End of Tenancy Cleaning in Charlton

A four-bedroom Victorian terrace on Elliscombe Road — one of the prime streets on the Charlton Slopes, climbing steeply from Woolwich Road toward Charlton Park. The house was set back from the pavement behind a tiled front path, with views over the rooftops toward Canary Wharf from the top-floor windows. The family — a solicitor and a teacher with two primary-age children — had commuted to London Bridge (Charlton station, 12 minutes) and rented for 3 years at £2,600/month. Managed by Truepenny's (in Charlton Village since 2005, the only agent with an office actually in SE7's village centre).

The property was arranged across four levels: lower ground floor (kitchen and garden access), ground floor (two reception rooms), first floor (master bedroom with en-suite and second bedroom), and second floor (two further bedrooms and a family bathroom). Approximately 1,500 sq ft of floor space with 10-foot ceilings on the ground floor and 9-foot on the upper floors — the wall area alone is significantly more than a standard 4-bed.

The ground-floor reception rooms were the architectural highlight. The front room had a bay window with original sash mechanism, a marble-and-slate hearth with a decorative cast iron insert, cornicing with a simple ceiling rose, and stripped pine floorboards. The rear reception room had a second fireplace (painted stone surround, simpler) and French doors to a raised terrace at the rear. Both rooms had picture rails and dado rails. Every moulding dusted, every rail wiped, both fireplaces treated individually — the marble hearth with pH-neutral product (marble is porous), the painted stone surround with a damp cloth.

The lower-ground-floor kitchen had rear garden access via a set of steps descending the slope — the garden sat approximately 1.5 metres below the kitchen floor level on the downhill side. A Neff oven (dismantled, degreased, 55 minutes after 3 years of family cooking), granite worktops, and a stable door to the garden. The kitchen ceiling had moderate grease buildup — the room's semi-basement position limited natural ventilation despite a decent extractor. Garden door threshold and the first three steps of the garden access were swept of soil and leaf debris.

Four bedrooms across two upper floors. The master en-suite had a walk-in shower with a frameless glass panel — descaled at ~275 ppm. The family bathroom on the top floor had a bath-shower combo with chrome taps and a separate shower cubicle. Both bathrooms standard for Charlton Slopes stock — moderate limescale, no mould (good ventilation from sash windows on each level). Pine floorboards throughout all bedrooms mopped with specialist wood cleaner. Sash window tracks vacuumed on every window.

The steep rear garden was outside cleaning scope, but the raised terrace (directly off the ground-floor French doors) was swept, and the terrace railings were wiped. The tiled front path — geometric Victorian tiles, same era as the house — was swept and mopped with pH-neutral product.

A Charlton Athletic match was scheduled for the following Saturday. We specifically booked the clean for Tuesday to avoid any disruption — The Valley is approximately a 5-minute walk from Elliscombe Road, and match day congestion would have complicated parking and access. Truepenny's had flagged the fixture when confirming the checkout date.

Truepenny's inspected two days later. Their office is literally in Charlton Village — a 3-minute walk uphill from the property. They know the Slopes stock intimately: the checkout covered both fireplaces (marble hearth condition, painted surround), the tiled front path, every sash window track, and the steep garden access area. The agent specifically noted that the lower-ground-floor kitchen ceiling had been properly addressed despite the ventilation limitation. Royal Cleaning passed. Deposit returned within 10 days.