Wishing I’d been more paranoid on move out

I just got a few hundred dollars taken out of my security deposit for cleaning fees, an especially nasty feeling since the landlord justified it with a long list of “dirty” items that I had actually spent hours cleaning. This was a small local Seattle property management company. I know it’s pretty common for landlords to charge cleaning fees or require professional cleaners on move out, so maybe I was naive to think I could save money doing it myself. However, looking back, I think I could’ve done a couple things differently:

1. I had taken a lot of photos on move in to document any scuffs or damage to the apartment. However, I wasn’t as thorough for my move out photos, and I didn’t take photos of the right things apparently, because I now only have proof of some clean items but the landlord claimed far more locations were dirty. I should have taken pictures of every single item on the move in/out checklist, and the things that I forgot and they claimed were: track of a sliding door, opened blinds, inside appliances, and inside cabinets, as well as zoomed in photos of towel bars. I did actually take pictures of the underside of the stove hood but they claimed that one too and I imagine it’s easy to miss. Beyond that, I just took a few views of wide-angled shots of the apartment because I was tired after cleaning, and thought that with how clean it all was, there wouldn’t be an issue—this did not work out for me!
2. I was also far too nice on my initial move in assessment: the person I had gotten keys from was very chill and nice, and then sent me off to double-check her assessment of the apartment, which had basically listed every item as clean and not damaged. I walked in, the place was basically clean and undamaged, but not perfect: I’d notice some scuffs, or some damage on appliances, etc. But after noting down a few of these I felt like I was nitpicking, and with how friendly the manager had been, surely they wouldn’t be really expecting me to do the same. Well I’m not sure if she or someone else did the move-out inspection, but clearly that was wrong. I should have been okay with being far more annoying with my initial inspection, especially for anything paint or baseboard related. I didn’t think it was a big deal because of normal wear and tear allowances, but all those extra scuffs got marked down as “dirtiness” upon move out, which seems harder to push back against than a claim of damage. Also, on move-in I had combined some chips in wood with some black marks on the wall and just described them all as “scuffs”. I perhaps could have been more specific as to what type of scuffs there were so the landlord couldn’t claim the condition was different on move out.

Anyway, I’m not sure if those differences would have helped me get my money back, or if paying for my own cleaner would have avoided the landlord doing another cleaning, but hopefully this helps someone else avoid unfair charges. At the very least I feel like I was able to channel my frustration somewhere, and I’m thankful I wasn’t hit with a scam that took my full deposit, since I’ve heard a few bad stories in the Seattle area.