Student end of tenancy cleaning: passing the check-out on a shared let

In a shared student let the deposit is usually judged on the whole property, so the communal kitchen and bathrooms carry the most weight. Clean before housemates scatter for the summer, split the shared areas fairly, and book the oven and any carpets, because that is where most student check-outs lose money.

Why a joint tenancy changes everything

Most student houses are let on a joint tenancy: one agreement, one deposit, one standard for the whole property. Everyone is responsible for everything, which is the bit people discover too late. It does not matter how clean your own room is if the kitchen lets the house down, because the deduction comes out of the shared deposit and gets split however the group agrees, or does not.

Check whether your deposit is protected as one sum or as individual shares. Either way the landlord must have protected it in a government-approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it, and it must be returned within 10 days of everyone agreeing how much comes back.

The summer timing problem

Student tenancies mostly end within the same few weeks in late June and July. Once people head home, getting five housemates back to clean a kitchen is not happening. Agree a plan while everyone is still in the house, put it in writing in the group chat, and book any professional clean early, because that window is the busiest of our year.

A practical version: give each person one communal job on top of their own room. One takes the fridge and freezer, one the bathroom, one the bins and the outside, one the hallway and stairs. The person who leaves last should not inherit the kitchen.

What usually costs students their deposit

The repeat offenders are predictable. The oven, always. Limescale in the shower. Carpets on the stairs and landing, which take more traffic in a shared house than anywhere else in it. Rubbish and furniture left behind, which is charged as removal, and removal is expensive. And the fridge, if somebody switched it off at the wall in June and nobody opened it again.

Cleaning featured in 54% of the disputes the Tenancy Deposit Scheme adjudicated in 2024/25, more than any other cause, and the Deposit Protection Service puts it behind 26.64% of its own. In shared houses it is almost always the shared rooms. Our guide on cleaning deductions explains how those charges are judged.

Booking one clean for the house

Splitting one professional end of tenancy clean across the group is usually cheaper per head than everyone buying products and losing part of the deposit anyway. A three-bed house with one bathroom and a flight of stairs is £301, plus a deep oven clean at £31 and carpet cleaning at £36 a bedroom and £41 a flight of stairs. Call that £481 for a three-bed with the stairs and three bedrooms done, which across three or four housemates is a good deal less than a contested cleaning deduction on a deposit that averages £1,175.

Get a figure for your house with an instant quote, and see the base scope on the what is included page.

Evidence, before anyone hands keys back

Photograph every communal room and every bedroom once the house is empty and clean, dated, in good light. Adjudicators decide on evidence and nothing else, and in a joint tenancy the group needs one shared set of photos, all in one place. Put them somewhere everyone can reach after they have left. See what to photograph.

Student cities we cover

We clean student lets in the university towns and boroughs we cover. In the North West that means Manchester and Salford, Liverpool, Preston and Lancaster. In London it is mostly Camden, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Southwark, and around London Guildford, Reading, Canterbury and Colchester. Send your postcode to confirm a date for your house, and book early if your end date falls in the July rush.

Quick answers

Is cleaning my own room enough? No. The deposit is judged on the whole property, so the shared areas matter most.

When should we book? Before housemates leave for the summer, as early as your end date allows.

Who pays for it? Most groups split one clean for the property across the joint tenancy.

What if one housemate refuses to pay? On a joint tenancy the landlord claims against the deposit as a whole, so it becomes a matter between you. Agree the split in writing before the clean.

Sources

• Deposit Protection Service: causes of deposit disputes
• TDS Statistical Briefing 2025: dispute causes and average deposits
• GOV.UK: tenancy deposit protection

This article is general guidance for tenants, not legal advice. Joint tenancy terms vary, so check your agreement.