End of Tenancy Cleaning: What Letting Agents Actually Check

Losing part of your deposit over cleaning is one of the most common — and most avoidable — disputes between tenants and landlords. The good news: letting agents and inventory clerks are checking against a fairly consistent list of things. Here’s exactly what tends to get flagged, room by room.

Kitchen

• Inside the oven, grill and extractor fan — grease build-up here is the single most common deduction
• Inside the fridge and freezer, including door seals
• Behind and underneath large appliances, if movable
• Limescale on taps and around the sink
• Cupboard interiors, especially where crumbs or spills have been left

Bathroom

• Limescale and soap scum on tiles, shower screens and taps
• Grout — often the first thing an inventory clerk photographs closely
• Inside and around the toilet, including the cistern
• Extractor fan covers, which collect dust surprisingly fast

Throughout the property

• Skirting boards, door frames and light switches
• Interior windows, sills and window tracks
• Carpets — vacuumed as standard, with steam cleaning recommended if there’s any visible staining or if pets were present (see our carpet cleaning service)
• Any marks on walls, particularly around light switches and door handles

Why “I already cleaned it” often isn’t enough

Most tenants genuinely do clean before moving out — the issue is usually that a standard clean and an inventory-standard clean aren’t the same thing. Inventory clerks are checking against the condition report from move-in, which typically assumes a professional-grade clean. That’s a meaningfully higher bar than a normal weekly tidy-up, which is exactly why end of tenancy cleaning exists as its own service rather than just being “a deep clean with a different name.”

Our advice

If you’re moving out of a rental in Evesham or the surrounding villages, book a professional end of tenancy clean rather than relying on your own effort the week you’re moving — it’s genuinely one of the cheapest ways to protect a deposit that’s often worth many times the cost of the clean itself. You can see exactly what’s included, room by room, on our cleaning checklist page, or check current pricing for your property size.