End of Tenancy Cleaning in Colliers Wood

A ground-floor maisonette in a converted Victorian terrace on one of the residential streets between the High Street and the River Wandle — a 6-minute walk from Colliers Wood Northern Line station, with the garden gate opening directly onto the Wandle Trail. Two bedrooms (one at garden level, one at lower-ground via a half-flight of internal stairs), a kitchen-living room at garden level, a bathroom at lower-ground level, and a 20ft garden running down to the river path. The tenant — a graphic designer working from home three days a week — had rented for 2 years at £1,650/month. Managed by eddisonwhite (offices in Wimbledon and Colliers Wood, been in Merton since 2004).

The river was the story. This property sat about 15 metres from the Wandle's bank, and the garden sloped gently down to the trail. Beautiful location. Also the reason the lower-ground rooms had a persistent moisture issue.

We started with the bathroom at lower-ground level — the room most affected. A compact bathroom below street level with a small frosted window at ground height. Mould on the ceiling in the corner above the shower, along the bath silicone, and on the exterior wall behind where the bathroom cabinet had stood. We photographed every area before touching it — three separate shots documenting the extent. Then anti-mould spray applied to all affected surfaces: ceiling corner, silicone, wall section. 10-minute dwell on each. The ceiling mould lifted well — the spray cleared the visible growth. The silicone had older, deeper mould that improved significantly but left a grey shadow in the worst 6-inch section (documented — replacing the silicone bead is a maintenance task, not a cleaning task). The wall behind the cabinet came up clean because the mould was surface-level, not embedded.

After the mould treatment: phosphoric acid descaler on all fixtures at ~265 ppm. The shower screen (glass, not curtain) got a 10-minute dwell — one pass, clear. Taps descaled. Bath waterline treated. Toilet under the rim. Floor mopped including the corners where the lower-ground level meets the exterior wall (dust and fine debris collect in these junctions because the room is partially below grade).

The lower-ground bedroom (also partially below street level) had a small window at pavement height. We checked behind the bed position against the exterior wall — slight damp staining on the wall where the moisture had been wicking through the Victorian brickwork. No mould, just a faint tide mark. Photographed and documented. This is a building-envelope issue caused by the river's proximity — not tenant damage. The documentation protects the tenant: if the landlord tried to deduct for this, the photos show it's fair wear and tear (or more accurately, an environmental condition).

The kitchen-living room at garden level was more straightforward. A compact open-plan space with the kitchen along one wall and the living area in the bay-window section. A freestanding Beko cooker — 2 years of regular home-worker cooking (the tenant worked from home 3 days a week, so more lunchtime cooking than a typical commuter let). Door glass out, cavities sprayed, 20-minute dwell. Gas hob cleaned. Extractor soaked. Cupboards wiped. Worktops (laminate) cleaned with non-abrasive cream.

The garden door — a timber door with a single-glazed pane — opened onto a small patio and then the sloping garden. The threshold was the Wandle signature: fine river silt (a light grey mineral residue that deposits after the river rises during wet weather), decomposed leaf litter from the Wandle's tree canopy, and the organic matter that accumulates on any path next to flowing water. This was different from the park debris we see on our Earlsfield or Dulwich jobs — it's finer, siltier, and slightly damp even in dry weather because of the river's proximity. Crevice vacuum on the threshold track, then wiped. The patio was swept.

The garden-level bedroom (front of the property, bay window) was more straightforward — no moisture issues on this side (facing the street, not the river). Bay window cleaned, sash tracks vacuumed. Carpet vacuumed including edges. Wardrobe wiped inside.

The internal staircase between the garden level and lower-ground was carpeted — vacuumed thoroughly, handrail wiped. The half-flight adds cleaning time and requires carrying equipment between levels.

eddisonwhite inspected two days later. Their Colliers Wood team manages a lot of the Wandle-side stock and they know the moisture profile. The bathroom mould was their first focus — they reviewed our photos, confirmed the ceiling was treated, and accepted the silicone shadow as a maintenance item (not charged). The lower-ground bedroom damp stain was reviewed — accepted as environmental (river proximity), not charged. The oven was checked (door glass between panes, clean). The threshold debris was addressed. The garden-level rooms were fine. Passed. Deposit returned within 8 days. No deductions.

The tenant told us afterward that she'd been worried about the mould for months — she'd cleaned it herself twice and it kept coming back. It was always going to come back because the cause isn't cleaning, it's the river. Our job was to treat it as thoroughly as possible and then document the environmental cause so the landlord couldn't charge her for it. That's what professional property turnaround documentation looks like — not just making things clean, but protecting the tenant's deposit by telling the truth about what's caused by the building and what's caused by the tenant.