For renters

Can my landlord charge me for professional cleaning at the end of the tenancy?

Guide · about 9 min read · Covers the law in England as at October 2026 · Reviewed on 28 October 2026

No, not as a fee. A landlord in England cannot require you to pay for a professional clean. Schedule 1 to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 lists the payments a landlord may require. Cleaning is not one of them. Section 3(1) makes any payment that is not on that list a prohibited payment. Under section 4, a term of your tenancy agreement that requires one is not binding on you. Money coming out of your deposit at the end is a different question, and that one turns on what was actually left behind. A claim for an actual loss is not limited to the deposit either. What to do if you have already been asked, or have already paid, is set out below.

This guide covers England only and is general information, not legal advice. The fees ban applies to a tenancy as section 28 of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 defines it. That takes in an assured tenancy other than one of social housing, a student letting within paragraph 8 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988, and a licence to occupy housing. Social housing is outside it. So is a licence to occupy housing for a holiday. So is what section 28 calls an excluded licence. That last one is narrow: the licensor resides in the housing, a charity or community interest company gives advice or assistance in connection with the licence, and the only consideration is companionship, or companionship with care or assistance, with certain bills allowed alongside it. VEYLO X is a software platform for renting and letting in England.

Can a landlord charge a professional cleaning fee?

No, not as a fee you have to pay whatever state the home is left in. Damages for an actual breach are a separate question, dealt with below. Section 1 of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 says a landlord must not require a relevant person to make a prohibited payment, to the landlord or to a third party, in connection with a tenancy of housing in England. It also says a landlord must not require you to enter into a contract with a third party for the provision of a service, with utilities and communication services excepted by section 1(4). A contract with a cleaning company is a contract for the provision of a service.

What counts as prohibited is decided by a single line of the Act. Section 3(1) reads: "For the purposes of this Act a payment is a prohibited payment unless it is a permitted payment by virtue of Schedule 1." So the question is not whether a charge sounds reasonable. The first question is whether the payment is required of you at all, which section 1(7) deals with and which is covered below. If it is required, the question is whether it is on the list in Schedule 1. Cleaning is not.

The same Act also catches the clause, and not only the demand for money. Section 1(6) sets out when a landlord requires a payment for these purposes. Paragraph (c) covers a payment required under a provision of the agreement that applies if the tenancy is varied, assigned, novated or terminated, which is where an end of tenancy cleaning clause sits. Paragraph (d) covers a tenancy agreement that requires such a payment other than in those circumstances.

What if my tenancy agreement says professional cleaning?

It depends on what the clause actually requires. A clause that requires you to pay for professional cleaning, or to buy it from a company, is the kind of term the ban is aimed at. A clause about the standard the property has to be left in is a different thing: that is an obligation about condition, and it is not a payment at all.

Where the clause does require the payment, it does not bind you. Section 4(1) of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 provides that a term of a tenancy agreement which breaches section 1 is not binding on a relevant person. Section 4(3) keeps the rest of the agreement in force, so far as practicable, in every other respect. Where the wording sits somewhere between the two, that is a question for advice on the clause itself.

That matters in a practical way. You do not have to get the clause taken out. You are not agreeing to it by signing a tenancy that contains it.

What you do still owe comes from the rest of the tenancy agreement, which commonly requires the property to be given back in the condition recorded at the start, allowing for fair wear and tear. That is an obligation about condition, not an obligation to buy a particular service from a particular company.

What can a landlord require me to pay for instead?

Only what Schedule 1 to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 permits. The table below sets out the main entries and the caps that go with them, and the second column is what falls outside it. It is a summary rather than the whole Schedule. The Schedule also deals with increased rent in paragraph 1A. It covers a green deal payment in paragraph 9(2). And it restricts a second holding deposit for the same housing in paragraph 3(5).

