End of Tenancy Cleaning in Mottingham

Court Road runs along the edge of the playing fields and the houses on the west side look out across open grass toward the trees. It's the kind of view that makes you think you're not in London until a Southeastern train goes past behind the houses on the other side and reminds you. The semis are the standard Mottingham pattern — 1930s, hipped roofs, bay windows, driveways where front gardens used to be. This one had the added feature of a converted garage at the side that had been turned into a playroom, which meant four rooms on the ground floor instead of the usual three.

Three bedrooms, a front lounge, a rear kitchen-diner, the converted garage-playroom, a family bathroom, and front and back gardens. The family had been there 2 years — two parents, two children aged 6 and 4. He worked in the City, caught the train from Mottingham to London Bridge every morning. She worked part-time locally. £1,850 a month. Managed by Cockburn Estate Agents from their Mottingham office.

Parked on the driveway. No restrictions, no complications. The view across the playing fields was green and empty at 9.30am.

Kitchen-diner first. The dining room wall had been removed at some point, opening the kitchen into a rear reception space of about 15 sqm. A freestanding gas cooker — a Stoves Richmond 600, single oven, four burners. Two years of a family that cooked every evening. The oven was moderate — the even grease layer of a household that used it daily but cleaned it occasionally, which is different from one that was never cleaned and different from one that was cleaned after every roast. Single dwell on the cavity, one pass on everything. The roof needed a second pass where the grease had thickened around the fan housing. Hob cleaned, burner caps soaked.

Worktops — laminate — wiped. Sink descaled. Fridge-freezer cleaned. Inside all the cupboards. Under the sink: a bottle of Fairy, a cloth, and a small rubber duck. Floor — vinyl — mopped. Behind the cooker: pulled out, wall degreased. A crayon — purple — had rolled behind the cooker and melted slightly against the rear of the housing where the residual heat collected. It wasn't stuck, just softened. Picked up, placed on the counter. Kitchen total: 32 minutes.

The converted garage. About 10 sqm, carpeted, a UPVC window at the front where the garage door used to be. This was the play zone. The carpet had the specific kind of wear that comes from children playing on it every day — flattened in the middle, a couple of small stains, general compression. Vacuumed thoroughly. The walls had two scuff marks at about 80cm — the height of a toy being thrown or swung. Cleaned, the paint beneath was scuffed but not broken. Documented. A built-in shelving unit against one wall: wiped. Radiator done. The UPVC window had fingerprints on every pane at child height. Cleaned. 12 minutes.

Front lounge. Carpeted, vacuumed. Bay window — UPVC, cleaned. Gas fire in a modern surround — wiped. Radiator done. Skirting wiped. 10 minutes.

Bathroom. A white suite — bath with a thermostatic shower over and a folding glass screen, pedestal basin, close-coupled toilet. Two years of hard water and a family of four. The shower screen was a folding type — two panels that fold inward — which means four glass surfaces instead of two. Each panel descaled on both sides. The limescale was moderate — not the triple-descaler job of a 3-year tenancy, but enough to need proper dwell time on the lower sections. Taps — moderate crusts at the bases. Bath waterline — visible but not thick. Single descaler pass with manual attention at the tap end. Toilet — calcium below the waterline. Standard soak, manual scrubbing. Floor — vinyl — mopped. 24 minutes.

Three bedrooms. Master: carpeted, vacuumed, bay window at the front — UPVC, cleaned. Wardrobe — fitted, wiped inside. 10 minutes. Second bedroom: same layout, smaller. 8 minutes. Children's room: the room shared by the 6-year-old and the 4-year-old. Carpet vacuumed. UPVC window cleaned. The windowsill had a row of sticker residue marks — not the stickers themselves, which the tenants had removed, but the outlines. Five small circular residue marks in a row, equally spaced, each about 3cm diameter. The pattern suggested star stickers — gold or silver, the reward-chart kind that teachers hand out and children bring home and stick on things. Each mark treated with adhesive remover. The UPVC cleaned up. Under one of the beds: a single sock, striped, children's size. Left on the counter with the rubber duck and the purple crayon. 11 minutes.

Stairs and hallway: carpeted, vacuumed. Front door wiped. 6 minutes.

Total time: 3.5 hours. Two people. A 3-bed 1930s semi with a converted garage, a gas oven, hard water, and the collected evidence of two children under 7 — a melted crayon, a rubber duck, a striped sock, five gold-star residue marks, and two toy-swing scuffs on the playroom wall. The house looked out over playing fields that the children had probably run across every weekend. The train that took their dad to the City ran behind the houses on the other side. Mottingham is the kind of place where people have children and then need more space, and the next step is either a 4-bed on the same street or a move to Chislehurst where the gardens are deeper and the council tax is higher.

Cockburn's negotiator arrived two days later. He walked from the Mottingham office, which was about four minutes away on the parade. He knew this house — he'd let it 2 years earlier.

Kitchen: oven opened, phone torch in. Second-pass zone on the roof checked. Clean. Tap base: touched. Smooth. Behind the cooker: he didn't pull it out. He crouched and looked at the wall from the side. Clean. The melted crayon was on the counter. He picked it up, looked at it, and put it back down.

Bathroom: the folding shower screen — he opened one panel, checked the inner fold where limescale hides in a folding screen. Clean. That's a check specific to a folding screen, and it told us he'd seen the residue in that fold before on other checkouts. Toilet crouched, torched. Clean. Taps touched. Smooth.

Playroom: he looked at the scuff marks on the wall. Photographed both. Carpet: he looked at the wear in the middle and at the two stains. He crouched and touched one of the stains. Flat, not raised, colour consistent. He noted it as fair wear.

Children's room: the star-sticker residue locations — he ran a finger along the sill. Smooth. The sock, the duck, and the crayon were noted as tenant property.

Eleven minutes. Everything passed on the cleaning. The playroom wall scuffs and carpet wear were noted as fair wear. No deductions.

Deposit returned in full within 9 days. The family moved to a 4-bed detached in Chislehurst — the garden upgrade, the extra bedroom, the step up from Mottingham that families in SE9 have been making since the 1930s when both places were still being built. The rubber duck went with them. The star stickers would find a new windowsill. The purple crayon, softened by two winters behind a warm cooker, would probably never be used again, but it went into the box with everything else because you don't throw away a crayon that belongs to a 4-year-old, even one that's been half-melted.