Checkout Cleaning in London: What Agents Actually Check

Checkout cleaning in London is the empty-property clean a letting agent or inventory clerk checks when you hand back the keys. It is the same job as move out cleaning or end of tenancy cleaning: every room, kitchen cupboards, bathroom descale and floors, compared against the condition recorded at check-in.

What checkout cleaning means

At the start of a tenancy the agent (or an independent clerk) writes a check-in inventory with photos. At the end they write a check-out report against the same rooms. Dirt, grease, limescale and unemptied appliances that were not there at the start are noted — and those notes are what deposit schemes use if you dispute a cleaning charge.

Checkout cleaning is simply the work of returning the property to that recorded standard. It is not a weekly tidy, and it is not a builders' clean. It is a one-off, empty-home clean timed for after removals and before the clerk's visit.

What letting agents actually check

Clerks work room by room with a camera. The items that fail most often in London flats are predictable:

• Oven interior, racks, door glass, hob and extractor — the first door most clerks open
• Fridge and freezer interiors, seals and a still-frosted freezer
• Bathroom limescale on taps, screens, shower heads and the toilet base
• Kitchen cupboards and drawers left greasy or with crumbs after you have emptied them
• Skirting boards, switches, internal doors and fingerprints around handles
• Floors — vacuum plus mop, including the spaces furniture used to occupy
• Internal windows, sills and frames if they were clean at check-in

Wear and tear is different from dirt. Scuffed paint, tired carpets and faded silicone are not cleaning failures — Shelter's repairs guidance is the usual reference tenants and adjudicators use. A checkout clean cannot rewind age; it can only remove soil.

The oven is still the single most-flagged item. If you only have time for one appliance, do that one — or add it as a fixed extra on our quote. The method is in our oven checkout guide.

Checkout vs move out vs end of tenancy

Three names, one service. Tenants type checkout cleaning or check out cleaning London because that is the word on the agent's email. Sellers and homeowners type move out cleaning. Renters who have been around longer type end of tenancy cleaning. On this site they all go to the same empty-property clean, the same fixed prices from £140, and the same 72-hour re-clean if the agent flags something after handover.

If you want the room-by-room list we work from, use the end of tenancy cleaning checklist. If you want the legal line on whether a landlord can bill you for a cleaner, read can a landlord charge for cleaning.

What checkout cleaning costs in London

Our fixed prices start at £140 for a studio, one-bed or two-bed, £160 for a three-bed and £180 for four bedrooms and up. Appliances are from £10 each and carpet extraction from £18 per room — you only add what the inventory actually needs. The full room-rate breakdown is in the 2026 price list.

Set that against a typical London deposit of five weeks' rent. A £140 clean that prevents a dispute over a £1,500–£2,500 deposit is cheap insurance, especially with an itemised invoice the agent can attach to the check-out report.

When to book it

1. 1Book 1–2 weeks ahead — month-end and weekend slots go first in London
2. 2Schedule the clean after the van has gone, not the night before packing
3. 3Leave a gap between the clean and the clerk if you can
4. 4Defrost the freezer two days early — ice left in it is a standard fail
5. 5Photograph every room once the clean is finished, then keep the invoice

If a deduction is still proposed after a clean, do not accept it automatically. Deposits in England must sit in a government-approved scheme, and each scheme runs a free dispute service — start with GOV.UK tenancy deposit protection. Dated photos plus the check-in and check-out reports are the evidence that decides those cases.

Where we cover checkout cleaning in London

We clean for checkout across every borough inside the M25, seven days a week. The areas tenants search for most often are Tooting (including Tooting Bec), Walthamstow (including Blackhorse Road) and Balham (including Du Cane Court) — plus the rest of the map on our end of tenancy areas page.

Need the wider moving week lined up as well? The moving out checklist and the move out cleaning London guide cover notice, bills, the van and when the clean should sit.