End of Tenancy Cleaning in Bounds Green

The thing about a split-level maisonette is that it's a house inside a house. You enter through the shared front door, climb the communal stairs to the first floor, and then you're in your own front door — and behind that front door is a self-contained flat with its own internal staircase connecting the first floor (living room, kitchen, bathroom) to the second floor (two bedrooms). It's the Bounds Green conversion specialty: all the proportions of the original Edwardian middle floors, none of the street noise of the ground floor, and a staircase that's yours to vacuum rather than the communal one everyone ignores.

This one was on Brownlow Road — a wide, tree-lined residential street running parallel to the railway between Bounds Green station and Bowes Park, solidly within the BG parking zone (Mon–Fri 11am–1pm). Two bedrooms on the second floor, a living room and a kitchen on the first floor, a bathroom on the first floor, and the internal staircase between them. The tenants — a couple, both working in the City — had been there 18 months at £1,650/month. Managed by Ellis & Co Bounds Green. Agent checkout booked for two days later.

Parked on Brownlow Road at 9:30am — comfortably outside the 11am CPZ window. The BG zone's narrow restriction period is a gift for morning bookings: arrive before 11, finish by 1, and the parking is free. We carried the kit through the shared front door and up the communal stairs to the first-floor landing.

The flat's own hallway had the first surprise: original Edwardian floor tiles — a geometric pattern in terracotta and cream, about 2 metres of tiled floor between the front door and the living room. Not the grand encaustic hallways of Highgate or East Sheen, but genuine Edwardian tiles that had survived the conversion and 100+ years of footfall. Mopped barely-damp with pH-neutral product. The grout between the tiles had darkened over the tenancy — cleaned where accessible with a targeted wipe. 5 minutes for 2 metres of hallway, but the right 5 minutes.

The living room was the original first-floor front room of the Edwardian house — generous proportions, a high ceiling with a ceiling rose, a bay window with 2-over-2 sash windows. The sash windows: both operable (the first-floor sashes are usually better maintained than the ground-floor ones because they're not at street level and get less weathering). Eight panes cleaned, glazing bars wiped, runners vacuumed. The ceiling rose: dusted with an extension tool. A fireplace — cast-iron insert with an Art Nouveau tiled surround in green and brown. Each tile wiped, iron dry-cleaned, timber mantel wiped, hearth vacuumed. The floor: engineered oak (the landlord had replaced the original boards during the conversion refit). Mopped with specialist product. Picture rail wiped. 22 minutes.

The kitchen was at the rear of the first floor — a converted rear room, about 8 sqm. A freestanding gas cooker — a Cannon, single oven, 4-burner hob. Eighteen months of a couple who cooked proper weeknight dinners and weekend meals — moderate, even use. The oven cavity had a standard grease layer: single dwell, 20 minutes, one pass cleared the bulk, a targeted second wipe on the roof near the fan housing. Hob: 4 burner caps soaked, enamel cleaned — two spill marks, both came off. The kitchen had no extractor hood — a wall-mounted fan that provided the minimum ventilation the building regs required and nothing more. The wall tiles behind the hob had a grease film extending about 60cm in each direction. Degreased.

Laminate worktops wiped. Sink descaled — moderate limescale on the tap base. Cupboard fronts and insides done. Fridge-freezer (under-counter, the only size that fit): shelves wiped, gaskets cleaned. The freezer compartment had a thin ice layer — door open, towel, 15-minute defrost while we worked on the bathroom. Floor — vinyl — mopped. Kitchen total: 35 minutes.

The bathroom was on the first floor, between the kitchen and the internal staircase — a conversion bathroom carved from part of the original rear bedroom. About 4 sqm. An acrylic bath with a shower mixer and a glass screen (single panel), a pedestal basin, a close-coupled toilet. The shower screen had moderate limescale on the lower half — descaler, 10-minute dwell, one pass. Bath waterline: light ring, one pass. Taps descaled. Toilet: moderate calcium below the waterline — descaler, 10-minute dwell, one pass. The ceiling had a small mould spot in the corner where the ceiling met the external wall — anti-mould spray, surface mould removed, faint paint staining documented. Grout: mostly clean, two spots treated. 22 minutes.

The internal staircase — the feature that makes a split-level a split-level. Original Edwardian stairs with a carpet runner, exposed painted timber on the edges, a turned bannister. Runner vacuumed: treads and risers. Exposed timber edges wiped. Bannister: handrail and each spindle wiped. The turn at the half-landing had cobwebs in the ceiling corner — cleared. 8 minutes.

Two bedrooms on the second floor. The master (front, overlooking Brownlow Road): carpeted, vacuumed. A sash window — 2-over-2 panes, cleaned. The room had full ceiling height (the second floor of an Edwardian terrace is still generous — not like a loft conversion with slopes). Built-in wardrobe in the alcove: wiped inside. Radiator done. 14 minutes. The second bedroom (rear, smaller): carpeted, vacuumed. A casement window (replacement — the rear elevation had been modified during the conversion). Quicker on the glass. A clothes rail instead of a wardrobe — wiped. The wall above where the headboard had sat had a faint rubbing mark — documented as paint-level wear. 10 minutes.

Total time: 3.5 hours. Two people. A split-level maisonette with period features on the first floor (tiled hallway, sash bay, fireplace, ceiling rose) and standard finishes on the second (carpet, casement, no features). The internal staircase added 8 minutes. The period features on the first floor added about 25 minutes compared to a modern flat of the same bedroom count. The zero-extraction kitchen added 10 minutes of wall degreasing.

Ellis & Co sent their negotiator two days later — a local agent who knew the Brownlow Road stock because she'd let several flats in the same street. She went room by room with a clipboard and her phone. Hallway: she looked at the floor tiles ('these are original — most conversions lose them'). Tapped the grout with a fingernail — clean. Living room: checked the sash bay (one sash tested — smooth), looked at the fireplace tiles at close range, glanced up at the ceiling rose. Kitchen: opened the oven (phone torch), checked the splashback tiles behind the hob ('you degreased the wall' — she could tell because the tiles were uniformly clean rather than having a halo of grease around the hob area). Bathroom: shower screen checked at angle, mould spot in the ceiling corner checked — surface clean, she noted the paint staining but didn't flag it. Internal staircase: she ran a finger along the bannister handrail. The bedrooms: wardrobes opened, windows checked.

Fifteen minutes. Everything passed. She confirmed by email that afternoon.

Deposit returned via the DPS within 8 days. No deductions. The couple had moved to a 2-bed ground-floor garden flat three streets over on Durnsford Road — staying in Bounds Green, trading the internal staircase for a garden, keeping the Piccadilly Line connection and the walk to Boyden's Kitchen for Saturday brunch. The N11-to-N11 lateral move that half of Bounds Green's departing tenants seem to make: not leaving the area, just rearranging within it, swapping one Edwardian conversion for another because the houses are all the same vintage and the streets all have the same trees and the station is always 5 minutes away. The only variable is which floor you're on and which original features survived the conversion. We cleaned one version; someone else will clean the next.