End of Tenancy Cleaning in Isle of Dogs

22nd floor of a tower on Marsh Wall — one of the 40-storey buildings between South Quay DLR and the Thames. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open-plan kitchen-living space with a south-facing balcony and a wall of floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the river. A finance professional on a 2-year corporate let at £2,600/month. JOHNS&CO managing. The relocation company — Cartus — had coordinated the checkout for the following morning. Digital tablet inventory.

Concierge parking in the underground bay — pre-booked the day before. Goods lift to the 22nd floor. Registered as tradespeople at the front desk. The concierge gave us the time slot: 09:00–14:00.

Open-plan first. The glass wall ran the full width of the south side — about 18ft of floor-to-ceiling panels, each about 6ft wide. Interior glass cleaned, frames wiped. From the 22nd floor, the O2 dome was visible across the river. The glass was mostly clean — corporate tenants in these buildings tend to maintain the surfaces — but the lower edges had a fine film where condensation sits overnight. Detailed attention on the bottom 12 inches of each panel.

The kitchen occupied the near end of the open plan. Integrated Siemens oven — door off, glass out, cavity sprayed, 20-minute dwell. One pass — 2-year corporate tenant, well-maintained. Induction hob flush into a quartz island, wiped with glass-specific product. Dishwasher: interior wiped, filter cleaned. Fridge-freezer: integrated, cleaned including gasket. Extractor: recirculating, filter panel soaked. The quartz worktops with pH-neutral. Floor: porcelain tile, mopped with pH-neutral.

The balcony — south-facing, Thames view. A fine layer of river silt on the balcony tiles and the glass balustrade. Swept, wiped. The sliding-door threshold track: vacuumed and wiped. The silt is tidal Thames particulate — it settles on every south-facing surface on the peninsula. We cleaned the interior and documented the exterior residue as environmental.

Two bathrooms. The en-suite had a walk-in rainfall shower with a large glass panel. Limescale at ~275 ppm, 2 years. Descaler, 10-minute dwell, one pass. Basin, toilet, floor — all done. The main bathroom had a bath-shower combo with a glass screen. Waterline light — single occupant. Screen descaled. Both bathrooms: chrome polished dry, porcelain floor mopped.

Two bedrooms. Both with floor-to-ceiling glass (already done from the open-plan pass), built-in wardrobes (wiped inside), and engineered timber floors (specialist product, barely-damp).

JOHNS&CO came the next morning with the Cartus relocation coordinator. Digital checkout on a tablet — each room photographed, each surface scored. Kitchen: oven opened, hob checked, worktop inspected. Glass wall: checked from multiple angles. Balcony: silt noted as environmental. Bathrooms: shower panel angle-tested, waterline confirmed clear. Wardrobes: opened and inspected. Floors: walked. 15 minutes. Passed.

Deposit processed via Cartus in 5 working days. Full return. The tenant was relocating to Singapore — contract ended, company moving them.

That's the Isle of Dogs checkout. Corporate, digital, fast — but only fast because the clean was thorough enough that nothing needed flagging. If the Thames silt or the glass condensation film had been disputed, our documentation would have shown both were environmental. Our guide on deposit dispute evidence explains the corporate-let documentation process.