End of Tenancy Cleaning in Hither Green

An Edwardian mid-terrace on the east side of the railway — about 3 minutes from Hither Green station, one street back from Staplehurst Road. Three beds upstairs, a bathroom, a through-reception on the ground floor, a separate kitchen at the rear, a downstairs WC, and a 35ft garden. Family of four — two kids at Brindishe Green — had been there 3 years at £2,000/month. Stanford Estates managing from their Staplehurst Road office.

Parked two doors down. Free. The east-side residential streets are unrestricted.

Hallway first. Edwardian tiles — a geometric pattern in black, cream, and terracotta, in good condition. pH-neutral mop only. Front door had a decorative fanlight — wiped with a soft cloth. Timber staircase with a turned balustrade — wiped down, treads vacuumed.

Through-reception. Two sash bay windows — front and rear. Four sash panels across the two bays, tracks vacuumed, glass cleaned. Two fireplaces: the front one with green Art Nouveau tiles and a carved wooden surround, the rear one sealed with a painted surround. pH-neutral on each tile, barely-damp on the iron insert, surrounds polished. Cornicing along both rooms — an egg-and-dart pattern, dusted with the extension brush. Sealed timber floors throughout — mopped with specialist product.

Kitchen. Separate rear room — a 3-year-old refit with integrated appliances. Bosch oven: door off, glass out, cavity sprayed, 20-minute dwell. One pass — the family cooked regularly but kept on top of things. Induction hob, wiped with glass-specific product. Extractor: ducted, filter out and soaked. Worktop: quartz, pH-neutral. Fridge-freezer: integrated, cleaned including gasket. The back door to the garden: track had 3 years of leaf litter from the mature ash tree at the end of the garden. Crevice vacuum, damp cloth, finger-test clean.

Upstairs. Bathroom — bath-shower combo with a glass screen. Limescale at ~260 ppm, 3 years from a family of four. Waterline needed two passes. Screen descaled, one pass. Taps done individually. Toilet under the rim. Floor mopped. Downstairs WC: straightforward.

Three bedrooms. The master at the front had a sash bay window (tracks done, glass cleaned), a built-in wardrobe (wiped inside), and sealed floorboards. One child's room had sticker residue on the wardrobe door — removed. The other child's room had a small crayon mark on the skirting — cleaned. The box room was used as a home office — desk wiped, cable area cleaned.

4 hours 20 minutes. Communal areas not applicable — whole house.

Stanford Estates came the next morning. Their Hither Green lettings negotiator works from the Staplehurst Road office and knows every Edwardian terrace on these streets. Hallway tiles: inspected closely. Fanlight: checked. Both fireplaces: tiles finger-tested, surrounds inspected. Bay tracks: finger-tested across all four panels. Kitchen: oven torched, extractor filter checked (clean). Back-door track: tested. Waterline: gone. Kids' marks: resolved. Passed.

Deposit back in 8 days. Full return. The family were staying in SE13 — moving to a bigger house on the Lee border, still in catchment.

That's a standard Hither Green job. Edwardian features in every room, an agent who knows what they're looking at, and a family who stayed long enough for the oven and the waterline to need proper work. The period features are the reason the rent is £2,000/month rather than £1,600. They're also the reason the checkout takes longer than a post-war house in Catford. Our guide on deposit dispute evidence explains how we document period features so the deposit comes back for the right reasons.