End of tenancy cleaning checklist
The 57 points our crews clean to before every check-out, turned into a checklist you can tick off, save and print. Free, and nothing you enter leaves your device.
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Kitchen
The kitchen is where the most deposit money goes, so it is the longest part of the list.
Bathroom
Bathrooms come a close second, almost always on limescale and grout. London water is hard to very hard in every borough.
Separate WC
Bedrooms
Run the whole block in every bedroom. The bits that get missed are inside cupboards and behind radiators.
Living room
Hallway and stairs
The whole property
The things that run through every room, regardless of which one you are standing in.
Paperwork and evidence
What wins a dispute is evidence: the signed inventory, dated photos and receipts.
How to use this checklist
Set the property size and what applies, then work room by room and tick as you go. Your browser remembers where you got to, so you can do the kitchen on Tuesday and the bathroom on Thursday without losing your place. We never see any of it. The saving happens on your device and nowhere else.
The print button gives you a compact two-page version with a space for the property address and the check-out date. Stick it on the fridge, or hand a copy to whoever is helping you move.
Where the list comes from
Our crews clean to a 57-point list at every end of tenancy job, built across more than 40,000 cleans of reading what London agents flag and what they let go. This page is the tenant version of it. Same rooms, same order, same items, with the trade shorthand translated and the deposit traps called out where they sit. The one thing it cannot copy is the kit: the dip tank the oven racks soak in, the steam gear, the professional descalers. The map is the same, though, and the map is most of the value.
Why the kitchen comes first
The kitchen loses more deposit money than any other room, and the oven loses more than anything else in it. It is the first thing every inventory clerk opens. The glass between the two door panes has to come apart and be cleaned on both faces; tenants almost never do it, and clerks photograph it every time. Start there while your energy is fresh. If the oven has years of carbon baked on, a standalone oven clean costs about what the deduction would be, and you get the finish clerks expect.
The bathroom comes second, almost always on limescale and grout. After that the work gets lighter: bedrooms and living rooms are mostly cupboard interiors, window tracks and the backs of radiators. The order of this list is the order that protects the most money.
What the clerk is checking against
Not their own taste. The check-out is judged against the check-in inventory you signed on move-in day, room by room, photo by photo. If that report logged a spotless oven, the oven has to go back spotless. Cleaning featured in 54% of the deposit disputes the Tenancy Deposit Scheme adjudicated in the year to March 2025, the biggest single cause of deductions in England and Wales, and the usual suspects are the washing machine seal, limescale, grout, the oven and the carpets. We wrote up the whole inspection from the other side of the clipboard in what London inventory clerks actually check.
Doing it yourself, honestly costed
Be straight with yourself about the size of the job. A 2-bed flat cleaned to this list is a full weekend for two people, and the oven alone can swallow half a day. In ten-odd years across London we have seen maybe three DIY jobs pass inventory with nothing deducted. Plenty pass with small ones, £40 here for a missed wipe-down, £80 there for the oven. Whether that trade is worth a weekend of your life depends on the deposit at stake, and the average London deposit now sits around £1,800.
Rather someone else did it?
An end of tenancy clean from us runs the same 57 points with the kit to match, from £156 for a studio and £243 for a 2-bed. If the agent flags anything within 48 hours, we come back and re-clean it free.
Questions tenants ask
Does my landlord have to give me a cleaning checklist?
No. There is no rule that says a landlord or agent must hand you a cleaning list when you leave. What you do get is the check-in inventory, and that is the document your check-out is judged against. Read it line by line before you start cleaning; the checklist on this page covers the items check-out reports flag most.
Can my landlord make me pay for professional cleaning?
Not as a blanket requirement. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 stops a landlord in England requiring professional cleaning as a tenancy term. What you owe is the standard of cleanliness recorded at check-in, and how you get there is up to you. The practical exception is carpets: where your agreement asks for professional carpet cleaning with a receipt, produce the receipt.
Can cleaning be deducted from my deposit?
Yes, and it is the most common deduction there is. Cleaning featured in 54% of the deposit disputes the Tenancy Deposit Scheme adjudicated in the year to March 2025. Typical London figures run from about £40 for one missed wipe-down to £300 or more for a full re-clean of a neglected 2-bed. If you think a deduction is unfair, your deposit scheme (TDS, DPS or mydeposits) runs a free dispute service, and the evidence that wins is the signed inventory, dated photos and receipts. Our check-out evidence pack lists the photographs worth taking, room by room.
What is the difference between an end of tenancy clean and a deep clean?
A deep clean resets a home you are staying in, and there is no formal standard for it. An end of tenancy clean is benchmarked to the check-in inventory, which is why it follows a fixed list rather than personal judgement. Same rooms, different referee.
How long before check-out should I book a professional clean?
Earlier than you would have a year ago. Since the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026, tenancies are periodic and people move when it suits them, so the month-end rush is spread wider and harder to predict. Book as soon as your check-out date is fixed, and aim to have the place cleaned one or two days before the inventory appointment.
This page is general guidance for tenants in England, not legal advice. For your specific tenancy, talk to Citizens Advice or Shelter.