End of Tenancy Cleaning in Uxbridge

A Victorian terrace on one of the streets off Cleveland Road — about a 7-minute walk from Brunel campus, 12 from Uxbridge station. Five double bedrooms across three floors, a shared kitchen on the ground floor, three bathrooms (one per floor), and a small paved yard at the back. Five students leaving after a 12-month tenancy. Managed by Andrews Residential on Crescent Parade. Room-by-room checkout booked for the following morning.

Parked on the street. Free. The Brunel streets are unrestricted.

Kitchen first — always the worst room in a student HMO. Five people cooking daily for 12 months. A freestanding Belling cooker, gas. Pulled it forward. The wall behind had a year's worth of grease from five different cooking styles — the skirting was dark brown. Scraped, then alkaline degreaser, two passes. Both cavities sprayed, 20-minute dwell. The lower oven needed a second pass. Gas hob, five burners, each cap off and soaked. The extractor was clogged solid — the filter had probably never been cleaned in the tenancy. Soaked in degreaser for the full job duration and wiped at the end. Cupboards: five people's worth of spillage on every shelf. Fridge: the gasket had mould. Folded back, cleaned inside. Floor: vinyl, degreased — colour went from a murky grey to its original beige.

Three bathrooms. The ground-floor bathroom was the heaviest-use — closest to the kitchen, shared by everyone for hand-washing and the occasional shower. Mould in the ceiling corner (no extractor fan, just a window). Anti-mould spray, 10-minute dwell. Descaler on the shower screen at ~265 ppm. The first-floor bathroom was moderate. The second-floor bathroom was the lightest-use — only one bedroom on that floor. Each bathroom got the full treatment: screen descaled, taps done individually, bath waterline treated, toilet under the rim, floor mopped, chrome polished. Total bathroom time across three rooms: about 80 minutes.

Five bedrooms. Each room cleaned to checkout standard: wardrobe wiped inside, desk surface wiped, window cleaned (tracks vacuumed), carpet vacuumed, all surfaces wiped, radiator cleaned. Documented each room separately with before-and-after context. Room 3 had a small burn mark on the desk from a hair straightener — photographed and documented as tenant damage, not a cleaning issue. Room 5 had Blu-Tack marks across one wall — all removed.

The communal hallway and landing: swept, wiped, front door cleaned both sides.

Andrews Residential came the next morning with a checklist per room. Their negotiator worked through each bedroom individually: wardrobe open, surfaces wiped, window tracks finger-tested. Kitchen: oven checked (both cavities torched), floor colour change noted, extractor filter inspected (clean). Bathrooms: screen tested per floor, mould ceiling noted and accepted as ventilation issue (no extractor fan). Burn mark in Room 3: documented as damage, deducted from that tenant's deposit only. All other rooms: passed.

Five deposits processed separately. Four came back in full within 10 days. Room 3 had a small deduction for the desk burn — fair, documented. That's how HMO checkouts should work: individual documentation, individual accountability.

If the communal kitchen grease or the mould had been charged to all five tenants equally, that wouldn't be fair — the mould was a ventilation issue and the kitchen is communal. Our guide on unreasonable deductions covers these shared-tenancy situations, and our deposit dispute evidence guide explains how per-room documentation protects individual tenants.