Permitted, with its limit	Not permitted
Rent (paragraph 1). Rent payable before the tenancy is entered into is prohibited for an assured tenancy (paragraph 1(1A))	A professional cleaning fee, or a cleaning charge you are required to pay whatever state the home is left in
A tenancy deposit (paragraph 2), capped at five weeks' rent, or six weeks' where the annual rent is £50,000 or more	A referencing or credit check fee
A holding deposit (paragraph 3), capped at one week's rent	Being made to enter a contract for a service or insurance, or to make a loan (section 1(3) and (5)), except a utility or a communication service (section 1(4))
A default fee (paragraph 4), for a lost key or security device, or rent unpaid 14 days after the due date, and nothing more. The agreement has to require it, and interest on late rent is capped at 3% above the Bank of England base rate	A charge for an inventory service
Damages for breach of the tenancy agreement (paragraph 5)	A payment to the landlord in place of council tax to the billing authority, or in place of the television licence. Rent that has council tax included in it is rent, and is permitted under paragraph 1
A payment for a tenancy change at your request (paragraph 6), capped at the greater of £50 or the reasonable costs	An admin or renewal fee
A payment on ending the tenancy early or on short notice at your request (paragraph 7), capped at the loss the landlord suffers where the payment goes to the landlord (paragraph 7(2)), or at the agent's reasonable costs where it goes to an agent (paragraph 7(4))	A fee for ending or renewing a tenancy that you did not ask to change
Council tax to the billing authority, and utilities where the agreement requires them (paragraphs 8 and 9)	Anything else that is not on the Schedule 1 list
A television licence paid to the British Broadcasting Corporation (paragraph 10) and communication services (paragraph 11), where the agreement requires the payment. A payment to the landlord for a communication service is capped at the landlord's reasonable costs (paragraph 11(2))

The default fee is narrower than it looks. Paragraph 4(2) defines a relevant default as only two things, the loss of a key or other security device giving access to the housing, or a failure to pay rent in full before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the due date. Paragraph 4(1) also requires the tenancy agreement to require the payment. Cleaning cannot be a default fee. Even for a lost key, paragraph 4(3) makes any amount above the costs reasonably incurred a prohibited payment, and those costs have to be supported by evidence in writing given to the person being asked to pay. For late rent, paragraph 4(5) caps the amount at interest of 3% above the Bank of England base rate on the rent outstanding.

Our guide on whether a landlord can charge for referencing covers the same list from the other end, and what a landlord can and cannot ask for covers the start of a tenancy.

What if I am offered the choice of cleaning it myself or paying?

An option is not the same as a requirement, and the Act says so. Section 1(7) of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 provides that a landlord does not require a payment where the landlord gives the person the option of making it as an alternative to complying with another requirement imposed by the landlord or a letting agent. So a genuine choice between meeting the standard yourself and paying for someone to do it is not, by itself, a prohibited payment.

Section 1(8) sets the limits of that. The option does not help the landlord if the other requirement is itself prohibited by the Act. It also does not help if it would be unreasonable to expect you to comply with that other requirement. A choice between paying and doing something you could not reasonably be expected to do is not a real choice.

Can money still be taken out of my deposit for cleaning?

Yes. The ban is on a required payment. It is not a rule that cleaning can never be paid for out of a deposit.

Two paragraphs of Schedule 1 explain why. Paragraph 2(2) defines a tenancy deposit as money held as security for the performance of the tenant's obligations or the discharge of the tenant's liability arising under or in connection with the tenancy. Paragraph 5 then says, in full: "A payment of damages for breach of a tenancy agreement or an agreement between a letting agent and a relevant person is a permitted payment."

So the distinction the Act draws is between a fee and a loss. A cleaning fee charged because the tenancy ended is not on the list. A claim for the cost of putting right a breach of the agreement, for example a kitchen left in a state the agreement required it not to be left in, is a claim for damages, and damages are permitted. The amount has to reflect what was actually lost.

Paragraph 5 is not written in terms of a deposit, so a claim for damages is not limited to one. In practice the deposit is usually where the argument happens, because that is where the money already is, but a landlord with no deposit, or with one that does not cover the loss, is not shut out by the fees ban. What the ban removes is the required fee, not the remedy for an actual breach.

Our guide on deductions for wear and tear covers the condition side of the same argument.

What does a deposit scheme look at when a cleaning charge is disputed?

A tenancy deposit paid in connection with an assured tenancy has to be dealt with under an authorised scheme, in the words of section 213 of the Housing Act 2004. That is about the scheme the money is protected by, which is a different question from who is physically holding it. The scheme arrangements, including dispute resolution, come from Schedule 10 to that Act. GOV.UK says the scheme offers a free dispute resolution service, that you do not have to use it, and that if you do, both you and the landlord have to agree to it. Where it is used, the scheme decides the deduction on the evidence sent to it, and GOV.UK says that decision is final. Where a deposit was not protected by an approved scheme, GOV.UK points to a county court claim instead.

The schemes publish what they look for. The Deposit Protection Service lists cleaning and the removal of items left behind as one of five claim categories, and says landlords and agents "have a duty to act reasonably and not claim more than is necessary to compensate for any loss".

It also names the trap. Under the heading betterment, it gives as an example of a claim that goes too far "The cost of full professional end of tenancy cleaning but there were some cleaning defects when the tenancy started". The starting condition is the benchmark, so a property that was handed over with cleaning defects cannot be charged back as if it had been spotless.

