Can a Landlord Charge for Professional Cleaning?

Can a landlord charge for professional cleaning? The short answer

This guide is general information about renting in England, not legal advice. For help with your own situation, contact Shelter, Citizens Advice or a qualified adviser.

Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 came into force, landlords and letting agents in England can only charge tenants a limited list of permitted payments. A fee for professional cleaning is not on that list. That means a clause in your tenancy agreement saying you must pay for a professional clean when you leave, or pay a set cleaning fee, cannot be enforced.

What the Act does not do is let tenants leave a property dirty. Your landlord can still make a deduction from your deposit if the property is not as clean as it was when you moved in, allowing for fair wear and tear, and the cost of the cleaning needed to put that right is a legitimate deduction.

What the Tenant Fees Act 2019 changed

Before the Act, some tenancy agreements required a professional clean at the end, sometimes with a receipt as proof, whatever condition the property was in. Others charged a flat cleaning fee. The Act made these payments prohibited for most assured shorthold tenancies in England.

The practical effect is a shift from a fixed requirement to a standard. You don't have to use a professional, and you don't have to show a receipt. You do have to hand the property back in the condition recorded at the start, less fair wear and tear. If you can get it to that standard yourself, that is enough. If you can't, the landlord can charge the reasonable cost of cleaning to that standard through the deposit.

When cleaning can be deducted from your deposit

A cleaning deduction should be based on a comparison between the property at check-in and at check-out. Typical examples where a deduction may be fair include:

• A kitchen with grease on the units and inside the cupboards that were recorded as clean
• An oven with baked-on carbon when the check-in report described it as clean
• Limescale on taps, shower screens and tiles that wasn't there at the start
• Dust, crumbs or rubbish left inside wardrobes, drawers and cupboards
• Carpets that are stained or dirty beyond normal use, when they were clean at check-in
• Surface mould on window seals and bathroom silicone that regular cleaning would have kept down

Fair wear and tear

Fair wear and tear means the normal deterioration of a property through reasonable everyday use over time. A landlord shouldn't expect a property to look exactly as it did on day one after a tenancy of several years. Carpet worn in walkways, light marks on walls where furniture stood, slightly faded curtains or grout that has dulled with age are usually wear and tear rather than dirt.

Things that are generally not wear and tear include heavy grease, thick limescale, stains from spills, and a property left with rubbish in it. The longer the tenancy, the more wear is reasonable, and a deposit adjudicator will take the length of the tenancy into account when looking at any deduction.

What evidence counts

Deposit disputes are decided on evidence, and the strongest evidence is a comparison made at the start and at the end of the tenancy:

• The check-in report or inventory. A detailed, signed record of each room's condition and cleanliness at the start. If you were given one, check it carefully and raise anything wrong at the time.
• The check-out report. The same rooms recorded at the end, ideally by the same method, so the two can be compared item by item.
• Dated photos and video. Taken by you at move-in and after the final clean, covering every room, inside cupboards, the oven and the bathroom.
• Receipts. You don't have to use a professional cleaner, but a receipt for a clean can help show the property was cleaned at the end.
• Correspondence. Emails about repairs, damp or problems reported during the tenancy, which can explain marks that are not your fault.

How much can a landlord deduct?

A deduction should reflect the reasonable cost of putting right the specific cleaning issues found, not the cost of a full professional clean of a property that is mostly clean. If only the oven and the bathroom were left dirty, a fair deduction covers those, not the whole property. Landlords should not profit from a deduction: it is there to compensate them for a real loss.

If you are offered a deduction you think is too high, ask for an itemised breakdown and the evidence behind each item, such as the check-out report and photos, before you agree to anything.

Disputing a cleaning deduction

In England, deposits for most assured shorthold tenancies must be protected in a government-backed tenancy deposit protection scheme: the Deposit Protection Service (DPS), mydeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). Each scheme offers a free dispute resolution service.

First, try to agree with your landlord or agent directly. Reply in writing, explain which deductions you accept and which you don't, and send your own evidence. If you can't agree, you can raise a dispute with the scheme protecting your deposit. An impartial adjudicator then looks at the evidence from both sides, usually in writing, and decides how the disputed amount is split. The money that isn't in dispute should be returned to you without waiting for the outcome.

Because adjudicators work from evidence, a clear check-in report, a check-out report and dated photos make a much bigger difference than who argues hardest.

Do you need a professional clean?

No law requires one. The question is simply whether you can get the property back to its check-in condition yourself. Our end of tenancy cleaning checklist follows the order a clerk works in if you want to do it yourself.

If you would rather hand it over, our end of tenancy cleaning is a fixed-price clean of every room to inventory standard, from £95 for a room in a flatshare. It includes our deposit-back guarantee: if your letting agent or landlord raises a cleaning point in the agreed work, tell us within 72 hours of completion and we come back and re-clean it free.