What cleaning can and can't do for your deposit return, explained honestly.
When you move out, your check-out inventory report is compared against the check-in report your landlord or agent produced when you moved in. Cleanliness is one of the most commonly flagged issues in that comparison, alongside damage and missing items. A thorough end-of-tenancy clean addresses the cleanliness side directly.
The inspector isn't just checking whether the property looks tidy — they're comparing specific areas (ovens, carpets, cupboard interiors, bathroom grout) against the condition recorded at check-in. That's why an end-of-tenancy clean is more thorough than a routine clean: it targets exactly the areas an inventory report typically covers.
It's worth taking your own photographs of the property once it's been cleaned, before handing back the keys. This gives you your own record of its condition, separate from the inspector's report, and is useful if there's ever a dispute.
Cleaning alone cannot guarantee a deposit return. Deposit deductions can also relate to damage, missing items, unpaid rent or other factors outside cleaning. What a professional clean does is remove cleanliness as a likely point of dispute, giving the property the best chance of passing inspection on that front.
Tell us about the property in a couple of minutes and we'll help arrange the right cleaning service for your move-out date.