End of Tenancy Cleaning in Holloway

A split-level conversion in a Victorian terrace off Caledonian Road — first and second floors connected by an internal staircase. The tenant had been a London Met postgrad student for 16 months at £1,650/month. The landlord was re-letting to a professional couple at £1,950/month and wanted the property cleaned to a standard that matched the new rent. Managed by Black Katz (Islington office, 9 offices across London, founded in Hackney).

We started in the kitchen, as we always do. Open-plan kitchen-living room on the first floor — a common N7 layout where the kitchen runs along one wall with the living space behind it. The oven was a freestanding Indesit — we pulled it forward, cleaned the sides and the wall behind (grease runs down the back of the oven and collects against the wall, and in 16 months of student cooking there was a decent layer). The oven door glass was removed — both inner and outer panes, because grease gets between them and agents always check. Each cavity sprayed with professional oven degreaser, left to work for 20 minutes while we moved to the hob. Gas hob — each burner cap lifted, degreased individually, the hob surface cleaned around the burner mounts. The grill pan was burned — 15 minutes of paste degreaser. Total oven and hob time: 40 minutes.

Extractor filter removed and soaked in alkaline solution in the sink. The kitchen cupboards were mostly empty — we wiped every shelf, the inside of every door, and cleaned the hinges (grease collects on the hinge pins). Laminate worktops cleaned with non-abrasive cream — no scouring pads, which would leave scratch marks that get flagged as damage. The fridge-freezer was already empty: shelves removed, washed, dried, replaced. Door seals wiped — black mould was starting in the folds of the freezer seal, so we treated it with anti-mould spray. The splashback tiles behind the hob were degreased with alkaline cleaner. The kitchen floor mopped including under the edge where the kickboard meets the floor.

The bathroom was on the second floor — a compact room with a shower cubicle, basin, and toilet. The shower glass had moderate limescale at ~270 ppm. We applied phosphoric acid descaler and left it for 10 minutes before scrubbing with a non-scratch pad. One application got it clear. The taps were chrome-plated lever handles — descaled individually, polished with a dry microfibre until the reflection was clean. The toilet was cleaned inside the rim (limescale builds up under the rim where you can't see it without a mirror — we check with a torch). The grouting between the floor tiles had darkened — scrubbed with a grout brush and alkaline cleaner. The student had used those adhesive-mount shower caddies that leave marks on tiles — we removed the adhesive residue with specialist remover without damaging the tile surface.

The two bedrooms were on separate half-floors. The master on the first floor had a bay window with sash mechanism — tracks vacuumed with the crevice tool (16 months of dust packed into the channels), glass cleaned on both sides, paint edges wiped. Built-in wardrobe: shelves wiped, hanging rail cleaned, inside of door wiped. The second bedroom on the second floor was smaller, rear-facing. Both had carpet — vacuumed thoroughly including the edges where the carpet meets the skirting (hair and dust collect in this gap and agents check it).

The internal staircase connecting the two floors — the split-level feature — was vacuumed (carpeted treads) and the handrail wiped. The communal staircase from street level: tenant's front door wiped both sides, landing swept.

Skirting boards wiped their full length in every room. Light switches and door handles wiped in every room. Radiators vacuumed between the fins with the crevice tool and wiped on top. Cornicing in the living room and master bedroom dusted with an extendable soft brush.

Black Katz inspected the following morning. Two items they specifically checked: the oven door glass (clean between the panes — they held it up to the window), and the shower glass (clear, no residual scale). The grouting was noted as improved. The freezer seal mould was confirmed as treated. The adhesive marks from the shower caddies — gone. Passed. Deposit returned within 7 days. The landlord re-let at the higher rent the following week.