End of Tenancy Cleaning in Herne Hill

Ground-floor garden flat in a Victorian terrace on a tree-lined street about 3 minutes from Brockwell Park's Lido entrance — 6 minutes from Herne Hill station. Two bedrooms, an open-plan kitchen-living room, a bathroom, and a 30ft private garden that caught everything the park's mature planes dropped. The tenant — a physio at King's College Hospital on Denmark Hill — had rented for 2 years at £1,850/month. Managed by Pedder (Herne Hill office on Half Moon Lane).

Parked around the corner with a Lambeth visitor permit — £4/day via RingGo. The street itself was CPZ but quiet mid-morning.

Straight into the kitchen-living room — open-plan, the kitchen along the left wall and the living area in the bay-window section. A freestanding Indesit cooker, gas. Pulled it out. Two years from a single person who cooked regularly but not heavily — the wall behind was moderate. Scraped the skirting, degreased the wall, both came up fine. Both cavities sprayed, 20-minute dwell. One pass cleared them. Gas hob — four burners, caps off. Extractor: a basic wall-mounted unit, filter off and into the degreaser soak. Cupboards wiped. Fridge cleaned — the gasket was clean, no mould (good ventilation in this flat, being ground-floor with a garden door). The worktop was butcher-block oak — we cleaned it with pH-neutral and dried it straight away. Butcher block absorbs moisture like marble does, so no product sitting on the surface.

The garden door — timber-framed with a single-glazed pane — opened onto a small patio and the 30ft garden. This was the Brockwell Park threshold. The door track had 2 years of: plane-tree leaves (the big leathery ones that don't break down quickly), fine grit from the park paths, and the general organic matter that drifts over from 125 acres of mature parkland when you're 3 minutes from the boundary. Crevice vacuum in the track. Then a damp cloth, section by section, until the finger-test came back clean. The patio itself had moss between the slabs near the garden wall — scrubbed the worst, documented the rest as exterior weathering.

The living area had the restored features. A tiled fireplace — green-and-cream Victorian tiles with a cast-iron insert. pH-neutral on each tile, barely-damp cloth on the iron. Cornicing along the ceiling — simple rope-twist moulding, dusted with the extension brush. Sealed pine floorboards throughout — mopped with specialist wood product and a barely-damp mop. The bay window: two sash panels, tracks vacuumed (the usual compacted ridge — 2 years of South London particulate), glass cleaned both sides.

The bathroom was off the hallway — a compact room with a bath-shower combo and a glass screen. Limescale at ~265 ppm. Phosphoric acid on the screen, 10-minute dwell, one pass clear. Taps descaled individually. Bath waterline — moderate, one pass with a descaler-soaked cloth. Toilet under the rim. Floor mopped. No mould anywhere — the ground-floor position with a garden actually helps ventilation in this case. The air circulates through the garden door in summer and the bathroom window the rest of the year.

Two bedrooms. The master (rear, overlooking the garden) had sealed floorboards, a built-in wardrobe (wiped inside), and a sash window looking straight at a mature plane tree in the garden. The second bedroom (front, street-facing) was smaller, used as a combined bedroom and WFH space — desk surface wiped, cable area cleaned.

Communal hallway: front door wiped both sides, the shared entrance swept.

Pedder came the next day. Their Herne Hill negotiator — she manages several conversions on this street — walked through with a clipboard. The fireplace was first: tiles clean, iron no product marks, hearth clear. Sealed floors: specialist product maintained the finish. Bay tracks: finger-tested. Oven: both doors opened, corners checked. Garden threshold: she ran a finger along the track (clean). Patio moss: noted and accepted as weathering. Bathroom screen: held her phone torch against the glass — clear. Passed.

Deposit back in 7 days. No deductions. The tenant was relocating closer to the hospital — shorter commute, smaller flat, but she wanted this deposit back clean because she'd need it for the next one. That's most of our Herne Hill work: professionals in well-kept conversions near the park who need the checkout done right so the deposit cycles into the next tenancy. No drama, just the right products on every surface.

If the patio moss or the butcher-block worktop had been disputed, our photos would have covered it. Moss is weathering. Butcher block absorbs liquid — that's its nature, not the tenant's fault. Our guide on fair wear and tear explains the boundary, and our guide on landlord cleaning charges covers what's reasonable.