End of Tenancy Cleaning in Plaistow

A Victorian mid-terrace on one of the streets between Barking Road and Plaistow Park — about 5 minutes from the tube. Three beds upstairs, a bathroom, a through-lounge, a separate rear kitchen, and a small garden. Extended family — grandparents, parents, two children — 4 years at £1,800/month. Sandra Davidson managing.

Parked one street over. Free. E13 side streets are unrestricted.

Kitchen first. This was the heaviest kitchen we'd done in Plaistow in months. Four years of daily cooking for an extended family — South Asian cuisine, spices every day. A Belling freestanding cooker, gas. Pulled it forward. The wall behind was dark brown, not just grease but a compound of ghee and turmeric baked onto the surface over years. Scraped first, then alkaline degreaser, two passes. The skirting needed a third pass. Both oven cavities sprayed — these were heavy. 20-minute dwell, then a second spray and another 20 minutes on the lower cavity. The hob: six burners, caps off. Each cap soaked. The ceiling directly above the cooker had a yellow-orange discolouration from turmeric steam rising over 4 years. Degreased — the surface stain lifted, but a faint yellow shadow remained in the paint. Photographed it. That's 4 years of daily spice cooking in a small room with a basic extractor. The paint has absorbed it.

The extractor hood was the worst single item. The filter was beyond cleaning — we soaked it for the full 5-hour job and it improved but didn't come clean. Noted it as needing replacement. Landlord cost. Grout around the splashback tiles had yellow turmeric embedded in the porous surface. Cleaned as far as possible, photographed the rest. Fridge cleaned. Floor degreased — vinyl, colour change noticeable.

Through-lounge. No special features — carpet vacuumed, radiators cleaned, windows cleaned. Straightforward.

Upstairs. Bathroom — bath-shower combo with a plastic curtain (removed by tenant). Limescale at ~275 ppm, 4 years, extended family. Waterline heavy — three passes. Taps done. Toilet done. Floor mopped.

Three bedrooms. All carpet, all straightforward. One child's room had crayon marks on the wall — cleaned off. The grandparents' room had a small incense-smoke residue on the ceiling near the window — wiped down.

Sandra Davidson came the next afternoon. Their Plaistow lettings manager knows these terraces well. Kitchen: oven opened — both cavities clean after our double pass. Ceiling: turmeric shadow noted, paint absorption accepted. Extractor filter: replacement noted. Grout: embedded turmeric accepted as wear. Waterline: gone. Kids' marks: resolved. Passed.

Deposit back in 9 days. One small deduction for the extractor filter — fair, it needed replacing. Everything else returned.

That's Plaistow. Extended families who cook daily for 4 years in compact Victorian kitchens produce the heaviest kitchen cleans in our coverage. The oven takes longer, the ceiling takes longer, and the grout is a conversation between the cleaner, the agent, and the deposit. We clean what comes off and document what's absorbed. If the turmeric grout had been charged to the tenant as damage rather than wear, our photos would have been the evidence. Our guide on deposit dispute evidence explains how that works.