I'll be moving out of quarters shortly on retirement. The patch I'm on is half empty, and I expect my quarter will be unoccupied for months to come. In edition it needs a new kitchen and carpets.
On my pre march out visit I was told I didn't need to clean the carpets, for the reason stated above, but the house needed to be in a generally clean condition. I'm paying to have the place cleaned, as life is too short, and my wife and I don't want to do it ourselves in our 50s.
Yes, it will cost a couple of hundred - however, that represents approx. the monthly saving I have been making on the cost of my quarter vs what it would cost to rent commercially in comparison (in terms of rent plus council tax).
It's just part of the deal when dealing with quarters, and probably always will be. While they are rising, in my area quarter rates are still very cheap compared to commercial rentals. That's the one of the plus points of quarters, the march out process is one of the negative points.