How Much Does Carpet Cleaning Cost in London? (2026 Price Guide)

Professional carpet cleaning in London usually costs between £30 and £50 per room, with most whole-flat cleans landing somewhere between £120 and £280 depending on the size and state of the carpets. Nearly every cleaner also charges a minimum call-out fee of £75 to £100, so a single small room rarely comes in cheaper than that. We clean carpets across North London every week, most of them at the end of a tenancy or after builders, so here's what the numbers actually mean before you book.

What carpet cleaning costs in London: the real ranges

There's no single fixed price, and anyone quoting one over the phone without asking about your carpets is guessing. What we can give you are the honest London ranges. Published UK cost guides put professional carpet cleaning at roughly these figures in 2026, and they line up with what we see on the ground.

Price per room

• Small or single bedroom: around £30 to £50
• Double bedroom: around £35 to £55
• Living room or lounge: around £40 to £75
• Through lounge or open-plan space: around £70 to £120

Bigger rooms cost more because they hold more square metres of carpet and take longer to clean and dry. A tired lounge that hasn't been touched in a couple of years sits at the top of its range, not the bottom.

Stairs, landings and hallways

Stairs are fiddly and slow, so they're often priced per step or as a set. Cost guides list around £2.50 to £6 per step, or roughly £40 to £85 for a full staircase of up to 13 or 14 steps. A hallway runs about £15 to £40 and a landing about £10 to £30.

Rugs

Rugs are usually priced by size rather than by room. Expect around £22 to £45 for a small rug and £45 to £90 for a large one. Delicate or wool rugs cost more because they need gentler handling and slower drying. If you've got a valuable piece, our rug cleaning service treats it separately from the fitted carpets.

Whole flat or house

Booking several rooms together almost always brings the per-room price down, because the minimum call-out is spread across the whole job. Rough market figures for a full clean:

• One-bed flat: around £80 to £180
• Two-bed flat: around £120 to £250
• Three-bed house: around £180 to £380

Price per square metre

Some jobs, especially larger or commercial spaces, get priced by area instead of by room. The going rate sits at roughly £2.50 to £5 per square metre. For a normal home, per-room pricing is usually simpler and works out the same.

Remember, these are general London ranges for context. We give you a free, no-obligation quote based on your actual rooms, not a figure plucked from a price list.

What actually moves the price up or down

Two flats with the same number of rooms can get very different quotes. Here's what makes the difference.

• Carpet material. Wool and natural fibres need more care and slower drying than synthetic carpets, so they usually add 15 to 25 percent.
• Condition. A carpet with old stains, pet accidents or heavy traffic wear takes pre-treatment and extra passes. Light maintenance is cheaper than rescue work.
• Access. Third-floor flat with no lift, a long carry from the van, or paid parking all add time and cost.
• London-specific charges. The congestion charge, ULEZ and parking can all land on a central London job. A decent cleaner tells you about these up front instead of springing them on you at the end.

Our professional London carpet cleaners factor all of this into one quote so there are no surprises on the day.

Steam cleaning vs dry cleaning: what you're paying for

The method changes both the result and the price, so it's worth knowing which one you're getting.

Hot water extraction, usually called steam cleaning, is the deep-clean standard. Hot water and a cleaning solution are worked into the pile, then extracted along with the dirt. It lifts stains, kills the bacteria behind odours, and gets carpets genuinely clean rather than just freshened. It costs a little more, around £35 to £75 per room, and needs longer to dry. This is what most carpet manufacturers recommend, and it's what we use for end-of-tenancy and after-builders work.

Dry compound cleaning works a cleaning powder or foam through the carpet, then vacuums it out. There's almost no drying time, which suits delicate fibres and quick turnarounds, but it doesn't reach as deep as steam. Cost guides put it at around £25 to £55 per room. Handy in the right situation, but not the choice for a carpet that needs rescuing.

Add-ons that change the final number

The headline per-room price usually covers a standard clean. Specific problems cost extra, and honest cleaners tell you which ones apply before they start.

• Stubborn stain removal: targeted pre-treatment for old or set-in marks, roughly £10 to £35 per stain.
• Pet odour treatment: deeper sanitising for urine and smells that a normal clean won't shift, around £15 to £40 per room.
• Stain protector (Scotchgard-type): a coating that helps carpets resist the next spill, around £15 to £30 per room.
• Anti-allergen treatment: useful for asthma and allergy households, around £7 to £18 per room.

If the sofa is looking as tired as the carpet, it's often cheaper to book them together. Our sofa and upholstery cleaning uses the same extraction kit while the team is already on site.

Why the cheapest per-room deals disappoint

You'll see adverts for £15 or £20 a room. They're not lying exactly, but the real bill is rarely that low, and here's why.

