Cleaning · Pricing
How much does end-of-tenancy cleaning cost in London? 2026 price guide.
End-of-tenancy cleaning in London now costs between £180 and £620 in 2026, depending on property size and depth of clean. With cleaning still the most-disputed deposit deduction in Greater London — and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 reshaping how those disputes get settled — choosing the right cleaner can be the difference between a 7-day deposit return and a 60-day TDS adjudication.
London end-of-tenancy cleaning prices in 2026
Most professional cleaners in London charge by the hour for end-of-tenancy work, at rates between £28 and £40 per hour. The total bill depends on how many hours the property needs, with a 4-hour minimum on most agent-spec cleans.
Here are realistic price ranges across Greater London in 2026:
By property size
- Studio£180–£240
- 1-bed flat£220–£300
- 2-bed flat£280–£380
- 3-bed house£400–£520
- 4-bed house£550–£620
Hourly rate £28–£40, 4-hour minimum
Common add-ons
- Inside oven & fridge+£40–£80
- Limescale-heavy bathroom+£25–£50
- After-builders dust+£60–£120
- Carpet shampoo+£30–£60/room
- Mattress steam clean+£35/mattress
Billed at cost, no markup
Surcharges
- Central Congestion Zone+£15–£20
- Same-day booking+£15
- Weekend / bank holiday+10–15%
- Out-of-hours (after 20:00)+25%
Quoted up-front, never surprise charges
Bookings inside the Central London Congestion Charge zone (postcodes EC, WC, W1, SW1, SE1) add a small access charge to cover the daily £18 Congestion Charge plus ULEZ. Some cleaners hide this in their hourly rate; the better practice in 2026 is to itemise it.
What drives the cost up or down
The biggest cost variable in a London end-of-tenancy clean is not square footage — it's condition and access. A well-maintained 2-bed flat in Hackney can be ready in 5 hours; a 1-bed Camden flat with a heavily-used kitchen and a no-lift Victorian walk-up can stretch to 7.
Variables that push the price up
Heavy oven and limescale work
An untouched oven over 12 months adds 60–90 minutes. London's hard water makes bathroom limescale a separate line item in around 40% of jobs.
After-builders dust
Even minor renovation dust (paint flecks, plaster, sawdust) requires two-stage cleaning — coarse capture, then fine surfaces. This adds 1–2 hours and £60–£120.
No-lift Victorian walk-ups
Common in NW1 (Kentish Town), N16 (Stoke Newington) and SW18 (Earlsfield). Carrying equipment up four floors costs time, even though Hausio doesn't add a "stairs surcharge".
Listed buildings or mansion blocks
Properties in W1 (Mayfair, Marylebone), SW1 (Belgravia, Pimlico), NW3 (Hampstead) and N1 (Canonbury, Barnsbury) often need pH-neutral, marble-safe products and slower work to protect period features.
Variables that bring the price down
Booking 5+ days ahead
Last-minute slots cost 10–20% more across London because they push other jobs. Plan ahead and you keep the standard rate.
Tenant-cleaned kitchen
If you handle the oven, fridge and cupboards yourself before the cleaner arrives, the booking can drop by 1.5–2 hours.
Off-peak weekday slots
Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are the quietest in London cleaning calendars. Some providers (Hausio included) reward those slots with a small discount.
Hourly billing vs flat-fee: what changed in 2026
Five years ago, "fixed-fee end-of-tenancy clean from £200" was the standard pitch on London cleaning websites. In 2026 most professional cleaners and most letting agents have moved to hourly billing with a transparent estimate.
The shift has two drivers:
- TDS adjudication trends. The Tenancy Deposit Scheme has, since 2025, increasingly rejected flat-fee cleaning charges that arrive without itemised invoices. If a landlord deducts £350 for "professional clean" without showing what was cleaned and how long it took, the tenant typically wins the dispute.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025. The Act tightened the standard for what landlords can charge tenants on exit. Cleaning costs must now be evidence-based — itemised by area, with photos and time records — to be defendable in adjudication.
The practical consequence: if a London cleaner quotes you a single number with no breakdown, ask for an hourly estimate plus a list of what's included. Any cleaner working with letting agents in 2026 already produces this format.
What's included in an agent-spec clean
An agent-spec end-of-tenancy clean follows the inventory checklist used by the major London letting agencies — Foxtons, Dexters, Hamptons, Savills, Knight Frank, John D Wood, Marsh & Parsons. There are minor differences between them, but the core list is identical:
Kitchen
Inside oven (racks, trays, glass door), inside fridge and freezer (defrosted), dishwasher filter and seals, all cupboards and drawers (inside and out), extractor and filters, hob and grill, sink, taps, splashback, tiles, floor.
Bathrooms
Bath and shower descale, tile grout, silicone, glass screens, taps, toilet (interior and exterior, including hinges), basin, mirror, extractor, floor.
Living and bedrooms
Windows interior, frames and sills, skirting boards, doors and frames, light fittings, switches, sockets, behind radiators where accessible, wardrobes inside and out, carpets vacuumed and edge-cleaned.
Communal areas
Hallways, staircases, any private balcony or patio. Front-door interior and threshold.
