If you are a private landlord who rents out an apartment, guest house, or house your job doesn’t stop when a tenant moves out. In fact, the bulk of your work starts when you are between tenants. Not only do you have to screen and find new tenants, you have to clean your rental unit and get it ready to rent. Here’s the basic how tos of how to get a rental unit, apartment, or home ready for new tenants.

1. Walk through your rental unit

After your tenant has vacated the unit and turned the keys over to you do a walk through the unit. You’ll want to bring with you a notepad and a cameras to document any damage, repairs to be made, or junk to be removed.

2. Hire a Junk Removal Service

Chances are your tenant left a few things behind he or she didn’t want or need anymore. These items could be old furniture, appliances, or anything else that your tenant didn’t want. Hire a junk removal service to come in and haul away whatever you need haul away.

3. Hire a Contractor or Handyman

Next up is to hire either a contractor or a skilled handyman to make any repairs needed to the unit. In most cases you won’t need a contractor. You’ll need a skilled handyman and a few laborers to make needed repairs and repaint.

4. Hire a Maid Service

Final step is to hire a maid service to clean up the unit from top to bottom. You can also save a bit of money and do this yourself.

This is some fairly standard advice. Following this walkthrough will help you keep your unit ready to rent.