Getting your full deposit back when you move out

Most deposit disputes in Chiang Mai come down to a handful of items, and none of them are the floors. Landlords and condo juristic offices look at the air conditioning filter, the inside of the oven or microwave, limescale in the bathroom, and marks on the walls.

Clean the air conditioning filter yourself even if you do nothing else. It takes ten minutes, it is visible the moment the unit is opened, and a dirty one reads as a year of neglect.

Take dated photographs of every room once it is empty and clean. If a deduction is raised later, that record settles it quickly and without argument.

Book the clean for the day before your handover, not the morning of it. You want time to deal with anything that turns up, and you do not want to be supervising a clean while a van is waiting downstairs.