Quick answer: Work the flat in this order: kitchen first, then bathrooms, then bedrooms, living rooms and the hall last. The kitchen is where Edinburgh deposits go, and the oven is the item agents photograph most. A two bed flat done properly by two people takes five to seven hours. Booked in, a studio is £149, a one bed £179, a two bed £219 and a three bed £259, with an oven deep clean at £55 and carpet shampoo at £35 a room. Deposits sit in one of three Scottish schemes, and cleaning is consistently reported as one of the leading causes of deductions, so this is a record keeping job too. Print the room by room list first.
What does an end of tenancy checklist actually cover in Scotland?
A checkout checklist is the check-in report read backwards. When the tenancy started your deposit went into one of three approved Scottish schemes, SafeDeposits Scotland, Letting Protection Service Scotland or MyDeposits Scotland, lodged within 30 working days of the start date. The check-in inventory is the baseline: at checkout a clerk or the agent walks the flat with it, marking each line and allowing for fair wear and tear. So this is not a spring clean. It is the set of items that show up on inventory reports, in the order that saves the most money.
Most Edinburgh tenancies are Private Residential Tenancies, the open ended tenancy that has been the default since 1 December 2017 under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. You end one with 28 days' written notice, and mygov.scot advises allowing two extra days for post or email. That notice is the starting gun for the clean. Deposits are capped at two months' rent, and where one is not protected properly the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) can order up to three times the deposit. Our guide to the tenancy and deposit rules sets out the Scottish position in full.
Tick it on paper, then photograph it. A checklist you mark as you go doubles as your evidence trail. Our printable end of tenancy checklist runs in the same room order as this guide.
Why does the kitchen come first on every Edinburgh checkout?
Because that is where the deductions are. Tenement kitchens are usually the smallest room in the flat, often a galley along one wall or a converted scullery, with units built up towards a high ceiling and an extractor nobody has opened in three tenancies. Four things account for most kitchen deductions: the oven, the extractor filter, the floor and skirting behind the appliances, and the inside of the units.
Pull the fridge and washing machine forward, sliding a folded towel underneath rather than dragging them over original floorboards. Behind them is usually grit, a dried spill and an unwiped skirting board, and all three photograph badly.
Empty every cupboard and drawer, hoover out the corners, then wipe inside and out including the door tops and bottoms.
| Kitchen item | What gets marked | Commonly missed |
|---|---|---|
| Oven, shelves, trays | Carbon on the base, glazing on the door | Inner pane of the door, and the runners |
| Grill, hob, splashback | Grease film, burnt-on rings, stained sealant | Under the hob knobs |
| Extractor and hood | Grease on the canopy, clogged mesh filter | The filter, which lifts out into the sink |
| Fridge and freezer | Defrosted, dry, no odour, clean seals | Drip channel and door seal |
| Washing machine | Drum, detergent drawer, door seal | Standing water in the rubber lip |
| Units, worktops, sink | Inside shelves, door edges, sink limescale | Tops of the wall units |
| Floor and skirting | Behind and under the appliances | Gap between units and wall |
What do the oven and extractor really need?
More time than you think. A carbon glazed oven takes two soaks, not one, and the door usually comes apart so you can reach the inner pane where the brown film sits. Leave the shelves and trays soaking meanwhile. Our step by step oven guide covers the dismantling in order.
The extractor is the quiet one. Lift out the mesh filter, degrease it in hot water, dry it and put it back. A greasy filter in a checkout photograph reads as a flat that was wiped rather than cleaned, and it colours the rest of the report.
If the oven is past a domestic effort, an oven deep clean is £55 as an add-on, usually cheaper than the deduction. The cost guide compares the two.
What goes on the bathroom list, and does soft water help?
Edinburgh's mains water is soft, around 30 to 31 mg per litre as calcium carbonate, supplied through Scottish Water's Glencorse works. Limescale builds more slowly here than in the hard water belt of southern England, so shower screens, taps and kettles are a lighter job.
Be honest about what soft water does not do. It does not stop soap scum, a different deposit that builds just as fast on a screen and a tray, and it does not touch mould in silicone. In a top floor tenement flat with a small window and a long winter, mould in the sealant and along the ceiling line is the most common bathroom mark on a checkout report.
Soft water is a help, not a pass. Scale on the taps comes away easily. The black spotting in the sealant does not, and it is the one that gets photographed. Start on the silicone the day before, not the hour before.
Work top down: extractor grille, ceiling line and light fitting, tiles and grout, screen and tray, then sanitary ware, then the floor and behind the pedestal. Descale the shower head, clear the plug holes, and polish the mirror and chrome last.
How should you clean bedrooms before a checkout?