On the evidence, the same page says the signed tenancy agreement "is also the document that the adjudicator will use to determine the obligations of the parties", asks for signed check-in and check-out inventory reports, and warns that "A non-independent report that isn't signed and isn't supported by photographs is unlikely to carry sufficient evidential weight". For costs it asks for invoices, estimates, receipts and quotes, and says that where possible "the contractor should itemise their costs, detailing the work completed".

Fair wear and tear is a separate idea from cleanliness. The same page puts it as the House of Lords did, "reasonable use of the premises by the tenant and the ordinary operation of natural forces", and lists the factors weighed with it: the length of the tenancy, the number and age of the occupiers, the lifespan, quality and condition of what was provided, and wear as against actual damage. A carpet worn thin along a hallway is not a cleaning matter. A stain ground into it is a different argument.

Our guide to the evidence a deposit dispute needs goes through this in more detail, and how deposit protection works covers the process itself.

What can I do if I have been asked to pay a cleaning fee?

GOV.UK guidance for tenants, last updated on 7 July 2026, puts it directly: "If your landlord asks you for a fee that is not allowed, you should refuse to pay it and you should keep any evidence."

Keeping the evidence is the part that does the work later. That means the written request itself, the tenancy agreement, and any messages about the charge.

Enforcement is the council's. Sections 6 and 7 of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 make local weights and measures authorities and district councils the enforcement authorities. GOV.UK says the council "can investigate prohibited payments and can help you get the money back" and "can also make your landlord pay a fine". Under section 8, a financial penalty must not exceed £5,000, rising to a maximum of £30,000 where the authority is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that an offence under section 12 has been committed, and only one penalty may be imposed for the same breach.

A second breach can be a criminal matter. Section 12 makes it an offence to breach section 1 where a penalty has already been imposed, or a conviction already recorded, for a different breach of the same section within the previous five years. The earlier penalty has to be a relevant penalty as the section defines it, which turns on the appeal having run out, been withdrawn or been decided, and on the final notice not having been withdrawn. And section 12(4) provides that a person may not be convicted of the offence where a financial penalty under section 8 has been imposed for that same breach.

What if I have already paid it?

A prohibited payment can be recovered. Section 15 of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 provides for recovery by the person who paid it, and section 16 provides that an enforcement authority may help a relevant person to make an application under section 15, or to recover what the First-tier Tribunal orders. Section 16(2) gives conducting proceedings and giving advice as examples. The help is something the authority may give, not something it owes.

GOV.UK describes both routes. You can ask the landlord for the money back and keep a record of the response, you can contact the council, and you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal, which GOV.UK says "can order your landlord to repay any prohibited payment". It also lists what a council may ask you for: proof of the money you paid or were asked to pay, records of communications about the payment, and a statement from you describing what happened.

Where a letting agent asked for the payment, GOV.UK points to the letting agent redress schemes, The Property Ombudsman and Property Redress, as a route alongside the council.

Does VEYLO X decide any of this?

No. VEYLO X is a software platform for renting and letting in England. The records of a tenancy sit in one place. It does not decide what a charge should be, does not resolve a deposit dispute and does not stand in for the council, the scheme or the tribunal.

Common questions

Can a landlord charge me for professional cleaning at the end of my tenancy?

Not as a fee. A professional cleaning fee is not a permitted payment under Schedule 1 to the Tenant Fees Act 2019, and section 3(1) makes any payment not on that list a prohibited payment. A clause in the tenancy agreement requiring one is not binding, under section 4(1) of the same Act. That is about a fee. Paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 separately permits damages for a breach of the agreement, so the cost of putting right a home left in breach of its terms is a different question.

My landlord says I have to use their cleaner. Do I?

No. Section 1(3) of the Tenant Fees Act 2019 says a landlord must not require you to enter into a contract with a third party for the provision of a service, with utilities and communication services excepted. What you owe is about the condition the property is left in, and how that condition is reached is your choice.

Can cleaning still come out of my deposit?

Yes, where it reflects an actual loss. Paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 to the Tenant Fees Act 2019 makes a payment of damages for breach of the tenancy agreement a permitted payment, and a deposit is held as security for the tenant's obligations under paragraph 2(2). A fixed fee charged because the tenancy ended is a different thing, and is not permitted.

What is the benchmark for how clean the property has to be?

The condition it was in at the start. The Deposit Protection Service gives, as an example of a claim going too far, the cost of a full professional end of tenancy clean where there were some cleaning defects when the tenancy started. The same page asks for signed check-in and check-out reports supported by photographs.

Sources

The primary sources behind this guide. Where the law and a summary disagree, the law is what counts.

This article is general information, not legal advice. It covers England only and reflects the position as at October 2026. For your own situation, take advice, and consider free advice from Citizens Advice or Shelter.

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