Cleaning before you move into a villa on Koh Samui

The landlord or agent tells you the house has been cleaned. Perhaps it has. But you do not know how well, when, or what was skipped, and you are about to put your clothes in those wardrobes and your food in that fridge. On Samui, a house left empty for even two weeks gathers dust, gecko droppings and a musty smell.

An empty house is also the easiest one to clean and inspect. There is no furniture to move, no boxes in the way, and every cupboard can be opened. That makes the days before you move in the best time for a proper clean and a careful look round.

• After you get the keys, before the movers come. One or two days before your furniture and boxes arrive is ideal.
• Not on moving day. Movers bring in dust, sand and mud, and nobody can clean around them.
• With the water and electricity on. Check with the landlord that both will be connected on the day of the clean.
• If the villa is a new build or has just been renovated, you need a post-construction clean rather than a move-in clean. Fine building dust calls for different equipment; see our after-builders checklist.

If you can, plan a short regular clean a week or two after moving in. Unpacking creates more dust and cardboard mess than most people expect.

A move-in clean is the full deep cleaning checklist, carried out in an empty home, with the focus on the places you will use first:

The inside of the fridge and oven and the terrace are included in the price. That matters: you will use the fridge and oven on the first day, and you have no idea when they were last cleaned. There is more about the service on our move-in and move-out cleaning page.

Walk through the house before or straight after the clean. Problems you find now are the landlord's; problems found three months later may end up being yours.

We are not inspectors, and testing appliances is not part of a clean. But because we open every cupboard and clean every drain, we often spot things you would miss. Anything we notice, such as a leak under a sink, mould behind a wardrobe or a trail of ants, goes into the photo report so you can raise it with the landlord.

Most rentals on Samui come with a deposit, and at the end of the lease the question is always the same: "Was it like this when you moved in?" It is an easy question to answer if you have dated photos of:

• every room from the doorway, plus close-ups of anything already damaged;
• stains on mattresses and sofas, chipped tiles, marks on walls;
• the inside of the fridge, oven and wardrobes;
• the water and electricity meter readings.

Send the photos to the landlord or agent by message on the day you move in, so both sides have a dated record. Our photo report after the move-in clean helps as well, because it shows the clean house on a specific date. When the time comes to move out, our guide on getting your deposit back covers the other end of the tenancy.

• Air the house every day for the first week. Furniture, mattresses and boxes that have travelled in a lorry often bring a smell and some moisture with them.
• Check the wardrobes after a week. If clothes start to smell musty, the wardrobe needs better airflow or moisture absorbers; see our guide on mould and humidity.
• Settle on a cleaning routine. Weekly for a family villa, every two weeks for a smaller home. A regular schedule keeps the house at the standard the move-in clean set. See regular cleaning.

A move-in clean is priced exactly like a deep clean. A 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom condo costs 3,300 ฿, and a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom villa 5,000 ฿. The price does not depend on floor area. For 5 bedrooms or more, or a very large villa, we price the job from photos. If the previous tenant left the house in a very bad state, we assess it from photos and agree the price before the visit.

The price is the same in all areas of the island, with no travel fee. You pay once you have accepted the work, in cash or by bank transfer. If we missed something on the checklist, tell us within 24 hours and we will come back and put it right free of charge.