stopped seeing them months ago; the inspector sees them in the first ten minutes. A handyman can usually clear a list like that in one visit.

Fair wear and tear

You are not expected to hand back a new flat. Ordinary wear from ordinary living is normally the landlord’s cost: faded paint, minor scuffs, worn sealant.

Damage is different: holes, breakages, stains, and changes you made without permission — including colours you painted and fittings you swapped.

The line between the two is a frequent argument, and the deciding factor is usually what your tenancy contract says rather than any general rule. Read it before you negotiate.

Worth verifying for your own situation. Dubai tenancy practice, deposit handling and the dispute process are governed by the relevant tenancy law and by your contract, and the detail changes. Treat this guide as practical experience rather than legal advice, and check anything that matters against the current rules or with a professional.

Sequence the work in the right order

Repairs first, then painting, then the clean — always in that order. A deep clean booked before the painter has been is a deep clean you pay for twice.

If you are having several things done, get them quoted together. It is almost always one visit rather than three.

Final day

• Photograph every room again, empty and clean
• Collect all keys, fobs, parking cards and remotes — missing ones get charged for
• Take final DEWA and chiller readings and keep the receipts
• Be present for the inspection if you possibly can

That last one matters more than people expect. An inspection you attend is a conversation. One you do not attend is a list that arrives later.

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Moving out and want it handled in one go? Send us the property and your date and we will quote the repairs, the painting and the clean together, in the right order.