End of tenancy cleaning for landlords: fast, consistent turnarounds

Between tenancies, the turnaround clean does two jobs: it gets the property viewable sooner, and it sets the check-in standard the next tenant will be measured against. The second one is worth more than most landlords price in, because it decides whether a deduction at the end of the next tenancy is defensible or not.

What a void day actually costs

Simple arithmetic, and worth doing before you decide the clean can wait until Thursday. A property at £1,500 a month costs about £49 a day empty. Three days of drift between the outgoing tenant’s keys and a property ready to photograph is roughly £150 gone, which is most of the price of the clean that would have prevented it.

The listing photographs are the other half of it. A property shot before the clean looks tired in exactly the way that makes people scroll past, and re-shooting later means a second visit from whoever takes the pictures.

The clean sets the baseline for the next deposit claim

This is the part that pays for itself. At the end of the next tenancy, any cleaning deduction you propose will be judged against what the check-in inventory recorded. If that inventory says the oven was professionally degreased and the carpets professionally cleaned, with dated photographs attached and both parties’ signatures on it, you have a claim that stands up. If it says the property was in reasonable condition, you have an argument.

The Tenancy Deposit Scheme’s adjudication team puts it plainly: a photographic or video inventory, signed and dated by both parties, is the single most effective way to support a claim, and check-out photos are far more useful when they match the check-in set for lighting and angle. Adjudicators work from evidence and nothing else.

So the sequence is clean, photograph, inventory, sign. In that order, before the new tenant moves anything in.

What to include between tenants

A full end of tenancy clean plus oven cleaning at £77 and a deep carpet clean at £36 per area resets the property to a standard worth recording. For a two-bed flat that is £243 plus £77 plus carpet across three areas at £108, so £428. For a three-bed house, £339 plus £77 plus four areas at £144 is £560.

Booking the same add-ons every time is the point. A baseline that moves from tenancy to tenancy is a baseline you cannot rely on, and the inconsistency shows up years later when you are trying to explain to an adjudicator why this check-in was different.

What you cannot charge the outgoing tenant

Worth being straight about, because getting it wrong is expensive. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 you cannot require a tenant in England to pay for professional cleaning. The ban applied to new and renewed tenancies from 1 June 2019 and to all existing tenancies from 1 June 2020, and a cleaning clause in an older agreement does not survive it.

What you can do is deduct from the deposit where the property comes back below its check-in standard. That deduction has to restore the original condition rather than improve on it, and it cannot cover fair wear and tear. A charge that funds a better carpet than the one that wore out will not survive adjudication.

The deposit admin the clean sits inside

The deposit must be protected in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of you receiving it. In England and Wales that means the Deposit Protection Service, mydeposits or the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, either custodial, where the scheme holds the money for free, or insured, where you hold it and pay to insure it. At the end, the deposit must be returned within 10 days of you and the tenant agreeing how much comes back.

Cleaning is the most disputed item of all, at 54% of TDS cases in 2024/25, so it is the one most worth documenting properly on the way in.

Portfolios and repeat turnarounds

For several properties, or a steady stream of voids, a standing arrangement through contract cleaning keeps the scope and the standard fixed rather than renegotiated each time. Single properties are priced from £156 through the instant quote, with the full per-size list on the prices page. If a let date moves, short-notice turnarounds are often possible through our rescue clean.

Every clean carries a 48-hour re-clean guarantee (terms apply), which on a void matters mostly because it means a viewing booked for the morning after does not depend on everything having gone perfectly the first time.

Quick answers

Do you work with agents? Yes, on single turnarounds and on regular arrangements.

Can you handle several properties? Yes, contract cleaning is built for portfolios.

How fast can you turn one around? We book around the void, and short-notice slots are often possible.

Can I recharge the clean to the outgoing tenant? Not as a fee. You can deduct from the deposit only where the property falls below its check-in standard.

Do you provide an invoice for my records? Yes, itemised by property, which is what you want attached to the inventory.

Sources

• GOV.UK: deposit protection schemes and landlords
• GOV.UK: Tenant Fees Act 2019 guidance
• TDS adjudication team on inventory evidence (NRLA)
• TDS Statistical Briefing 2025: dispute causes

This is general guidance for landlords and agents in England, not legal advice. Scope and scheduling are confirmed per property.