Landlord charging cleaning fees unfairly

This is a common dispute at the end of a tenancy and the answer depends on a few key factors.

Legal position:

A landlord cannot make deductions from your deposit for cleaning if the property was returned in a condition that is the same as, or better than, the condition at the start of the tenancy, allowing for fair wear and tear. The relevant standard is not "professionally cleaned" but rather the condition recorded at check-in compared to check-out.

The key principles are:

1. The comparison is between the state of the property at the start and at the end of the tenancy, adjusted for reasonable wear and tear.

2. If the tenancy agreement contains a clause requiring professional cleaning at the end, that clause may be enforceable, but only if professional cleaning was also carried out before you moved in. If it was not, requiring you to pay for professional cleaning would put the property in a better condition than you received it, which is generally not sustainable as a deduction.

3. If no inventory or check-in report was done, the landlord will have difficulty proving the property was left in a worse condition than it was found.

4. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, a landlord cannot charge fees beyond rent, a capped deposit, and a limited number of permitted payments. A separate "cleaning fee" charged on top of the deposit or at the end of the tenancy would likely be a prohibited payment unless it genuinely reflects damage or a breach of the tenancy terms.

Practical steps if a deduction has been proposed or taken:

1. Check the inventory or schedule of condition from the start of the tenancy. Compare it with the check-out report.

2. Gather your own evidence, including photographs or videos taken when you moved out, receipts for any cleaning you did, and any communications with the landlord or agent about the condition.

3. If your deposit is protected in one of the three government-backed schemes (DPS, MyDeposits, or TDS), you can raise a dispute through the scheme's free alternative dispute resolution service. The adjudicator will look at the evidence from both sides and apply the comparison principle above.

4. Write to the landlord or agent setting out clearly why you disagree with the deduction. Reference the check-in condition, attach your evidence, and state that you will escalate to the deposit scheme's dispute resolution if the matter is not resolved.

5. If the deposit was not protected, you have a separate and potentially more powerful claim. A landlord who fails to protect a deposit in a government scheme within 30 days of receiving it can be ordered to pay compensation of between one and three times the deposit amount.

Common traps to be aware of:

Some tenancy agreements include a clause stating the tenant must have the property professionally cleaned at the end regardless of condition. These clauses are not automatically unenforceable, but they are difficult for the landlord to rely on if the property was not professionally cleaned before you moved in, or if the clause effectively requires you to improve the property beyond its original state. In a deposit dispute, adjudicators tend to look at whether the deduction is reasonable and proportionate rather than simply enforcing such clauses mechanically.

If you can tell me more about the specific situation, such as whether there was an inventory, what the tenancy agreement says about cleaning, whether the deposit was protected, and what evidence you have of the condition at check-out, I can give you a more tailored view of where you stand.