The work is nearly the same. Both go inside the oven, both do the extractor filter, both take the washing machine drawer out. If you watched the two visits side by side you would struggle to tell them apart. What differs is who inspects the result afterwards, and whether your furniture is still in the way.
That is the honest answer, and it is not what most pages on this subject say. They list what is included in each, which makes the two look more different than they are, and they leave out the two things that would actually help you choose.
The price difference is smaller than you would guess
| Property | Deep clean | End of tenancy | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio flat | £139 | £149 | £10 |
| 1 bedroom | £179 | £199 | £20 |
| 2 bedrooms | £229 | £259 | £30 |
| 3 bedrooms | £289 | £319 | £30 |
| 4 bedrooms | £369 | £409 | £40 |
| 5+ bedrooms | £459 | £509 | £50 |
Our fixed prices. A full oven deep clean is included in both, at no extra cost. Extra bathrooms £25 each either way; carpet steam cleaning £25 a room alongside either.
So the choice is rarely about money — it is £10 to £50. Which means the right question is not “which is cheaper” but “which one is being marked, and by whom”.
The real difference: who judges it
A deep clean is judged by you. You walk round at the end, you say what you are not happy with, we put it right before we leave. The standard is your standard.
An end of tenancy clean is judged by a check-out clerk you will never meet, after you have gone, against a check-in inventory written when you moved in. The standard is that document. That is why it is a different service even where the tasks are identical: it is priced and run to survive an inspection, and it carries a seven-day re-clean guarantee for exactly that reason — you are not there to say what is wrong, so the window has to stay open long enough for the report to arrive.
A deep clean carries no such window, and does not need one. You were standing there.
The practical difference: empty or not
This decides most cases on its own.
- An end of tenancy clean assumes an empty property. We arrive with everything — machines, carpet extraction, ladders, products — because there is nothing there to use. Every surface is reachable, including the ones under where the sofa was, which is exactly where a clerk looks.
- A deep clean happens around your life. Furniture stays, cupboards are full, and in an occupied home we normally use the products you already have, because it is your marble and your painted joinery and your choice of what goes on them.
If the flat is empty and someone official is inspecting it, you want the tenancy clean. If you are still living there, a deep clean is the only one of the two that is even possible.
When you should book the cheaper one
We would rather tell you this than take the extra £30.
- You own your home. Nobody is inspecting it. Book the deep clean.
- You are moving into a rented flat and it has not been left as you would like. Deep clean — and photograph everything before you start, because that record is what protects your deposit at the other end.
- A spring clean, a new baby, after illness, before guests. Deep clean.
- An Airbnb changeover. Neither, usually — that is a changeover clean on a schedule, and a different conversation.
The one case people get wrong in the other direction: a landlord cleaning between tenants. There is no deposit at stake, so a deep clean looks like the sensible saving. But the next tenant's check-in inventory is written from the state you hand over, and anything recorded as dirty on the way in is something you cannot charge them for on the way out. The tenancy clean is the cheaper decision over the length of the tenancy.
What is in one and not the other
| Deep clean | End of tenancy | |
|---|---|---|
| Full oven clean, racks and door glass | Included | Included |
| Extractor filter, fridge and freezer seals | Included | Included |
| Limescale, grout, shower glass | Included | Included |
| Inside cupboards and wardrobes | Where they are empty | All of them |
| Under and behind furniture | Where it moves safely | Everywhere |
| Fridge defrosted and left off | Only if you ask | Standard |
| Machines and products brought | Usually yours | Always ours |
| Photographic record of every room | Yes | Yes |
| Seven-day re-clean guarantee | — | Yes |
Read down that table and the picture is clear enough: the tenancy clean is not a better clean, it is a more complete one, and it is complete because the property is empty rather than because anyone is trying harder.
If you are not sure, say so when you book
Describe the property and what is happening — moving out, moving in, staying put — and we will tell you which one you need, including when that is the cheaper one. If we turn up to a deep clean and find an empty property with a check-out booked, we will say so before we start rather than after.
The end of tenancy specification lists exactly what is covered, room by room. If a check-out is what you are worried about, the check-out checklist is what the clerk actually opens and photographs.
See your own fixed price in 15 seconds
No callback, no survey, no “from” price. Pick your property, pick a date, and the price on screen is the price you pay — oven included.