East Sussex has an unusually high share of rented housing, concentrated in Brighton and Hove — a unitary authority with two universities, a large conversion-flat market and a tenancy calendar that peaks hard in late summer. Add Lewes, Eastbourne, Hastings and Bexhill, and you get a county where most people will handle a check-out at some point.
The rules, briefly
Your deposit must be held in a government-approved protection scheme, with the prescribed information given to you within 30 days. Since the Tenant Fees Act 2019 a landlord cannot require you to pay for a professional clean as a term of the tenancy — but they can charge to return the property to check-in condition, less fair wear and tear. If it goes to adjudication, the scheme's decision rests on the check-in inventory versus the check-out report, which is why photographs and receipts matter more than how hard you worked.
What check-out reports in this county pick up
- The oven and hob, every time, including door glass and the extractor filter.
- Mould and condensation staining around windows, in bathroom corners and behind wardrobes on external walls. This is the East Sussex speciality. Older solid-wall Victorian and Regency conversions, mild damp winters and single-aspect basement or lower-ground flats — common in Brighton, Hove and Hastings — make surface mould extremely likely. Two things are worth knowing: surface mould that wipes off is cleaning, whereas persistent black mould caused by a building defect is the landlord's responsibility, not a deposit deduction. Clean the surface, photograph it, and if you have previously reported a damp problem in writing, keep that correspondence.
- Salt film on windows in the seafront properties along Brighton, Hove, Eastbourne and St Leonards. Interior glass and frames are your job; it takes longer than you think.
- Limescale on shower screens, taps and kettles — the mains supply across much of the county is hard.
- Carpets and stairs in the tall converted houses, where wear concentrates on the flights.
- Bins, bike stores and shared hallways. In multi-let conversions, anything of yours left in the communal space comes out of your deposit, not the building's budget.
Timing around the Brighton crunch
Tenancies in the student and young-professional market cluster around the end of August and the start of September, and everything — removals, cleaners, recycling centre slots, storage — is booked out in that fortnight. If your tenancy ends then, arrange the clean three weeks ahead. Clean after the property is empty, and take a full set of dated photographs the moment it is done.
Anything not coming with you needs to go properly. Brighton & Hove, Lewes, Eastbourne, Hastings, Rother and Wealden each run their own bulky collections and household waste sites, and leaving a mattress on the pavement is a fly-tipping offence with a fine attached — plus a near-certain deduction.
If you are the landlord
A photographed check-in inventory is worth more than any cleaning clause. Between tenancies, the three items that prevent most disputes are the oven, limescale and carpets — and in this county, dealing with the cause of any recurring mould rather than repainting over it.
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