End of Tenancy Cleaning in West Brompton

Finborough Road is a one-way street of white stucco terraces that runs south from the Earls Court end toward the Chelsea end, getting incrementally more expensive as it goes. The houses are four storeys plus a lower ground, built in the 1860s and 1870s, and most of them were converted into flats decades ago. We were doing the first floor of a mid-terrace — two bedrooms, a double reception room that ran front to back with a bay window at the street end, a kitchen in what had been a smaller rear room, a bathroom, and a hallway with a cupboard in it. The ceilings were about 3.2 metres, the sash windows were 6-over-6, and the cornicing had been there since the house was built.

The tenant was a consultant who worked in Canary Wharf and kept the flat immaculate but didn't clean the oven or descale the taps. Two years at £2,800 a month. Managed by Knight Frank Chelsea. Inventory checkout with their clerk booked for three days later.

Parked on Finborough Road via RingGo. RBKC zone, Mon-Sat. Found a space four houses along from the property. Carried the kit up the communal stair to the first-floor landing and in through the flat's front door.

The double reception room first, because it had the most features. The bay window at the front: three tall sash windows, each with 6-over-6 panes. That's 36 panes per window, 108 panes total, plus the glazing bars between them. Each pane cleaned, each glazing bar wiped. The rear window was a single sash, 4-over-4. Total window time in this one room: 18 minutes.

The fireplace. The reception room had a marble fireplace — a white Carrara surround with grey veining, a cast-iron insert with a register plate, and a slate hearth. The marble had a water ring from where a plant pot had sat without a saucer, and a faint wine-glass etch near one corner of the mantelpiece. The water ring was on the surface and came out with a targeted marble cleaner and careful buffing. The wine-glass mark was in the stone — a light calcium deposit from where condensation had run down the glass and sat. We reduced it but it didn't fully clear. Documented as cosmetic wear. Iron insert cleaned dry. Hearth vacuumed and wiped. 12 minutes.

The room had a ceiling rose, a picture rail running the full perimeter, and cornicing at the junction of the walls and the 3.2-metre ceiling. Extension pole for the cobwebs at the cornice. Picture rail wiped on the top surface where dust collects. Ceiling rose dusted. The floor was original timber boards, sanded and lacquered. Barely-damp mopped with specialist product. 10 minutes for all the features above floor level.

The kitchen. A rear room, about 9 sqm, refitted with integrated appliances behind handleless units. An integrated Siemens oven — two years of a consultant who cooked properly on the weekends and ate out during the week. The oven was moderate — a steady, even grease layer, darker around the fan at the back. Single dwell, one pass, 16 minutes. Induction hob in a stone worktop — clean except for one ring from a heavy cast-iron pan. Ceramic product, gone. Worktop wiped. Sink descaled. The kitchen had been fitted into the period room, and above the wall units the original cornicing continued as if the kitchen had never been installed. Cornicing dusted above the units. 35 minutes total.

Bathroom. A modern refit — walk-in shower with a frameless glass screen, wall-hung basin, wall-hung toilet, stone floor tiles. The shower glass had a light limescale haze. Descaler, dwell, one pass. Taps descaled. Toilet light. Floor tiles mopped with pH-neutral product. The bathroom also had period cornicing. 22 minutes.

Two bedrooms. The front bedroom: carpeted, vacuumed, sash window cleaned — 4-over-4, 16 panes. Built-in wardrobe wiped inside. 14 minutes. The rear bedroom: carpeted, vacuumed, casement window cleaned. A smaller room used as a study-bedroom. 10 minutes.

Hallway: original timber floor mopped. The cupboard contained the boiler and a vacuum cleaner the tenant had left behind. Noted for collection. Front door wiped. Communal landing outside the flat door: not in scope for this tenancy. 5 minutes.

Total time: 3.5 hours. Two people. A 2-bed first-floor conversion in a Victorian stucco terrace with 3.2-metre ceilings, 6-over-6 sash windows, a marble fireplace, and a Siemens oven. The windows took 32 minutes across the whole flat. The fireplace took 12 minutes. The cornicing and period details added about 15 minutes. Without the period features, this flat would have been a 2 hour 40 minute job. The features are why it's a 3.5-hour job and why it costs what it costs.

Knight Frank's clerk arrived three days later. He covered the Chelsea and West Brompton patch and had been inside this building before. He started in the double reception room.

Fireplace: marble inspected at close range. The water ring location checked — gone. The wine-glass etch: he ran a finger across it and looked at the angle. Still faintly visible. He noted it as cosmetic surface wear on the marble, photographed it, and moved on. It wasn't flagged as a cleaning issue. It was stone wear. The distinction matters and the experienced clerks know it.

Windows: he checked one sash from each set — one pane from the bay, one from the rear window. Clean. Cornicing: he looked up from the centre of the room. No cobwebs. Picture rail: finger-tested. Floor: sock-tested.

Kitchen: oven opened, phone torch in. Pan-ring location on the hob checked. Cornicing above the units checked. Bathroom: shower glass angle-tested. Bedrooms: wardrobes opened. He checked the window hardware — whether the sash locks were in the right position. That's a checkout detail we've only seen from the RBKC agents.

Eleven minutes. Everything passed on the cleaning items. The wine-glass etch was noted as cosmetic marble wear. The vacuum cleaner was noted for tenant collection.

Deposit returned in full within 7 days. The consultant moved to a 1-bed closer to the Jubilee line. The marble fireplace stayed on Finborough Road with the wine-glass mark that told you someone had once sat on the sofa with a glass of white wine and set it down on the mantelpiece without thinking about what stone does when moisture sits on it. That's not a cleaning issue. That's a Tuesday evening.