End of Tenancy Cleaning in Dalston

Ground-floor live/work unit in a converted workshop off Kingsland Road — a minute from Haggerston Overground, thirty seconds from the nearest Turkish grill. The tenant had been a freelance music producer, 16 months at £2,200/month. Double-height living space with a mezzanine bedroom above, a second bedroom at the rear, and an open-plan industrial kitchen along one wall. Managed by Stirling Ackroyd (Dalston office on Chatsworth Road, in the area for 30+ years).

The kitchen was the issue. Not because the music producer cooked a lot — he didn't. But the open-plan layout meant the grease from what cooking he did (mostly Turkish takeaway reheated, some actual frying) had spread across a much wider area than it would in a closed kitchen. The extraction was a big industrial cooker hood that looked impressive but hadn't had its filters cleaned once in 16 months. The filters came out coated. Soaked separately. The wall behind the hob and the ceiling section above it needed alkaline degreaser. The rest of the open-plan living area had a very fine grease film on the surfaces nearest the kitchen — the dining table, the shelf unit, and the top of the exposed brick partition. All wiped down.

The mezzanine was interesting. Accessed by a steel staircase, the sleeping platform overlooked the living space below. The bed area was dusty — the warm air from the double-height space rises and the mezzanine catches everything. Bedframe wiped, floor swept and mopped, the steel mezzanine railing wiped. A pair of studio monitor speakers had left rubber marks on the mezzanine floor (documented — the rubber feet had degraded over 16 months and left black circles).

The rear bedroom was more conventional — a proper enclosed room with a window. Standard clean. The bathroom was also standard for a live/work unit — modern fixtures, walk-in shower, moderate limescale at ~275 ppm. No mould, which was surprising — the ground-floor position and the Kingsland Road location usually mean more moisture. The unit had decent mechanical ventilation though, which helped.

The exposed brick walls in the main living space were damp-dusted with a microfibre cloth — you can't scrub exposed brick or you'll pull the pointing out. The polished concrete floor was mopped with a pH-neutral cleaner designed for sealed concrete. The large industrial-style windows (steel frames, single-pane glass with secondary glazing) were cleaned inside — the steel frames had a thin layer of Kingsland Road grime on them.

Sterling Ackroyd inspected two days later. They manage a lot of the Dalston live/work stock and they know what to expect from music producer tenants — the speaker marks were accepted as fair wear. They focused on the kitchen extraction filters (clean), the brick wall condition (no damage), and the mezzanine dust (gone). Passed. Deposit back in 9 days.