End of Tenancy Cleaning in Thornton Heath

We picked up this one on a Tuesday morning — a first-floor conversion in a Victorian terrace about 3 minutes from Brigstock Road. Two bedrooms, a living room, a compact galley kitchen, a bathroom, and a shared hallway downstairs. Two sharers, both nurses at Croydon University Hospital, had been in it 18 months. haart on Brigstock Road managing. New tenants moving in on Thursday, so the turnaround was tight.

Parked one street over. Free. Thornton Heath residential streets are usually fine outside the CPZ pockets.

Narrow stairs up to the first floor with our kit. The hallway was communal — front door wiped both sides, landing swept, light switch and banister wiped. Not our flat, but the agent checks it.

The kitchen was compact — maybe 6ft by 8ft, everything along one wall. A Beko slimline cooker, gas. The space behind it was barely accessible, so we angled the cooker out rather than pulling it straight forward. The wall had 18 months of grease — less than the family kitchens we see in Norbury or Finchley, but concentrated because the extraction was poor. A basic fan in the window, no proper hood. Cavities sprayed, 20-minute dwell. One pass cleared it. Hob done, cupboards wiped, fridge cleaned. The floor was lino — degreased, and the colour shift was noticeable even on an 18-month tenancy. A dull grey back to a cream-ish white.

The bathroom had no window. An internal room converted from what was probably part of the original landing. Extractor fan on a pull-cord. Mould in the ceiling corners and along the sealant line of the bath — the fan was running but it wasn't enough for a windowless room. Anti-mould spray, 10-minute dwell. The mould cleaned up on the tiles and the ceiling, but the sealant was discoloured permanently. We photographed it and noted it as a maintenance item — sealant replacement, not a cleaning issue. Descaler on the shower screen at ~265 ppm. One pass. Taps done. Toilet done. Floor mopped.

Two bedrooms. Both double. The front bedroom had a bay window — tracks vacuumed, glass cleaned. A wardrobe wiped inside. The rear bedroom overlooked the garden of the downstairs flat. Straightforward — surface wiped, carpet vacuumed, window cleaned.

The living room had original floorboards, sanded and sealed. Mopped with specialist wood product. A simple cornicing — dusted with the extension brush. A sealed fireplace with a painted surround — wiped.

Total time: 3 hours 20 minutes. We cleaned the communal hallway on the way out.

haart came that afternoon. Their Thornton Heath negotiator — she handles dozens of these conversions — moved quickly. Kitchen: oven opened and checked, floor colour noted, extraction fan acknowledged as basic. Bathroom: mould treated, sealant photographed and accepted as replacement item. Bay tracks: finger-tested. Floorboards: finish maintained. Communal hall: clean. Done in under 10 minutes. Passed.

The turnaround worked. New tenants checked in on Thursday. Deposit back in 8 days for both sharers. No deductions.

That's the pace of Thornton Heath. It's not the 5-hour Edwardian family house with the Rangemaster and the freestanding bath. It's a compact conversion that needs doing properly, quickly, and documented so the deposit comes back. The windowless bathroom mould is the kind of thing that catches people out — if your landlord tries to deduct for mould caused by a room with no window and a weak extractor, that's an unreasonable deduction. Our photos protect you.