End of Tenancy Cleaning in Acton

A first-floor conversion in a Victorian terrace on one of the poet streets — a 2-minute walk from Churchfield Road's cafés and wine bars, 5 minutes from Acton Central Overground. Two bedrooms, an open-plan kitchen-living room, a bathroom, and a shared communal hallway with the ground-floor flat. The tenant — a UX designer at a tech company in Hammersmith — had rented for 2 years at £1,850/month. Managed by Robertson Smith & Kempson (High Street office, been on Acton High Street for decades).

Poet's Corner has changed. Five years ago these were standard Acton conversions — carpet, magnolia walls, sealed fireplaces, agents who checked the oven and not much else. Now Churchfield Road is a destination, the flats have been restored, and the agents inspect like it's W4. Robertson Smith & Kempson told us at booking that the landlord had restored this flat 3 years ago and expected it back in the same condition.

First-floor walkup — narrow shared staircase, all equipment carried manually. Standard for Acton conversions.

The open-plan kitchen-living room was the main space. The kitchen ran along the rear wall — a modern installation with integrated Bosch oven and gas hob, quartz worktops, and handleless cabinets (the same push-to-open style we cleaned in Walthamstow's Village — careful around the mechanism to avoid fingermarks on the matt surface). Oven door glass out, cavities sprayed, 20-minute dwell. Gas hob — four burners, each cap lifted. Extractor (a slim canopy unit) — filter slid out and soaked. Cupboards wiped, quartz cleaned with pH-neutral. Fridge cleaned.

The living area had the restored features. Stripped and sealed pine floorboards (polyurethane finish — cleaned with specialist wood product, never standard floor cleaner). A tiled fireplace: reproduction Minton-style tiles in a blue-and-white pattern with a cast-iron insert and a slate hearth. Each tile wiped with pH-neutral. Cast iron barely damp. Slate hearth wiped dry — same porous-surface approach as our Stepney Georgian work. Cornicing (simple Victorian rope-twist) dusted with the extension brush.

The bay window — two sash panels, tracks vacuumed. The view was Churchfield Road: the cheese shop, the wine bar, people walking dogs. The sash tracks had 2 years of fine West London dust — not as heavy as some of our inner-East London conversions because W3 air is cleaner, but enough for a visible ridge. Glass cleaned both sides.

Two bedrooms. The master (rear-facing, quieter) had sealed floorboards, a built-in wardrobe (wiped inside), and a radiator (vacuumed between fins). A light traffic path on the floorboards between the door and the bed position — 2 years of daily use. We mopped with specialist product and the path was barely noticeable afterward. If it had been more prominent, we'd have documented it as fair wear. The second bedroom (front-facing, smaller, used as a home office) — desk surface wiped, cable area behind the monitor cleaned of dust, sealed floorboards mopped.

The bathroom was compact but modern — a shower cubicle with a hinged glass door, a wall-hung basin, and a toilet. Limescale at ~260 ppm. Phosphoric acid on the shower glass, 10-minute dwell, one pass — clear. Wall-hung basin cleaned underneath (visible floor, agents check). Taps descaled and polished. Toilet under the rim. Floor mopped including behind the toilet and under the basin. Mirror, tiles done.

The communal hallway: tenant's front door wiped both sides, landing swept. The shared staircase was left as found.

Robertson Smith & Kempson inspected the next morning. Their senior negotiator — someone who'd managed the flat since the restoration — walked through with a clipboard and a phone (photos for the landlord, who lived abroad). She checked the floorboard finish first (specialist product maintained the sheen — no dulling, traffic path barely visible). Then the fireplace tiles (clean, no residue, slate dry). The oven (door glass between panes, clean). The handleless cabinets (no fingermarks on the matt surface). The sash tracks (finger-tested, clean). The wall-hung basin underside (clean). Everything passed.

Deposit returned within 7 days. No deductions. The landlord messaged the agent to say the flat looked better than some of the mid-tenancy inspections she'd seen. That's the Poet's Corner standard now — and we match it.

If the checkout had gone differently and the landlord had tried to charge for the floorboard traffic path or the fireplace patina, those would be fair wear and tear items. Sealed floors wear. Cast iron develops patina. Our documentation would have backed the tenant up — and our guide on landlord cleaning charges explains why those aren't reasonable deductions.