Bedrooms are quick, and they are where flat shares lose small amounts repeatedly. Take everything out of the wardrobes and drawers, including the fitted ones, hoover them out and wipe the insides. Check under the bed, which in a student let is usually where the missing baking tray lives.
Mattresses get turned and hoovered on both sides, and any protector goes back on clean. Wipe skirtings, sockets, switch plates and door handles. Curtains come down and get shaken out, washed if there is time. Do the window recesses now rather than at the end, because in a tenement they take longer than the glass.
Light scuffs on paint read as fair wear and tear. Blu Tack grease and anything you put up yourself do not, so take the fixings out, fill where the tenancy allows it, and photograph what you have done.
What do living rooms and hallways need?
The living room is mostly soft furnishings and surfaces. Hoover under and behind the sofa, lift and clean the cushions, dust every ledge including the tops of doors and picture rails, and clean the inside of the windows. Hearths and cornice mouldings hold a grey dust that only shows in daylight.
The hall is the last room you clean and the first the agent sees. Hoover the runner or carpet, wipe the skirtings and meter cupboard door, clean the light switches, and finish with the inside of the front door, its handle, letterbox and threshold.
| Room | Core items | Commonly missed |
|---|---|---|
| Bedrooms | Wardrobes and drawers inside, under the bed, mattress both sides | Wardrobe tops, curtain rails, window recesses |
| Living room | Under and behind furniture, cushions lifted, inside windows | Picture rails, cornice edges, tops of doors |
| Hall and stairs | Floor, skirtings, switches, handles, meter cupboard | Inside face of the front door, and the threshold |
| Every room | Radiators, sockets, switch plates, light fittings | Behind the radiators |
| Windows | Glass inside, frames, sills, catches | Sash runners and astragal beading |
Is the shared stair your job?
Not the stair itself, in most cases. In an Edinburgh tenement the common stair is shared property, cleaned on a rota between the flats or by a contractor arranged through the factor, and it is not usually part of your inventory. Your responsibility stops at your own front door.
That door and the ground in front of it are yours, and an agent sees them before stepping inside. Clean the door face, handle, letterbox and nameplate, sweep the patch of landing outside it, and take away anything you have left in the stair: bikes, boxes, the chest of drawers on the half landing.
The stair is communal, your threshold is not. Bin bags left in a shared stair are the fastest way to start a checkout badly, and they become a neighbour's problem for a week. Clear the lot before the keys go back.
What does a tenement flat need that a new build does not?
This is where Edinburgh stock differs from most UK rental housing. Marchmont, Bruntsfield, Newington and the Leith Walk corridor are largely 19th century tenements, and the same four features come up on report after report.
Sash and case windows. These are not sealed units. Each sash slides in a runner, and grit, paint flakes and dead flies gather in the bottom channel. Open both sashes, hoover the runners with a crevice tool, wipe the beading and the astragals, which are the slim glazing bars dividing the panes, then clean the ledge and sill. Do the glass afterwards. A deep stone reveal holds a season of soot.
High corniced ceilings. A tenement room can be well over three metres tall, so the tops of wardrobes and wall units sit above eye level and are almost never cleaned. Clerks know this, and a phone held above head height gets the picture. Use steps, clear the top of every unit and wardrobe, and take the cornice edges and picture rail while you are up there.
Original floorboards. Sand gathers in the gaps, and heavy water is the wrong answer: boards swell, and a dark tide mark along a skirting is worse than the dust was. Hoover along the run of the boards, into the gaps, then damp mop with a well wrung mop and dry the room with the window open.
The bin store and back court. Shared bin store, back court or a communal bin point on the street: your rubbish leaves the building rather than filling the store. Check yours a day early, not on the morning.
If your flat is in the student belt, the Marchmont page and the Leith page set out what we see most often.
What does an inventory clerk mark against under a PRT?
Against the check-in report, and nothing else. A clerk is not judging the flat against a show home, but against a document created at the start of your tenancy, with fair wear and tear allowed for, and the evidence on both sides is photographic.
Agents letting across the city, Umega, Cullen Property, Clan Gordon, Grant Property and King Sisters Lettings among them, work from a version of the same process. Expect the report to cover the oven and appliances, bathroom sanitary ware and sealant, floors and carpets, walls, windows and sills, and the fixtures in the inventory, with timestamped photographs of anything marked down.
Build your own file on the day. Photograph every room after the clean, wide shot then close ups of the oven, shower and floors, and keep the receipt for any professional work. If a deduction is proposed, that file is what an adjudicator weighs against the agent's.
Two housekeeping items sit alongside the cleaning: meter readings on the day, and every key, fob and window key handed back together. Our checkout inspection guide goes through the report line by line, and the deposit guide covers a proposed deduction.
When should you book for the summer changeover?
