How to hire
Start with the inventory, not the mop. Your checkout is judged against the check-in report you agreed when you moved in, so pull it out before you ring anyone and walk each room against it. Under the Tenant Fees Act, your landlord can ask for the property back in its original condition, allowing for fair wear and tear, but cannot require you to pay for a professional clean or to use a particular firm [2]. Photograph every room in daylight and share dated copies with the agent, so a later dispute turns on evidence rather than memory.
There is no licence register for cleaners to check, so check what does exist. For carpet and upholstery work, search the National Carpet Cleaners Association directory by postcode: members have passed an approved course and examination and carry public liability cover [3]. For contract-style firms, search the British Institute of Cleaning Science membership directory by company name [4]. Where the job includes clearance, ask for the waste carrier number and type it into the Environment Agency public register to confirm the registration is live [5]. A SafeContractor or similar badge on a website is a company claim until you see the certificate behind it.
Telford itself shapes the job. The borough mixes new-town estates with the older streets of Wellington and the former townships around Dawley, Madeley and the Gorge, so say what kind of property it is when you enquire: a flat above the shops, a terrace with rear access only, or a cottage down a narrow Gorge lane all change how a team works [10]. Parts of Wellington, Horsehay and the Severn Gorge sit in conservation areas, and Ironbridge runs a council permit system across its car parks, so a Gorge clean needs parking agreed before the van sets out [7] [8]. Where the move leaves furniture behind, the council runs bookable bulky-item collections for borough households alongside recycling centres that take household items without booking, which sets the alternative if the firm takes no rubbish [6].
Get two or three itemised quotes on the same written scope. Each quote should list every room and what happens in it, whether the oven, carpets, internal windows, fridge and limescale removal are included or extras, how many cleaners attend and for how long, and whether the price is fixed or hourly. Ask whether VAT is included or added, since small firms and large ones treat it differently. Treat an outlier far above or below the rest as a question rather than a bargain, and ask what has been left out.
Get the money terms and the paperwork in the same document. The written quote should name every room with what happens in it, list oven, carpets, windows and fridge as included or extra, state team size and time on site, give a fixed or hourly price with the VAT position either way, and say who returns if the checkout fails and who pays for it. At the end, hold the itemised invoice, the before-and-after photographs, any waste transfer note and the checkout report together until the deposit is back in your account.
Know where your deposit sits while you plan. Deposits are capped at five weeks' rent for most tenancies and must sit in a government-approved scheme until the tenancy ends [2]. Read your tenancy agreement for any cleaning clause and measure it against the check-in inventory you signed. Try to attend the checkout inspection yourself, inventory in hand, and raise any disagreement there and then rather than by email a week later.
Set the clean up to succeed on the day. The property should be empty of belongings, the fridge defrosted and switched off, and the water and power left on for the team. Confirm parking and access for stairwells, courtyards and permit streets, and agree who supplies equipment and products. Most firms bring their own; where carpets need machine cleaning, confirm the machine is included rather than assumed.
Finish with paperwork, not a handshake. Keep the itemised invoice, the before-and-after photographs and any waste transfer note for rubbish taken away, and hold everything until the deposit is back in your account. If the agent claims against the deposit for cleaning, ask for the checkout report, the invoice for the re-clean and dated photographs, then take any dispute to the scheme holding your money [2].
A typical job runs in five stages. First contact is your enquiry with the address, the bedroom and bathroom count, the checkout date and photographs of each room. The firm replies with questions or a visit, then sends the written quote. You confirm the date, clear the property and leave power and water on. The team cleans to the agreed list, and you or the agent walk it against the inventory at checkout. Anything missed goes back to the firm straight away, with the photographs as the record. If money is still disputed at the end, the scheme holding your deposit keeps it protected until the issue is settled [9].
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, national cost guides put a studio clean near £180, a one-bedroom flat near £220, a two-bedroom property near £260, a three-bedroom home near £300, a four or five-bedroom house near £370 and the largest homes above £415, with hourly rates around £20 to £25 [1]. Telford quotes should be judged against that table rather than against London, where the same jobs run higher [1]. Treat every figure as a ballpark: firms price by size, condition and time on site, not from a national tariff.
Extras move the total fastest. Carpet cleaning averages around £50 a room, and oven or upholstery work is sometimes priced apart from the main clean [1]. In this round, Cleveland Cleaning publishes guide prices from £149 for carpet work alongside a free quotation route, while most other firms quote only on enquiry, so compare what each price actually covers before you compare the figures.
Clearance loads sit outside the clean itself. Firms with waste cover price them by load and time on site, while anything you shift yourself can go through the council's bookable bulky-item collections or its recycling centres instead [5] [6]. Say what is going at the quote stage: an unpriced sofa becomes a dispute, a listed one becomes a line item.
Condition is the other lever. A well-kept flat takes a team a few hours; a home with heavy oven build-up, limescale or pet hair takes longer and costs more, as does an occupied property cleaned around furniture [1]. Extra bathrooms, difficult access and parking all add time, and asking how access affects your quote keeps later surprises away.
Access moves the price more than people expect. Ironbridge lanes and town-centre flats with no parking add carrying time, and an occupied property cleaned around furniture takes longer than an empty one [1] [8]. Booking a week or two ahead of the checkout date keeps a choice of firms; a next-day request narrows it.
Get the money terms in writing before anyone lifts a cloth. Ask whether VAT is included, whether the price is fixed for the whole checkout list or charged by the hour, and what happens if the agent fails the clean: who returns, and who pays. Cleaning needs no deposit for materials, so be wary of large payments demanded before the work is done. Keep the written quote, the invoice and the photographs together until the deposit is returned.
Red flags
Quotes a full tenancy clean without asking the bedroom count, for photographs, or to visit.
Shows an NCCA logo on its site or van but does not appear in the association directory [3].
Takes clearance rubbish away with no carrier registration to show and no transfer note offered [5].
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms.
Promises your full deposit back if you agree the job on the day.
Gives one fixed price for a large property with no room list and no breakdown.
Will not put the rooms covered, the price and the date in writing before starting.
Will not give a waste carrier number when the job includes taking furniture or rubbish away [5].
Only takes enquiries by direct message, with no phone number, address or website anywhere to be found.