Who Pays for End of Tenancy Cleaning: Landlord or Tenant?

It's the question we get most often in the last fortnight of a tenancy, usually from someone standing in a half-packed kitchen. Who pays for end of tenancy cleaning, the landlord or the tenant? In England the short answer is that the tenant is responsible for leaving the property as clean as it was on move-in day, and the landlord cannot make the tenant pay for a professional clean. Both halves of that sentence matter, and most deposit arguments come from people knowing only one of them.

This guide sets out what the law and government guidance say, what a landlord can deduct, and what we see go wrong in rentals around Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable and Milton Keynes. It covers private tenancies in England. Wales and Scotland have their own rules.

What the Tenant Fees Act says about cleaning

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 limits what a landlord or letting agent in England can charge a tenant. The permitted list is short: rent, a refundable deposit, a holding deposit, and a few specific items such as a late rent fee or a replacement key. Cleaning is not on it.

The government's guidance on the Act is plain on this point. A landlord or agent cannot require a tenant to pay for a professional clean at check-out, and cannot require the tenant to use a particular cleaning company. A clause saying "the tenant must have the property professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy and provide a receipt" is exactly the kind of term the Act stopped.

What a landlord can do is ask for the property to be returned clean to a professional standard. That is a standard, not a supplier. You can meet it with your own mop and a free weekend if you have the time and the patience.

If an agent tries to charge a banned fee, the GOV.UK guidance tells tenants to refuse to pay it. A tenant can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal, which can order the fee to be returned.

So who pays for end of tenancy cleaning?

It depends on the state the property was in when the tenancy started, and that is where the check-in inventory earns its keep.

• The tenant pays, in time or money, for getting the property back to the condition shown on the check-in inventory. If the oven was spotless at the start, it needs to be spotless at the end.
• The landlord pays for anything beyond that. If the oven was greasy when you moved in, the landlord cannot charge you to make it better than it was.
• Nobody is charged for fair wear and tear, which the guidance describes as defects that happen naturally or through reasonable use. Carpet that has flattened along the hallway after three years is wear and tear. A red wine stain in the middle of the lounge carpet is not.

Cleaning is a condition question, then. The deposit covers the gap between the check-in and check-out condition, and a landlord can only deduct for that gap.

Cleaning is the top reason for deposit deductions

The Deposit Protection Service (DPS), one of the government-approved schemes, publishes the reasons landlords give when they claim from a deposit. For 2025 it reported cleaning as the most common reason for the fifth year running, at 29.37% of claims. Damage came second at 18.42% and rent arrears third at 16.45%.

That matches what we find when we clean after tenants have already had a go. The rooms people use every day are usually fine. The deductions come from the places you stop noticing after a few months:

• inside the oven, the grill pan and the extractor filter
• limescale on taps, shower screens and the base of the toilet
• the tops of kitchen cupboards and the fridge seal
• skirting boards, door frames and light switches
• windows and the tracks they slide in
• behind and under the washing machine and fridge

Our end of tenancy cleaning checklist goes through each room in the order we tackle them.

How the deposit gets back to you

Your landlord has to protect your deposit in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it. At the end of the tenancy, once you and the landlord agree how much you'll get back, it must be returned within 10 days.

If you can't agree, the money stays protected in the scheme while the dispute is sorted out. Every scheme offers a free dispute resolution service. Both of you have to agree to use it, you'll each be asked for evidence, and the decision is final. In practice the evidence is the check-in inventory, the check-out report and photos. A tenant with dated photos of a clean oven is in a far better position than one who says "it was fine when I left".

If you are the tenant

• Find your check-in inventory before you start, and clean to it room by room.
• Take dated photos of every room, the inside of the oven and fridge, and the bathroom once you finish. Keep them until the deposit is back.
• Leave enough time. A full clean of a three-bedroom house takes most people a long weekend, and the oven alone can take a couple of hours.
• If you'd rather hand it over, that's up to you. You can book any cleaner you like, and the agent can't insist on theirs.
• If a deduction appears, ask for the evidence and compare it with the check-in report before you agree.

If you are the landlord or agent

• Take out any clause requiring a professional clean or a named company. A clause asking for the property to be returned in the same condition, allowing for fair wear and tear, is fine.
• Make the check-in inventory detailed, with photos of the oven, bathroom and carpets. An adjudicator can only compare what's written down.
• Keep deductions proportionate. Charging for a full clean when only the oven was missed is the sort of claim that ends up in dispute.
• Budget for your own clean between tenants if the property needs to be brought up to a better standard than it was at the last check-in.

Where a professional clean helps

Paying a cleaner is never compulsory, but it can work out cheaper once you count the hours and the risk of a deduction. It makes most sense when you're moving on a tight timescale, when the oven or carpets need specialist work, or when you've already moved away and can't get back in.

When we clean at the end of a tenancy we work to the check-in inventory if you can send it, and we take photos of each room when we finish, so you have a dated record of the condition you left. For letting agents we can also collect keys from the office. You can read more about our end of tenancy cleaning service, or see the local detail for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard. If you're moving out in Dunstable, our guide to what letting agents check at check-out goes through the inspection room by room.

Who pays comes down to the same document every time: the check-in inventory. Clean to it, photograph the result, and keep the photos until your deposit is back. A landlord who can't point to a difference between that inventory and the property at check-out has nothing to deduct for cleaning.