Earlier than feels necessary. Edinburgh has about 62,000 full-time students, roughly 27,000 of them in shared private flats and other HMOs, and the city holds 6,797 licensed HMOs, 44% of Scotland's total. Those tenancies mostly run to the end of June or into early July, with the new intake arriving from August, so the changeover is concentrated into a few weeks.
| When you are moving | When to book | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Late June to end of July | Four to six weeks ahead | The densest weeks in the student belt |
| August and early September | Three to four weeks ahead | Incoming tenancies and move in cleans overlap |
| October to May | One to two weeks ahead | Normal availability across the city |
| Any month, at short notice | Book by 12 noon | Same day slots when a crew is free |
Split between housemates the cost is smaller than it looks: a three bed at £259 divided three ways is about £86 each, less than most single deductions. The student changeover page covers flat share arrangements, and landlords turning a flat between tenancies should start at the landlord page.
Left it late? Book by 12 noon and we can usually fit you in that day. No surcharge applies when a crew has a free slot, and where booked jobs have to move the extra is quoted before booking, never after. That is the whole of the same day service.
How long does a full checkout clean take?
For a two bed tenement flat, two cleaners for five to seven hours is realistic, with the oven taking a large share. A studio is a half day. A four or five bed HMO with two bathrooms is a full day for a team, and it needs the carpets planned in, because shampooed carpets want drying time before the checkout.
Doing it yourself costs a weekend plus materials. Our DIY versus professional comparison puts real hours against real prices, and the cost calculator gives a figure for your own flat in a minute. For context, local independents advertise from £150, national brands from £235, and the Checkatrade cost guide puts the UK average at £260.
What happens if the agent is not satisfied?
Ask for it in writing, with photographs, and act quickly. Most checkout queries are one or two items rather than the whole flat, and most are settled by going back and doing them properly before a claim is lodged.
That is why we hold a 48-hour re-clean guarantee: if the agent or landlord flags something within two days of the clean, we come back and put it right at no charge, and every job leaves with a timestamped photo record and an itemised receipt. If a deduction still goes ahead, the scheme's dispute resolution service decides it on the evidence from both sides, and the First-tier Tribunal sits behind that.
Sizes and add-ons are on the pricing page, carpets and one off deep cleans on the specialist cleaning page, and if you are cleaning a flat before moving in rather than out, start with move in cleaning. To book, send the flat details through the quote form and we will come back with a fixed price.
FAQ
How long does an end of tenancy clean take in a two bed Edinburgh flat? Five to seven hours for two cleaners, with the oven taking the largest single share. A studio is about half a day, and a four or five bed HMO with two bathrooms is a full day for a team.
Do I have to clean the shared stair before I move out? Usually not. The common stair is shared property, cleaned on a rota or by a contractor arranged through the factor. Your own front door and the landing outside it are yours, and anything you have stored in the stair has to go.
Does the oven have to be professionally cleaned? Not by law. What matters is that it matches the check-in report. Where there is heavy carbon glazing, an oven deep clean at £55 is usually cheaper than the deduction and much faster than doing it yourself.
Is limescale still a problem in Edinburgh? Less than in hard water cities. The supply is soft at around 30 to 31 mg per litre from Scottish Water's Glencorse works, so scale on taps and screens lifts easily. Soap scum and mould in silicone are the real bathroom jobs here.
Who pays for the end of tenancy clean? Your tenancy agreement decides who arranges it. The standard is the same either way: the flat comes back as the check-in report recorded it, allowing for fair wear and tear, and any deduction has to be evidenced against that comparison.
When should students book the changeover clean? Four to six weeks ahead for a late June or July move, the densest weeks of the year across Marchmont, Newington, Polwarth and the Leith corridor. Three to four weeks is usually enough for August and September.
Do carpets need shampooing for a checkout? Only where the check-in report recorded them clean and they no longer are. Carpet shampoo is £35 a room and £25 for the hall, stairs and landing. Book it early enough that they dry before the checkout.
What if the flat was not clean when I moved in? Then the check-in report should say so, and you are only returning it to that standard. Dig out the original report and any photographs you took on day one. Without them the comparison is much harder.
What are the sizes and prices? A studio is £149, a one bed £179, a two bed £219, a three bed £259, a four bed £299 and five beds or more from £349. Add-ons: oven deep clean £55, fridge and freezer £25, white goods £19, pet surcharge £20, and carpet shampoo £35 a room or £25 for hall, stairs and landing.
Sources and official bodies
- Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016
- Section 49, tenant's notice to leave
- Private residential tenancies, mygov.scot
- Tenancy deposits for tenants, mygov.scot
- SafeDeposits Scotland
- First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Housing and Property Chamber
- Housing statistics, gov.scot
- Scotland's Census 2022
- Scottish Water, water quality