Greater Manchester
End of tenancy cleaning
Inventory-ready, or we come back and put it right.
An end of tenancy clean is not a deep clean with a different name. It is a clean measured against a document — the inventory — by someone whose job is to find what was missed.
So we clean to that standard: ovens, extractors, skirtings, window interiors, inside cupboards, the tops of doors. The places a clerk looks and a tenant forgets.
The property is photographed on completion. If a deduction is later disputed, you have dated evidence of the state it was left in — which is usually the end of the argument.
Two different people book this clean and they want different things from it. A tenant wants the deposit back in full, and wants to be able to show the property was left as it should have been. A landlord or agent wants it inventory-ready and back on the market without a fortnight of messages about the oven. The work is the same either way. What changes is who gets the photographs and who we ring if something turns up.
It helps to know what the clean is measured against, because it is not spotless. A check-out is judged against the check-in inventory — the document, usually with photographs, from the day the tenancy started — allowing for fair wear and tear. Carpet thinned in a doorway over four years is wear, and nobody can charge for it. The same carpet with a stain on it is not. Cleaning is one of the most common causes of deposit disputes, and it is the one cause that can be removed entirely before anybody writes a report.
What it costs
Quoted on the property
What it costs, and what moves the number
Who it's for
Landlords, letting agents and outgoing tenants.
What you're worried about
A deposit dispute, a failed inventory check, or a void period that drags on because the property will not show well.
Who it's for
Who books this
- Tenants moving out who want the full deposit back and want dated evidence, not a promise.
- Landlords with one flat in Salford or Prestwich and no wish to drive over on a Friday to check the oven.
- Letting agents turning a property round between a Thursday check-out and a Monday viewing.
- Landlords who have just had keys handed back and a property that will not photograph well for the listing.
- Student and HMO landlords doing several rooms in the same week when a tenancy year ends.
What it costs
What it costs, and what moves the number
Quoted on the property
Priced on bedrooms, bathrooms and condition rather than an hourly rate, so you know the figure before we start. Call us and we will give you a number on the phone. Landlords and agents with several properties are priced across the lot rather than one at a time.
There is no price on this page, and that is deliberate rather than coy. Tenancy cleans swing on condition more than on size, and condition is the one thing nobody can judge from a form. A two-bed that has been looked after and a two-bed that has not are the same property on paper and a very different day's work. A figure typed on a page would be wrong for half the people reading it. Ring us on 07478 761593, tell us about the property, and you get a number from a person on the call.
What moves that number, in rough order. Bathrooms and kitchens rather than bedrooms — bedrooms are the quick part, while an oven, an extractor filter, limescale on a shower screen and grout in a corner are all slow and cannot be hurried. A three-bed with one bathroom is often a shorter day than a two-bed with two. Then condition, which matters more than floor area. Then whether the property is empty. Then whether the oven and the carpets are in the job, which is the single biggest reason two quotes that look the same are not.
Empty is cheaper and better done. Cleaning around furniture and boxes takes longer and cannot finish the places that get checked — behind, under and inside. If belongings will still be there on the day, say so when you book rather than letting us find out at the door. Access is worth saying out loud too: a key safe code or a key handover is fine, but no working power or water changes what is possible, and short notice, evening and weekend slots are priced accordingly. One practical thing that saves everybody money: switch the freezer off the night before. It needs hours rather than minutes, and it is the one job that cannot be done on the morning of a check-out.
What is in the price on our end of tenancy jobs: interior windows, inside the cupboards and drawers, the fridge and freezer emptied and wiped, and the appliance drawers and door seals. Quotes that list those as extras look cheaper and move the argument to check-out day, which is the worst possible moment for it. The oven is confirmed in writing on the quote rather than assumed, because it is the most argued-about item in any property. Carpets are a specialist visit with a minimum of their own — £115, covering up to two rooms plus the stairs, and a three-bed house of carpets is £239. Booked alongside the tenancy clean there is no second visit to arrange, no second contractor and one invoice at the end, and the room rates come down because we are already at the property.
