End of Tenancy Cleaning in Addington

A 1960s semi on Homestead Way — three bedrooms, a separate kitchen, a living room, a dining room, one bathroom, a downstairs WC, and a back garden with a patio and a lawn. The tenant — a single father with two primary-school-age children — had been there 3 years on a secure council tenancy. He was transferring to a larger property in Shirley. Croydon Council had issued a 12-item pre-inspection list three weeks earlier.

Parked on the front hardstanding. No restrictions anywhere on Homestead Way.

The kitchen set the tone for the whole job. A freestanding electric cooker — probably 10 years old, used daily for 3 years. Single-parent cooking: efficient, regular, no-nonsense. The cavity had a thick, uniform layer of grease from three years of steady use without a deep clean. First dwell got about half off; a second spray on the roof and back wall, another 12 minutes, then a targeted scourer pass finished it. The grill was lighter — single dwell. Electric hob plates cleaned, drip rings removed and soaked. The hob enamel had heat discolouration around the most-used plate — cleaned to extent possible, remainder documented as wear.

The taps were where Addington's ~290 ppm chalk water announced itself. The kitchen mixer had a solid limescale collar around the base, the aerator was partially blocked, and the spout had white deposits along the underside. Descaler, double application, scraper on the collar, pin through the aerator holes. The fridge-freezer needed a full defrost — 3 years without one had produced a 3cm ice mass in the freezer compartment, drawers frozen into the runners. Passive defrost running for about an hour while we worked elsewhere.

The bathroom was the pre-inspection's main concern. The bath taps had the same limescale collars as the kitchen. The shower head — a handheld unit over the bath — was about 40% blocked. The toilet had a visible calcium ridge below the waterline. Three years of ~290 ppm water. Descaler throughout, extended dwells, pumice on the toilet ridge. The ceiling had a mould patch in the corner above the toilet — the classic condensation point. Anti-mould spray lifted the surface mould; the staining beneath was in the paint. Documented as requiring redecoration by the council's maintenance team. The sealant around the bath had yellowed and pulled away in one section — cleaned the surface, documented the gap for re-sealing.

The children's bedroom was the room with the most character. The carpet had ground-in crumbs and a juice stain near the door. The walls had crayon at ankle height in two spots — one came off with a damp cloth, the other left a faint blue shadow in the paint. The windowsill had sticker residue from what appeared to be a collection of superheroes. Scraped and cleaned. The skirting had scuff marks from toy cars. Cleaned where possible, the deeper marks documented. The second bedroom (the father's room) and the third bedroom (the smaller room, used for storage) were straightforward — vacuumed, wiped, wardrobes cleaned inside.

We left the flat with the pre-inspection list annotated: each of the 12 items marked as completed, with cleaning-vs-maintenance notes on the bathroom ceiling mould, the sealant gap, and the hob discolouration.

The Croydon Council housing officer inspected three days later — tablet, pre-inspection list, room by room. Oven torched — clean. Taps checked — descaled. Freezer: defrosted and clean. Bathroom ceiling: surface mould removed, paint staining logged for the council's maintenance team, not charged to the tenant. Sealant: logged for re-sealing by maintenance. Toilet: torched below the waterline — clean. Children's bedroom: crayon shadow accepted as cosmetic, juice stain noted as minor, sticker residue confirmed removed. All cleaning items passed. Maintenance items logged for the council's works programme.

Bond released within 8 days. No charges. He was already settling the children into their new house in Shirley — bigger bedrooms, a garden they could actually play football in, and a fresh set of walls for the next generation of superhero stickers.