End of Tenancy Cleaning in Rotherhithe

We had a fourth-floor dockside apartment in one of the blocks overlooking Greenland Dock — the marina side, where the sailing boats are moored and the water catches the light in the mornings. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open-plan kitchen-living space with a balcony facing the water. A couple — one working in Canary Wharf (one Jubilee stop from Canada Water), one working from home — 2 years at £2,200/month. Oliver Jaques managing from their Surrey Quays branch.

Visitor parking pre-booked via building management. Goods lift to the fourth floor.

The open-plan space ran about 22ft with floor-to-ceiling glass on the dock side. The water was right there — you could see the masts of the marina boats and the path along Greenland Dock. Interior glass cleaned, frames wiped. The lower edges of the glass had the same condensation film we see in every dockside and riverside apartment — the glass is cold near the floor slab, moisture settles overnight, and over time a fine film builds up that regular window cleaning misses. Detailed attention on the bottom 10 inches.

Kitchen at the near end — integrated oven (Bosch), induction hob in a quartz worktop, flush extractor. Oven: door off, glass out, spray, 20 minutes, one pass. Hob wiped. Extractor filter soaked. Quartz with pH-neutral. Fridge-freezer cleaned. Floor: engineered timber, specialist product.

The balcony — dock-facing, south-east aspect. A fine layer of particulate on the balcony tiles — not quite the Thames tidal silt we see at Isle of Dogs (this is dock water, not river water, so it's lighter), but still noticeable. Swept, glass balustrade wiped. The sliding-door threshold track: vacuumed and wiped. The dock-side moisture in the track was lighter than a Thames-side track but still enough to need the crevice tool.

Two bathrooms. The en-suite had a walk-in shower with a glass panel. Limescale at ~265 ppm, 2 years. Descaler, 10-minute dwell, one pass. The main bathroom had a bath-shower combo with a screen. Waterline light — couple, no kids. Both bathrooms: taps done, toilets done, chrome polished, floors mopped.

Two bedrooms. Both with engineered timber floors, built-in wardrobes, and windows with dock or courtyard views. Wardrobes wiped inside, windows cleaned.

Oliver Jaques came the next morning. Their SE16 lettings negotiator — Gina, 20+ years at the Surrey Quays branch — walked through with a clipboard. Glass wall: checked, lower edges noted as clear. Kitchen: oven opened, quartz inspected. Balcony: particulate gone, track tested. Bathrooms: screen checked, waterline confirmed clear. Wardrobes: opened. Passed.

Deposit back in 7 days. Full return. The couple were moving to a bigger flat in the same development — staying in Rotherhithe, staying one stop from Canary Wharf.

That's the Rotherhithe dockside checkout. Modern, clean, water-adjacent. The dock moisture and the balcony particulate are the details that separate a dockside clean from an inland clean — same apartment layout, different environmental factors. If the particulate or the glass condensation had been disputed, our photos would have shown both were the dock, not the tenant. Our guide on deposit dispute evidence explains how we document waterside properties.