End of Tenancy Cleaning in Sydenham

An Edwardian semi-detached villa on a tree-lined street off Mayow Road — a 3-minute walk from Mayow Park, 8 minutes from Sydenham Overground station. Three bedrooms across two upper floors, a double reception on the ground floor with a bay window and a ceiling rose, a kitchen-diner extension at the rear, a family bathroom, a downstairs WC, and a 60ft rear garden. The family — a secondary school teacher and an NHS project manager with one child starting school — had rented for 3 years at £2,200/month. Managed by Property World (Sydenham office on the High Street, a family-run independent).

The property was on the Lewisham side of the three-borough boundary — we'd confirmed at booking. Free parking on this residential street, van directly outside.

The kitchen-diner extension was the largest room in the house — a full-width rear addition with bifold doors to the garden, a skylight, and an island unit. A Rangemaster range cooker — two cavities plus a grill. We dismantled the door glass (inner pane had 3 years of family cooking between the layers), sprayed each cavity with professional degreaser, left 20 minutes. The Rangemaster's gas burner caps and heavy cast-iron pan supports were lifted and soaked in alkaline solution. The grill tray had 3 years of use — paste degreaser, 15 minutes. Total Rangemaster time: 55 minutes. The ceiling-mounted extractor had a push-release filter — removed and soaked.

The island unit had quartz worktops — cleaned with pH-neutral product. The bifold door tracks had 3 years of garden-to-kitchen traffic: soil, leaves, and the fine organic matter that drifts from the mature trees in Mayow Park and the gardens backing onto the park boundary. Crevice vacuum on the tracks, then wiped. The kitchen floor (large-format porcelain tiles) mopped with pH-neutral product.

The double reception on the ground floor was the period showpiece. A plaster ceiling rose in the front section — intricate floral design, about 60cm diameter, with dust caught in every petal and leaf detail. We dusted it with a soft brush on an extension pole, working from the outside edge toward the centre. The cornicing along all four walls was deep and ornate — running the extendable brush along the top edge and then the lower moulding. The bay window had original sash mechanism — tracks vacuumed (3 years of compacted dust, a visible ridge in the concave sections of the frame), glass cleaned both sides. A tiled fireplace: green art nouveau tiles with a cast-iron insert and a wooden mantel. Each tile wiped individually with pH-neutral product. Cast iron wiped with a barely-damp cloth (never wet). Mantel dusted and polished.

The rear section of the reception had a second sealed fireplace (painted surround, wiped) and stripped pine floorboards — mopped with specialist wood product, working with the grain. The hallway had encaustic floor tiles in a geometric pattern — swept and mopped with pH-neutral tile product.

Family bathroom on the first floor — a bath-shower combo with a glass screen. Limescale at ~265 ppm. Phosphoric acid descaler, 10-minute dwell on the screen, one pass, clear. Taps (traditional crosshead) descaled individually. Bath waterline ring treated. Toilet cleaned under the rim. The bathroom extractor fan cover removed, cleaned, replaced. Downstairs WC: basin, toilet, floor.

Three bedrooms. The master (first floor, front) had a decorative plaster cornice and a sealed fireplace. Bay window with sash — tracks vacuumed, glass cleaned. Built-in wardrobe wiped inside. The second bedroom (first floor, rear) was straightforward. The attic bedroom (second floor, converted loft with a Velux) — the Velux frame and seal cleaned, checked for mould (none — this was a well-ventilated conversion), sloped ceiling dusted from the highest point down.

The garden — 60ft, patio and lawn with a children's play area at the far end. Patio swept (park-boundary debris — mature tree canopy drops organic matter onto the closest gardens). The bifold door threshold cleaned. A plastic children's slide was left in the garden (tenant's item — noted for the agent).

Property World inspected two days later. Their Sydenham office is a 5-minute walk. They focused on the Rangemaster (both cavities, grill tray, door glass between panes — passed), the ceiling rose (dust-free), the bay window sash tracks (finger-test — clean), the fireplace tiles (clean, undamaged), and the Velux (clean, no mould). The encaustic hallway tiles were checked for cleaning residue (none — pH-neutral leaves nothing). Passed. Deposit returned within 8 days.