The minimum call-out fee catches most people out. A single room advertised at £20 still triggers a £75 to £100 minimum, so that headline price only exists as part of a bigger booking. Then there's the method. The very cheapest jobs often use a bonnet or low-moisture pass that skims the surface. The carpet looks clean for a week, then the dirt wicks back up from the base and it resoils fast. You've paid twice for a job that should have been done once.

Cheap quotes also tend to leave off the extras. Stains, pet treatment and stair work get added on the day, and the final number creeps up towards everyone else's. A slightly higher quote that actually cleans the carpet properly, from a cleaner who's fully insured and DBS-checked, is usually the cheaper option once you count the redo.

How long carpets take to dry

Drying time matters more than people expect, especially if you're handing keys back or moving furniture in the same day.

Steam-cleaned carpets typically take 6 to 12 hours to dry fully in normal London conditions, quicker with windows open and heating on. Dry compound and foam methods are ready to walk on in 1 to 2 hours. You can usually walk carefully on a steam-cleaned carpet within a few hours, but don't put heavy furniture back or lay rugs on top until it's properly dry, or you risk marks and mildew. If you're on a tight move-out slot, tell your cleaner so they can plan the method and timing around it.

Clean or replace? How to decide

Cleaning almost always wins on cost. A proper clean is a fraction of the price of new carpet plus fitting, and most carpets that look finished are just dirty rather than worn out.

Cleaning makes sense when the carpet is structurally sound and the problem is dirt, dulling, traffic lanes or the odd stain. That covers the large majority of the jobs we see. Replacing makes sense when the backing is coming apart, the pile is flattened bald in high-traffic runs, or there's flood or serious pet damage that's soaked through to the underlay. If you're a tenant, one more thing matters: you can't replace a landlord's carpet to your own taste and expect it to count. A thorough clean that returns it to check-out standard is what protects your deposit, which brings us to the most common reason people book us in the first place.

Carpet cleaning as an end-of-tenancy add-on

If you're moving out, the carpets are one of the first things a check-out inspector looks at, and getting them wrong is expensive. Cleaning is the single biggest cause of tenancy deposit disputes, showing up in over half of the cases handled by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme's adjudicators. A thorough carpet clean with a dated receipt is cheap insurance against a deduction that could cost you far more.

That's why carpets are almost always part of a proper move-out clean rather than a separate errand. When we do an end of tenancy cleaning service, the carpets get done to inventory standard alongside the rest of the property in one visit, with the paperwork to prove it. The oven usually goes on the same list, which is why our oven cleaning specialists in London are part of most move-out bookings. Landlords and agents work the same way, and our end of tenancy turnovers for landlords keep carpets clean between tenants so the next check-in starts from a documented standard.

Frequently asked questions

How much does carpet cleaning cost in London?

Most London carpet cleaning runs about £30 to £50 per room, with a minimum call-out of £75 to £100. A whole flat usually falls between £120 and £280 depending on size, carpet type and condition. The only accurate figure is a quote based on your actual rooms.

Why do carpet cleaners charge a minimum call-out fee?

Because the van, the equipment, the travel and the setup cost the same whether it's one room or five. The minimum, usually £75 to £100, covers that. It's also why booking several rooms together always works out cheaper per room.

Is professional carpet cleaning worth it for a rental?

For a tenancy, almost always. Cleaning is the top reason deposits get docked, so a professional clean with a receipt protects a deposit that's usually worth far more than the clean itself. For landlords, clean carpets let the next tenancy start from a documented standard.

How long until I can walk on the carpets?

After steam cleaning, a few hours for light use and 6 to 12 hours to dry fully. Dry compound methods are ready in 1 to 2 hours. Keep heavy furniture and rugs off until the carpet is completely dry.

Does the price include stain removal?

General surface stains are usually covered in a standard clean. Old, set-in or pet stains often need targeted pre-treatment that's charged separately, around £10 to £35 per stain. A good cleaner checks the carpet and tells you before starting, not after.

How often should carpets be cleaned?

Once every 12 to 18 months keeps most household carpets in good shape. Homes with pets, children or allergy sufferers do better every 6 to 9 months. Rental properties usually get done at each changeover.

Get a straight answer on your carpets

Every carpet's different, so the honest thing is to look at yours rather than read you a price list. Send us a couple of photos and the room sizes and we'll give you a free, no-obligation quote based on the actual job, no minimum-charge surprises. Call 07375 104665, message us on WhatsApp at wa.me/447375104665 for a same-day quote, or get a free quote online. We're fully insured with £5 million public liability cover, DBS-checked, and rated 4.9 from over 180 reviews across 500-plus jobs around North London and the Hertfordshire borders.