If you are collecting quotes, the headline figure tells you very little on its own, because two cleaners can quote the same number for very different work. Ask all of them the same questions and the quotes become comparable.
Is the oven included, and is it a single, a double or a range? Are carpets in the price, or a separate visit with its own minimum? Are interior windows, inside cupboards and the appliances included, or added afterwards? Is this a price for the job or an hourly rate — and if it is hourly, what happens when the hours run out before the list does? If the check-out report flags something, do you come back, how long have I got to tell you, and what does that cost me? Do I get dated photographs of every room? And if the property is not as described, do I hear the revised figure before you start or when the invoice arrives?
Our answers, so you can hold them against anybody else's. The oven is named on the quote. Carpets are a separate visit, and those rates are published on our carpet page rather than kept back for the phone. Windows, cupboards and appliances are in the price. The job is priced, not clocked. If the check-out flags something we missed, tell us within 48 hours and we come back and put it right. Every room is photographed on completion and sent the same day. And if the property is materially different from what was described, you get the revised figure at the door, before we start.
What's included
What's included, in full
Published because a standard that only exists in someone's head is not a standard. The same list every visit, whoever is on the job.
Kitchen
- Oven, hob, grill and extractor degreased inside and out
- Inside every cupboard and drawer, and the tops of units
- Fridge and freezer emptied, defrosted and wiped
- Sink, taps and splashbacks descaled
Bathrooms
- Limescale removed from screens, tiles, taps and shower heads
- Grout scrubbed, sealant cleaned
- Extractor vents cleared
- WC cleaned including the cistern, hinges and behind the pan
Throughout
- Skirtings, architraves, door tops and light switches
- Interior windows, sills and frames
- Radiators, including behind where access allows
- Carpets vacuumed; hard floors washed
The bits people forget
- Inside the washing machine drawer and door seal
- Loft hatches, meter cupboards and airing cupboards
- Bin store and any external doorstep
- Cobwebs at ceiling height and in corners
Furnished and part-furnished properties
- Inside wardrobes, drawers and bedside tables, emptied and wiped
- Under the beds where they move, and behind furniture where it shifts safely
- Sofas and sofa beds hoovered, including under the cushions
- Mattress cleaning on request, priced with the carpets
- Anything left behind photographed and listed, so the check-out report is not the first anyone hears of it
What you get when we finish
- Dated photographs of every room, sent the same day
- A note of anything that would not shift, and why, before you find it yourself
- Damage and faults reported with a photograph rather than mentioned in passing
- One invoice covering the whole job, carpets included, so there is a single document to show
- A return visit if the check-out flags something we missed, told to us within 48 hours
How it works
Six steps, no surprises
01
Send us the details
Bedrooms, bathrooms, and whether the property is furnished. If you have the inventory, send that too and we will work to it.
02
We give you a figure on the phone
Tell us the property and how it has been kept, and we price it on the call — with the oven and any carpet work named on the quote rather than assumed. If what we find at the door is materially different, you get the revised figure before we start, not on the invoice.
03
We clean to inventory standard
A written checklist covering everything a clerk checks, worked room by room.
04
Carpets last, if they are in the job
Carpet and upholstery work is done after everything else, because there is no sense cleaning a carpet and then dusting the skirting above it. One visit to arrange, one invoice at the end, and the rooms are back in use the same day.
05
Photographed on completion
Every room, the same day, so the condition is documented before anyone disagrees about it.
06
If it fails, we return
If the inventory clerk finds something we missed, we come back and put it right. That is the point of the guarantee.
Questions
Straight answers
Including the ones that are not in our interest to answer honestly. If you would rather ask a person, call 07478 761593.
Do I legally have to pay for a professional clean?
Usually not. Since 2019 a tenancy agreement in England cannot require you to pay for professional cleaning as a condition. You do have to return the property as clean as you found it, allowing for fair wear and tear — which is why people book one anyway.
