Is dirty grout normal wear and tear at the end of a tenancy?
Generally, dirty grout is treated as a cleaning issue rather than fair wear and tear, which means a landlord can ask for it to be cleaned or deduct the cost from your deposit. Fair wear and tear covers gradual ageing from normal use, such as grout that has naturally faded over years. Dirt, mould and limescale built up through a tenancy are considered cleanliness, and that is your responsibility to put right.
The distinction matters at check-out, because letting agents in Aylesbury compare the property against the inventory taken when you moved in. Black mould in shower grout or limescale on tiles is almost always flagged, and in a hard water area like Aylesbury it builds up faster than many tenants expect.
The simplest way to avoid a deduction is to have the bathrooms properly descaled and the grout scrubbed before the inventory check, which a professional end of tenancy clean covers as standard. If grout is permanently stained from age rather than dirt, that is more likely to count as wear and tear, but cleanable build-up is not.
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