Can a Landlord Charge a Tenant for Professional Cleaning?

By RentVault Team · Published 2026-07-21 · 2 min read

Professional cleaning is one of the most contested deposit deduction items. Landlords frequently include it; tenants frequently dispute it; deposit scheme adjudicators deal with it constantly.

Professional cleaning is one of the most contested deposit deduction items. Landlords frequently include it; tenants frequently dispute it; deposit scheme adjudicators deal with it constantly. The answer to whether you can charge is not always yes — it depends on what the property was like at the start and what condition it is in at the end.

The legal starting point

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 prohibits landlords from requiring tenants to pay for professional cleaning as a condition of the tenancy. You cannot include a clause in your tenancy agreement that obliges the tenant to arrange or pay for a professional end-of-tenancy clean, or to return the property in a "professionally cleaned" condition.

What you can do is charge for professional cleaning as a deposit deduction if the property is returned in a significantly worse state of cleanliness than it was at the start of the tenancy.

The standard the tenant must meet

The tenant is required to return the property in the same general condition as they received it — adjusted for fair wear and tear. The cleaning standard at the end of the tenancy must be at least the same as the cleaning standard at the start.

If the property was professionally cleaned before the tenancy began, the tenant is not automatically required to have it professionally cleaned at the end. They are required to leave it in a similar state of cleanliness. If a thorough clean by the tenant themselves achieves that standard, no professional cleaning deduction is warranted.

If the property was not professionally cleaned at the start, the cleaning deduction is limited to the cost of returning it to the standard it was in at the start — not a higher standard.

When a professional cleaning deduction is justified

A professional cleaning charge is a legitimate deduction where:

• The property was in a clean condition at the start of the tenancy (evidenced by the check-in inventory and photographs)
• The property is significantly worse at check-out than at check-in
• The difference is beyond what could reasonably result from normal occupancy

The charge must reflect the actual cost of the professional cleaning required. Invoices from the cleaning company must be retained and provided to the adjudicator if the tenant disputes the deduction.

The inventory is decisive

Without a check-in inventory that documents the cleaning standard at the start of the tenancy — with photographs — your ability to claim a professional cleaning deduction is severely limited. The adjudicator needs to be able to compare the state at the start against the state at the end. Without the check-in baseline, the comparison cannot be made.

RentVault's document templates include inventory templates that prompt you to record the cleaning standard for each room at check-in and check-out.