End of Tenancy Cleaning in East Dulwich

A split-level conversion occupying the first and second floors of a double-fronted Victorian house on a tree-lined street near Goose Green — a 5-minute walk from Lordship Lane, 8 minutes from East Dulwich station. Two bedrooms, a living room with a marble fireplace on the first floor, a kitchen and bathroom on the upper half-floor via an internal staircase, and a shared communal hallway with the ground-floor flat. The tenant — a copywriter at a Southwark advertising agency — had rented for 2 years at £1,950/month. Managed by Winkworth (Dulwich office on Lordship Lane, the dominant SE22 lettings agent).

Winkworth's Dulwich team is meticulous on these conversions. The gentrification of East Dulwich has pushed rents and expectations up, and they inspect the period features with the same care as our Palmers Green and Crouch End work. The landlord lived in New Zealand and relied entirely on Winkworth's photos.

First-floor walkup via the shared communal staircase. All equipment carried manually.

The living room was the main space — first-floor front, two tall sash windows overlooking Goose Green's mature plane trees. A marble fireplace with a carved surround (white Carrara, with veining — the real thing, not reproduction). We cleaned it with a barely-damp cloth and dried it immediately. No product, no spray, no damp cloth left resting on the surface. Marble absorbs liquid within seconds and a cleaning-product stain on a Carrara surround would be a serious checkout issue. The hearth (slate) was wiped dry — same porous-surface approach as our Stepney Georgian slate work.

Cornice along all walls — egg-and-dart moulding, similar to Palmers Green but less ornate. Extension brush, working from the outer edge inward so the dust falls away from the wall rather than streaking down the paintwork. Picture rail dusted.

Sealed pine floorboards throughout the living room — polyurethane finish. Mopped with specialist wood product and a barely-damp mop. The key with sealed boards is the 'barely' — too much liquid pools in the gaps between boards, seeps under the seal, and leaves a cloudy mark. We wring the mop until it's almost dry. Traffic path from the door to the sofa position was visible but faint — 2 years of a single occupant. It blended after mopping.

The sash windows — two tall panels, each with the original brass fasteners. Tracks vacuumed with the crevice tool: 2 years of London plane-tree pollen and fine particulate had compacted into a ridge. Glass cleaned both sides. Brass fasteners polished with a dry cloth (no product on brass unless specifically asked — some tenants oil the mechanisms, but the default is dry polish). The Goose Green trees were close enough that the outer glass had the yellow-green pollen film that SE22 properties near the park all get in spring.

Up the internal staircase (half-flight, carpeted) to the upper half-floor.

The kitchen — a modern installation along one wall of the upper room. Freestanding Zanussi oven: door glass removed, both cavities sprayed with alkaline degreaser, 20-minute dwell. While the oven dwelled, we cleaned the gas hob (four burners, caps lifted, pan supports soaked), the extractor (slim canopy, filter removed and soaked), and started on the cupboards. The oven came back to after 20 minutes: wiped out both cavities, checked the corners (the lower oven's rear corners always hold the most carbon — we use a nylon brush in the corners where a cloth can't reach). Door glass soaked separately and scrubbed between panes. Worktops (quartz) cleaned with pH-neutral. Fridge cleaned including the seal gasket — folded the rubber back and cleaned inside the channel. Floor (tile) mopped.

The bathroom — compact, same upper half-floor as the kitchen. Bath-shower combo with a frameless glass screen. Limescale at ~265 ppm after 2 years. Mould check first: ceiling clear, silicone clear, no exterior walls on this level (it's an internal bathroom, ventilated by an extractor fan — better than the lower-ground bathrooms in Archway's hillside maisonettes). Phosphoric acid descaler sprayed onto the glass screen — full coverage, 10-minute dwell. While the screen dwelled, we descaled the taps (base, spout, handle — each sprayed and wiped separately), the bath waterline (cloth soaked in descaler laid along the tide mark), and the toilet under the rim (descaler squirted, left to dwell, then brushed). Back to the screen after 10 minutes: wiped in vertical strips top to bottom with a microfibre cloth. One pass — clear. Every chrome surface polished dry afterward. Floor mopped including behind the toilet.

Two bedrooms, both on the first floor (below the kitchen/bathroom half-floor). The master (rear-facing) had sealed floorboards, a built-in wardrobe (wiped inside), and a radiator (vacuumed between fins with the brush attachment). The second bedroom (side-facing, smaller, used as a home office) — desk surface wiped, cable area cleared, floorboards mopped.

Communal hallway: tenant's front door wiped both sides, landing swept.

Winkworth inspected two days later. Their negotiator walked through with a tablet — photos uploaded directly to the landlord in New Zealand. She checked the marble first (clean, dry, no product marks, no stains — passed). Then the floorboard finish (specialist product maintained the sheen, traffic path barely visible — passed). The cornicing (dust-free — passed). The sash tracks (finger-tested — clean). The oven (door glass between panes, both cavities, rear corners — all clean). The shower screen (held a phone torch against the glass to check for residue streaks — clear). Passed everything.

Deposit returned within 7 days. No deductions. The landlord in New Zealand saw the photos and confirmed she was happy to re-list immediately.

That checkout took Winkworth 25 minutes. Our clean took 4.5 hours. The ratio tells you everything about why professional cleaning matters — the inspection is fast and unforgiving, and the 4.5 hours of careful product-specific work is what makes it pass. If the marble had a product stain, or the floors were cloudy, or the screen had descaler streaks, the 25-minute inspection would have caught it. Our guide on landlord cleaning charges explains what's at stake.