Guide
Who pays for cleaning between tenants?
Between tenancies the landlord pays, or the agent pays for them and recharges it. The outgoing tenant can't be required to buy a professional clean, and can still face a deposit deduction if the property comes back below the check-in record. Here's how those two facts sit together, and what the clean costs either way.
Reviewed August 2026
Who pays for cleaning between tenants?
The landlord pays, or the agent pays on their behalf and recharges it. Cleaning between tenancies is a cost of the void. A landlord or agent can't require the outgoing tenant to pay for professional end of tenancy cleaning, or to use a particular cleaner. Fair wear and tear isn't cleaning, and the deposit rules treat them differently.
Those are two different bills that get confused constantly. The clean that readies a property for the next tenancy belongs to whoever owns the tenancy risk, which is the landlord. The condition the property is handed back in belongs to the tenant. One is a purchase, the other is an obligation, and the deposit only ever touches the second one.
Tenant Fees Act 2019 and the deposit figures on this page, as summarised by cleaning-express.com, accessed August 2026.
| How it works | The tenant arranges it | The landlord or agent arranges it |
|---|---|---|
| Who chooses the cleaner | The tenant, and nobody can require them to use a named company | The landlord, or the agent managing the property for them |
| Who pays | The tenant, by choice rather than by requirement | The landlord, as part of the cost of the void |
| When it happens | In the last day or two before the keys go back | During the void, before viewings and photographs |
| What it is judged against | What was recorded when they moved in | The standard the next tenant will be checked in at |
| If something is missed | The tenant chases their own cleaner, mid-move | The agent forwards the report to a supplier who already holds the checklist |
| What it costs with us | £155 to £435, paid after the clean | £139 to £391 on regular instructions, invoiced on fourteen day terms |
Can a landlord still deduct cleaning from the deposit?
Yes, at the end, and it happens often. If the property comes back dirtier than it started, a deduction can be proposed against the deposit. Wear and tear isn't cleaning though, and the deposit rules treat the two differently. Cleaning is the most common cause of deposit deductions, and over half of deposit disputes involve it, which is why both sides keep photographs.
The argument at check-out is almost never about whether anybody cleaned. It's about whether the standard matches the record made at the start, judged by someone who inspects properties for a living. That's a narrow, evidenced question, and it's settled far quicker by dated photographs of every room than by two people describing the same oven differently.
The rules on what can and can't be demanded of a tenant are set out properly in our guide to whether landlords can charge for cleaning.
What is void cleaning?
Void cleaning is the clean done while a property stands empty between tenancies. The trade calls the empty gap a void, so the clean takes its name from the gap rather than from the work. It's an end of tenancy clean by another name: whole property, cleaned empty, to a written checklist, before viewings and photographs.
A void costs the landlord rent every day it lasts, so the clean sits on the critical path, not tacked onto the end of it. Photographs for the listing want a finished property, viewings want it to smell of nothing at all, and a check-in a fortnight later wants the same standard still holding. That's why a void clean gets booked to a date and held there.
What standard is a check-out judged against?
Fair wear and tear isn't cleaning, and the deposit rules treat them differently, so a check-out isn't judged by whoever happens to be looking at it that morning. It's judged against the record made when the tenant moved in, which is why the paperwork from the start of the tenancy matters more at the end than any amount of effort does, and why a written cleaning checklist is worth more than a receipt.
The same handful of places decide most of it, which is why our own checklist is built around them. Inside the oven. The shower screen and the base of the taps, where North Kent hard water leaves a white ring that reads as neglect. The window tracks and sills that get a finger run along them. The insides of cupboards and wardrobes. The floor edges, where a vacuum that only did the middle shows up immediately.
Whichever side of the tenancy you're on, this order of evidence saves the argument:
- Read the check-in record before anybody cleans anything, and clean to that standard, not your own.
- Photograph every room the day the property is emptied, with the date on the file.
- Photograph it again the day the clean finishes, from the same positions, so the two sets can be laid side by side.
- Keep the cleaning checklist with the photographs. A list of what was agreed and done answers a deduction proposal far better than a receipt for an unspecified clean.
What does a clean between tenancies cost?
Our end of tenancy ladder runs from £155 for a studio to £435 for a five bedroom house. Agents and landlords instructing us regularly pay ten percent less, so £139 to £391, invoiced on fourteen day terms. The oven and inside windows are in the price, carpets are £40 a room, and rubbish removal isn't something we do.
Cost guides put end of tenancy work in London and the South East at £150 to £490, so you can see where that sits. Every figure is fixed by the number of bedrooms, not the state of the property, which means a hard-used flat costs the same as a careful one and the number holds from the day it's quoted. Products, equipment and travel are included, and there's no call-out fee.
What the clean covers room by room, with every add-on price beside it, is on our end of tenancy cleaning page. If we've missed something on the agreed checklist, tell us within 48 hours and we come back and re-clean the affected areas free. We clean the property, and we don't take rubbish, furniture or bulky waste away, so a void left full needs clearing first.
Managing properties rather than moving out of one?
Letting agents and landlords have their own page, with the volume ladder from £139, the fourteen day invoice terms and how instructions, keys and photographs work. Everything on it is published, so you can price a year of voids before you speak to anybody.