Can a Landlord Charge You for End of Tenancy Cleaning?

Can your landlord charge you for end of tenancy cleaning? It’s one of the most common questions tenants ask when moving out. The short answer: they cannot charge a fixed cleaning fee. However, they can deduct a fair amount from your deposit if the property is not returned to the right standard. Understanding that difference is the key to keeping your deposit.

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 changed the rules

Before June 2019, many tenancy agreements in England required tenants to pay for professional cleaning at the end of a tenancy. Agents often named a specific company and set the price. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 banned that practice. As a result, landlords and letting agents can no longer require you to pay a fixed professional cleaning fee. Any clause in your agreement that tries to do so is not valid.

So if your agreement says “the tenant must pay £X for cleaning on check-out”, that charge is a prohibited payment under the Act. You do not have to pay it.

But your landlord can still make a deposit deduction

Here’s the part that catches people out. While a landlord cannot charge a fee, they can deduct a reasonable sum from your deposit if you leave the property less clean than when you moved in.

The basis for this is the check-in inventory — the report that recorded the property’s condition at the start. At the end of your tenancy, your agent compares a check-out inventory against it. If the check-out shows the property is dirtier (allowing for fair wear and tear), the landlord can claim the reasonable cleaning cost from your deposit.

In other words: you don’t have to hire a professional cleaner. But you do have to return the property to its original standard. If you don’t, you will likely pay for it through a deposit deduction — often at a rate you didn’t agree in advance.

What “the same standard” actually means

Deposit disputes almost always come down to the kitchen and bathroom. Specifically, the areas inventory clerks check most closely are:

• The oven, hob and extractor — the most common reason for a cleaning deduction. Baked-on grease is hard to remove without professional kit.
• Bathrooms — limescale on taps, shower screens, tiles and grout.
• Carpets — stains, traffic lanes and pet odours, especially if carpets were clean at the start.
• Internal windows, skirting boards, doors and light fittings — the details that show whether a clean was thorough.

Fair wear and tear — like lightly worn carpet in a hallway after two years — is not chargeable. However, dirt and neglect are.

How deposit deductions are decided

By law, your deposit must sit in one of the government-backed schemes — TDS, DPS or MyDeposits. If you dispute a proposed cleaning deduction, the scheme’s free adjudication service will decide. The adjudicator looks at the evidence: the check-in inventory, the check-out report, photos and receipts.

Therefore, a professional clean with a clear paper trail is valuable. If you show the property reached check-out standard, the landlord’s claim becomes very hard to support.

How to protect your deposit

1. Find your check-in inventory. It defines the standard you need to match.
2. Clean to that standard — or better. Focus first on the kitchen and bathrooms.
3. Keep evidence. Photograph every room after cleaning, and keep any professional cleaning receipt.
4. Consider a professional end of tenancy clean. It is optional under the law, but it is the most reliable way to meet check-out standard — especially for the oven and bathrooms.

A professional end of tenancy clean targets the exact standard your agent checks. In addition, our work carries a 72-hour re-clean guarantee. So if the inventory clerk flags anything, we return and put it right free — giving the landlord no grounds for a cleaning deduction.

The bottom line

Your landlord cannot charge a fixed cleaning fee. That has been illegal since 2019. But they can deduct a fair amount if you don’t return the property to its original cleanliness. As a result, the safest approach is to clean to check-out standard and keep proof that you did.

See our room-by-room end of tenancy cleaning checklist to do it yourself, or request a free quote for a professional clean across any London borough.