What landlords actually check at a move-out inspection
Twelve years of end-of-tenancy cleans, and the deposit almost always turns on the same six things. None of them is the carpet.
The six recurring deductions
Oven interiors, extractor filters, limescale on shower glass and taps, window tracks, inside kitchen cupboards, and the seals on the washing machine. That is the list, in rough order of how often it costs money.
They share one trait: they are all places a normal weekly clean skips, so they accumulate for the entire tenancy and then get judged in one afternoon.
Photograph everything, twice
Take a dated set on the day you move in and another after the final clean. Wide shot then detail, same order both times.
Disputes are resolved on evidence, and the tenant with a comparable photo set almost always wins the argument about pre-existing wear.
When to book the clean
After the last item leaves and before the inspection — ideally the same day. Cleaning around furniture guarantees a second visit.
Leave a two-hour buffer. If something needs a second pass, you want it done before the inspector arrives, not after.
Nobody loses a deposit over a dusty shelf. They lose it over the oven, the extractor and the window tracks.
