End of Tenancy Cleaning in Surbiton

An Edwardian semi on one of the residential streets between Maple Road and the station — the kind of street where the houses have front gardens with hedges rather than walls and you can hear the fast train to Waterloo pulling in from the front bedroom. Three beds upstairs, a bathroom, a through-reception with a bay, a separate rear kitchen with a door to the garden, and a downstairs WC. Family of four — two children at Tiffin Prep, working toward the grammar school places — 5 years at £2,600/month. Hawes & Co managing from their Victoria Road office.

Parked on the street outside. Free — this road is unrestricted.

Kitchen first. A separate room at the rear of the house, about 12ft by 10ft. A Bosch freestanding cooker, gas. Pulled it forward. Five years of family cooking behind — a thick compound of grease and dust on the wall and skirting. Scraped first, then alkaline degreaser, two passes on the skirting. The oven needed two passes on both cavities — 5 years, four people, Sunday roasts and school-night dinners. Hob: four burners, caps off, soaked. Extractor hood: filter soaked for the full job. Granite worktops: pH-neutral. Cupboards wiped inside — the upper cupboards had a grease film on the external tops that comes from 5 years of cooking steam rising. Fridge-freezer cleaned including gasket. Floor: original quarry tiles, pH-neutral mop. The back-door threshold had a line of garden debris — 5 years of leaves, soil, and the fine chalk dust that comes off the paths in this part of KT6.

Through-reception. A front bay window — three panes, original timber frame. Glass cleaned, tracks vacuumed. The fireplace: a tiled surround, brown Edwardian tiles with a geometric pattern, a cast-iron register grate, and a wooden mantel. pH-neutral on each tile (the glaze is original, crazing visible in two places — photographed as age). Barely-damp on the iron. Mantel polished. Cornicing: a simple dentil pattern, dusted with the extension brush. Original timber floors — sealed, narrow boards, mopped with specialist product. Radiators cleaned behind.

Downstairs WC. Straightforward. Toilet, basin, floor.

Upstairs. Bathroom — bath-shower combo with a glass screen. Limescale at ~260 ppm, 5 years, family of four. Waterline: heavy, two passes. Screen: two passes. Taps done. Toilet done. Floor: black-and-white chequerboard, pH-neutral.

Three bedrooms. All with original timber floors. Master at the front with the bay — tracks done, wardrobe wiped inside. Children's rooms: one had Blu-Tack marks across two walls (all removed), the other had a small pencil drawing on the skirting (cleaned). The rear bedroom had condensation dust on the sill — the single-glazed sash window at the back of an Edwardian house, same as every property of this age.

5 hours. The oven and the bathroom were the heaviest items.

Hawes & Co came the next morning. Their Surbiton lettings manager — Laurie-Ann, Victoria Road office, knows every Edwardian semi in KT6. Kitchen: oven opened, both cavities torched, back wall checked. Granite inspected. Quarry tiles walked. Extractor filter checked. Cupboard tops finger-tested. Through-reception: fireplace tiles checked, crazing noted and accepted. Floor walked. Cornicing inspected. Bay tracks finger-tested. Bathroom: waterline confirmed clear, screen tested at angle. Children's marks: resolved. Passed.

Deposit back in 10 days. Full return. The family were moving to a 4-bed detached on the other side of Claremont Road — upgrading, staying in catchment, still walking distance to the prep school.

Five years in a 3-bed Edwardian with two children produces a specific cleaning profile: a heavy oven, a scaled bathroom, grease film on the cupboard tops, and children's marks. None of that is unusual and none of it is unreasonable. The tile crazing and the condensation dust are the property, not the tenant. Our guide on deposit dispute evidence explains how we document period properties where age and use overlap.