A move-in cleaning happens while the apartment is still empty, and that is the only point at which cabinet interiors, closet shelving, appliance seals and the floor under where your furniture will sit can all be cleaned in one visit. At Miami House Cleaning, a move-in/move-out clean of a studio under 1,000 sq ft starts at $256, and a regular maintenance clean of that same unit starts at $156. The hard part in a Miami condo tower usually is not the cleaning — it is fitting the clean into the window your building gives you between key handover and the moving truck.

Published October 25, 2026. Prices, offer terms and review count on this page were verified against our published service pages on October 25, 2026.

Who this is for

You have signed for a rental or closed on a condo in Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach County, you have keys or a key date, and the unit is empty. You want to know whether a move-in clean is worth paying for, what it should cover, when to schedule it, and what it costs. If you want the pricing side by unit size instead, that is laid out in our guide to apartment cleaning costs in Miami by unit size.

What a landlord’s turnover clean usually does and does not cover

Most South Florida landlords and property managers have the unit cleaned between tenants, and plenty of them do it properly. We do this work ourselves: one of our published case studies is a between-tenant turnover of a Miami Beach rental, where the brief from the landlord was to get the unit reset and genuinely move-in ready for the next occupant. His review, on our customer reviews and case studies page, reads:

“I hired Miami House Cleaning for a cleaning between tenants and was really impressed with the results. They were on time, thorough, and left the place spotless.”
— Ed Quinn, verified Google review

But a turnover clean is scoped and paid for by the landlord, not by you, and “broom clean” is a real contractual standard in some leases. In the units we walk into on move-in day, the things most often still untouched are consistent:

Insides — kitchen cabinet and drawer interiors, the shelf and rod inside every closet, the linen closet, the vanity cabinet under the bathroom sink.
Appliance seals and crevices — the refrigerator door gasket, the rubber seal and filter basket of the dishwasher, the oven door edges, the microwave turntable recess.
The laundry closet — in a condo this is usually a stacked washer/dryer in a shallow closet, and the lint, dust and standing damp behind and under it are rarely part of a turnover.
Air return grille faces and the air-handler closet floor — in Miami the AC runs most of the year, so the dust film on the return grille is visible within weeks. We wipe grille faces and the closet floor; we are cleaners, not an HVAC company, so filter changes and anything inside the unit stay with your building or an AC technician.
Edges and verticals — baseboards, door frames and the tops of doors, switch plates, the cabinet crown above the fridge, behind the toilet base.
Glass and tracks — interior glass, mirrors, and the sliding-glass-door track to the balcony, which in a coastal building collects salt-laden grit fast.

None of that is hidden damage. It is simply the part of the unit that is only reachable when there is nothing in it — which is why doing it on your move-in day, and not later, is the whole argument for the service.

Timing: your building decides this more than you do

In a Miami high-rise the sequence is set by the building, not by your calendar. Most towers in Brickell, Edgewater, Downtown and along the beaches release the service elevator and loading dock only in set windows — commonly weekday business hours, often with advance notice required, and frequently not at all on Sundays or holidays. Your movers get one of those windows. A move-in clean has to land before it.

What that means in practice:

If your keys and your truck are on different days, you are in the easy case. Book the clean for the day you get access, and the crew works a genuinely empty unit.
If keys and truck are the same day, the realistic options are a clean in the morning before the elevator window opens, or accepting that the clean happens after you unpack — in which case what you actually want is a deep clean of the occupied unit rather than a move-in clean, because cabinet interiors and closets are no longer accessible.
If the unit sat vacant through the summer with the thermostat set high or off, expect a stale, humid smell and a film on hard surfaces. Cleaning washable surfaces and running the AC addresses that film and reduces your exposure to the dust and mildew staining that come with it; it is not a diagnosis or a remedy for anything in the walls or the air handler. If you can see or smell active water damage, that is a report to your building or landlord before anyone cleans.
Tell us about the certificate of insurance when you book, not on the day. Most South Florida buildings will not badge in a vendor without a COI on file, and getting it to your management office ahead of time is what keeps the appointment. The rest of the building paperwork — fob handoff, vendor log, quiet hours, balcony rules — is covered in our guide to what actually differs about cleaning a Miami condo or high-rise.

Order of operations in an empty unit

Our crews work an empty apartment top-down and floors-last, which matters more in a bare unit than a furnished one because there is nothing to stop dust travelling. Verticals and high edges first, then cabinetry and closet interiors, then appliances, then bathrooms, then glass and tracks, then the hard floors in one pass at the end. Done in that order, the floor is the last surface touched before your furniture arrives on it.

One practical request: if you are having the apartment painted, the floors refinished, or shelving installed, schedule all of that before the clean. A clean that happens first just gets undone, and we clean surfaces rather than carry out or dispose of materials — construction debris and anything the previous occupant left behind stay with the contractor, the building or the landlord.

What it costs

Our move-in and move-out cleans are flat-rate by unit size and condition, not hourly. A move-in/move-out clean of a studio under 1,000 sq ft starts at $256; the price scales with square footage, number of bathrooms and how much buildup is actually in the unit. A regular maintenance clean of that same studio starts at $156, which is the service most apartment clients move onto afterwards on a biweekly or monthly schedule. New customers get 10% off a first clean booked by phone at 754-354-6072 — it is a call-in offer, so phoning is how you get it along with a figure for your specific unit.

If you are moving into a tower in Brickell specifically, the service details and building notes for that neighbourhood are on our Brickell move-in / move-out cleaning page.

Move-in cleaning in a Miami apartment: quick answers

Should I clean an apartment before moving in?

Yes, if the unit is still empty — it is the only time cabinet interiors, closet shelving, appliance seals and the whole floor can be cleaned in a single visit. If you have already unpacked, book a deep clean of the occupied unit instead.

Is a move-in clean the same as a deep clean?

The surface work overlaps, but a move-in clean assumes an empty unit and includes the insides of cabinets, closets and appliances as standard. A deep clean is scoped around furniture that stays in place. Both start at $256 for a studio under 1,000 sq ft.

How far ahead should I book?

Book as soon as you have a key date, because the appointment has to fit your building’s service-elevator window and your COI has to be on file first. Same-day and next-day visits are sometimes available depending on the schedule — call 754-354-6072 to check rather than assuming.

Do I need to be there?

No, as long as access is arranged — typically the front desk holding a key or fob, with our crew’s name on the vendor list. Our cleaners are insured and background-checked, and we can supply a certificate of insurance to your management office.

What about the trash?

Taking out the household trash and emptying bins is part of a normal clean. We do not do junk removal, debris removal or haul-away of any kind — if the previous occupant left furniture or materials behind, that is a conversation with your landlord or building.

What if the apartment smells musty?

Cleaning washable surfaces and getting the AC running reduces the dust, soap film and mildew staining that hold that smell, and so reduces your exposure to them. It is not a treatment for mold, an air-quality service, or medical advice — visible water intrusion or a smell that returns needs your building or a licensed remediation contractor.

Booking it

Tell us the unit size, the key date, your building’s move-in window and whether a COI is required, and we will scope the clean around it. Request a free estimate online, or call 754-354-6072 for a figure on your specific apartment and the 10% first-clean offer. We are rated 4.9 out of 5 across 145 reviews (Google and Thumbtack, as of September 29, 2026), insured and background-checked, and we use eco-friendly products.

Miami House Cleaning
601 NE 39th St, Miami, FL 33137
754-354-6072
support@miahousecleaning.com

Written by the Miami House Cleaning team with AI assistance; facts checked against our published services and pricing.