Is the oven included?
Ask us when you book and we will confirm it in writing on the quote. Ovens are the single most common deduction, so it is worth being clear rather than assuming.
What if the inventory clerk finds a problem?
Tell us within 48 hours and we will come back and put it right. Send us the report so we can see exactly what was flagged.
Do you clean carpets as well?
Yes, as an add-on. Carpets are a common deduction and are usually cheaper to clean than to replace.
How long does it take?
A two-bed typically takes most of a day with a team on it. We would rather quote the time it actually needs than promise a number that means going through the motions.
Can you work in an empty property?
Yes, and it is easier that way. We just need access — a key safe code or a key handover works.
Who actually decides whether the deposit comes back?
Not the landlord alone. The deposit sits in a government-approved protection scheme, and if a deduction is proposed and the tenant does not accept it, every scheme runs a free dispute service. It decides on evidence — the check-in inventory, the check-out report and photographs — so a deduction has to show a difference between the two, beyond fair wear and tear. It costs nothing to use and neither side needs a solicitor.
What counts as fair wear and tear?
Ordinary use over time: carpet thinning in a doorway, scuffs on a stairwell after three years, a curtain faded by the sun. Dirt and damage are not wear. A landlord also cannot charge for betterment — something old replaced with something new at the tenant's expense — so a charge against a five-year-old carpet has to reflect the life it had left, not the price of a new one. Cleaning is the one item on that list that can be taken off the table completely before check-out.
I am the landlord. Can I take the cost of the clean out of the deposit?
You can propose it, and where the property was left worse than the check-in inventory shows, it usually stands. What settles it if the tenant disputes it is evidence: an inventory with photographs at check-in, a check-out report, and dated photographs. A deduction with nothing behind it is hard to defend. If we do the clean, you also have every room photographed on completion — which documents the standard the next tenant walked into, not only what the last one left.
Can you guarantee I get my deposit back?
No, and be careful of anyone who says otherwise. A deposit can be held for rent arrears, damage or the garden, and a cleaner can do nothing about any of those. What we stand behind is the clean: if the check-out flags something we missed, tell us within 48 hours and we come back and put it right. You will also have dated photographs of every room as it was left, which is the most useful thing to hold if a deduction is ever proposed.
The tenant has left furniture and bags of rubbish. Can you take it away?
Not off site. Carrying somebody else's waste needs a waste carrier registration, we do not hold one, and we would rather say so than load a van and hope. We will photograph what is there before we start, bag what the property's own bins will take, and clean under and behind it once it has gone. If you can get a clearance in first, do — the clean is worth more after it.
How much notice do you need?
Tell us the check-out date as soon as you have it. Short notice is often possible — ring and ask rather than assuming, and we will tell you on the call whether we can hold it.
The property has just had building work. Is that the same job?
No, and it is worth being clear before anybody quotes. Builders' dust keeps settling for days after the work stops, so it needs two or three passes rather than one, and there is usually paint, plaster splash and adhesive on top of ordinary cleaning. We quote that as an after-builders clean and it costs more than an end of tenancy clean on the same property.
I am the tenant. Should I just do it myself?
Plenty of people do and get the full deposit back, and nothing obliges you to hire anyone. Our end of tenancy checklist is on this site, free to work through, and it covers what a clerk checks. What you are paying us for is the time, the kit for oven grease and limescale, and dated photographs from somebody with no stake in the argument. If the flat is small and already clean, do it yourself. If there are two bathrooms, a neglected oven and a van to load on the same day, do not.
Also from Crawfords
One relationship for the whole property
- Changeover cleansCheck-out to check-in, handled — with photos to prove it.
- Office & commercialThe same standard in month twelve as in week one.
- Carpet & upholsteryDeep-cleaned, dried, and back in use the same day.
Maintenance too, through Greater Manchester Property Maintenance Ltd — so one call covers the property rather than one trade.