Hausio's London end-of-tenancy clean covers all of the above as standard, with photographic evidence emailed to the tenant and the agent within 4 hours of completion.
How long does an end-of-tenancy clean take?
Average completion times across London in 2026, based on agent-spec checklists:
- Studio: 4–5 hours
- 1-bed flat: 5–7 hours
- 2-bed flat: 6–9 hours
- 3-bed house: 8–11 hours
- 4-bed house: 10–14 hours
For larger properties most professional London cleaners send a 2-person team, halving the elapsed time without changing the total billable hours.
Renters' Rights Act 2025: what changed for end-of-tenancy cleaning
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 reshaped the relationship between landlords, tenants and the deposit-cleaning industry in three concrete ways:
- Professional-cleaning requirement is conditional. A landlord can only require a "professional standard" end-of-tenancy clean if the property was demonstrably cleaned to that standard at move-in and the tenancy agreement reflects that. Otherwise, "return to check-in condition" is the standard, evidenced by the original inventory.
- Evidence-based deductions. Cleaning charges deducted from a deposit must be itemised, time-stamped, and photographically evidenced. Flat-fee deductions without those three elements are now routinely overturned in TDS adjudication.
- Tenant access to mediation. The Act expanded access to the new Private Rented Sector ombudsman service, giving tenants a faster route than full TDS adjudication for cleaning disputes under £400.
The net effect for tenants in Camden, Hackney, Islington, Wandsworth and Westminster: if your cleaner produces an hourly itemised invoice and before-and-after photos, you almost always keep the disputed cleaning portion of your deposit.
How to choose a London end-of-tenancy cleaner — the 5 questions
Whether you're a tenant booking the clean yourself or a letting agent coordinating on a tenant's behalf, these five questions surface the difference between a £200 cleaner you'll have to chase and a £200 cleaner who closes the tenancy cleanly.
- Are your cleaners DBS-checked and insured? The right answer is yes, with £2M+ public liability cover. Anything less and the company isn't equipped for tenancy work.
- Do you follow agent-spec inventory checklists? Specifically — Foxtons, Dexters, Hamptons, Knight Frank, Savills format. Generic "deep clean" doesn't pass an inventory clerk.
- Will I receive before-and-after photos? Standard in 2026. If a cleaner doesn't produce them, your deposit is exposed.
- Is there a free re-clean if the inventory clerk flags an issue? The 72-hour re-clean window is industry standard for professional London cleaners.
- What's your hourly rate, your minimum, and your Congestion Charge policy? If the answer is a single fixed number with no breakdown, that's a 2025-era flat-fee approach the TDS has been increasingly rejecting.
What Hausio charges for London end-of-tenancy cleaning in 2026
Our London end-of-tenancy clean starts at £32 per hour, with a 4-hour minimum. Every clean includes:
- DBS-checked, English-speaking, fully insured cleaners (£2M public liability)
- EU Ecolabel eco-friendly products and all equipment
- Agent-spec checklist matching Foxtons, Dexters, Hamptons, Savills, Knight Frank format
- Before-and-after photos emailed within 4 hours of completion
- Free 72-hour re-clean if the inventory clerk flags any cleaning issue
- Itemised invoice ready for TDS or deposit-protection submission
- £0 today — you only pay after the job is complete and you're satisfied
Bookings inside the Central London Congestion Zone carry a flat £18 access charge that bundles the £15 daily Congestion Charge plus ULEZ. We use ULEZ-compliant Euro 6 vans on every Westminster, Mayfair and Belgravia job.
For borough-specific notes on access, parking and listed-building rules, see our pages for Camden, Hackney, Islington, Wandsworth and Westminster.
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Get an instant quote →Quick answers
How much does end-of-tenancy cleaning cost in London in 2026?
£180–£620 depending on property size: studio £180–£240, 1-bed £220–£300, 2-bed £280–£380, 3-bed £400–£520, 4-bed £550–£620. Hourly rate £28–£40, 4-hour minimum. Central Zone adds £15–£20 for Congestion Charge + ULEZ.
How long does an end-of-tenancy clean take?
1-bed flat 5–7 hours, 2-bed 6–9 hours, 3-bed 8–11 hours. Larger properties get a 2-person team, halving the elapsed time without changing billable hours.
Hourly billing vs flat-fee — which is better?
Hourly with itemised invoice. TDS adjudicators since 2025 reject flat-fee cleaning charges without breakdowns. Hourly billing also tends to be cheaper for well-maintained smaller flats.
Can my landlord require professional cleaning at move-out?
Only if the property was professionally cleaned at move-in and that's documented in the tenancy agreement. Otherwise the standard is "return to check-in condition", evidenced from the inventory.
What's in an agent-spec clean?
Inside oven, fridge, freezer, dishwasher, all cupboards and drawers, extractor, hob, sink. Bathroom descale, grout, silicone. Windows interior, skirting, light fittings, behind radiators, carpets vacuumed and edge-cleaned. Hausio includes all of this as standard.
How do I avoid a deposit dispute?
Three things: itemised invoice, before-and-after photos, free 72-hour re-clean if your inventory clerk flags an issue. Hausio includes all three.