End of Tenancy Cleaning in West Norwood

A Victorian mid-terrace on one of the tree-lined streets between Norwood Road and the cemetery — about 6 minutes from West Norwood station. Three beds upstairs, a bathroom, a through-reception, a rear kitchen extension with doors to the garden, and a downstairs WC. Family — two children at Elm Wood Primary — 4 years at £1,900/month. Pedder managing from their West Norwood office.

Parked two streets over. Free. The residential roads away from Norwood Road are unrestricted.

Kitchen first. A rear extension, about 14ft by 10ft, with French doors to the garden. A Zanussi freestanding cooker, gas. Pulled it forward — 4 years behind. Standard compound: grease, dust, the usual. Scraped the skirting, degreased, two passes. Both ovens sprayed, 20-minute dwell. Lower oven needed a second pass. Hob done, four burners. Extractor hood filter soaked. Granite worktop — pH-neutral. Cupboards wiped inside. Fridge-freezer cleaned. Floor: ceramic tile, pH-neutral mop. French door threshold had garden debris — nothing unusual, seasonal leaf from the back garden.

The rear wall of the kitchen extension had a damp patch about 18 inches up from the floor, near the corner where the extension meets the original house. Not mould — just a damp shadow that comes from being in the bottom of a bowl where rainwater collects against the foundations. Photographed it. The paint was slightly discoloured but intact. That's the topography.

Through-reception. Bay window at front — three panes, tracks vacuumed. No fireplace — sealed and plastered over. Carpet vacuumed. Radiators cleaned. Skirting wiped. The reception ceiling had a hairline crack along the junction between original plaster and a later skim coat. Photographed. Not cleaning territory — that's the building settling.

Downstairs WC. Straightforward. Toilet, basin, floor.

Upstairs. Bathroom — bath-shower combo with a tiled surround and a glass screen. Limescale at ~265 ppm, 4 years, family of four. Waterline: two passes. Screen: one pass. Taps done. Toilet done. Floor mopped. No mould — the bathroom had a window.

Three bedrooms. All carpet, all straightforward. One child's room had sticker residue on the wardrobe — removed. The front bedroom had condensation marks on the single-glazed sash window at the bottom rail — wiped. The rear bedroom overlooked the cemetery — the sill had a fine layer of leaf dust from the mature trees that overhang the garden fence. Cleaned.

4 hours 15 minutes. The kitchen extension damp and the ceiling crack were the documentation items. Everything else was standard Victorian terrace work.

Pedder came the next morning. Their SE27 lettings negotiator — she covers every terraced street between Norwood Road and Knights Hill. Kitchen: oven opened, both cavities torched. Damp patch: photographed, accepted as topographic. Granite inspected. Floor checked. Through-reception: ceiling crack noted as structural. Bay tracks: finger-tested. Waterline: gone. Screen: clear. Cemetery-side sill: clean. Sticker: resolved. About 10 minutes. Passed.

Deposit back in 8 days. Full return. The family were moving to a 4-bed on the other side of Tulse Hill — more space, slightly higher up the bowl, still close to Elm Wood.

The bowl-position damp is what makes West Norwood cleaning different from Streatham or Herne Hill. Both areas have the same Victorian stock, but West Norwood's topography creates a moisture profile that doesn't exist on flat ground. The kitchen extension damp patch and the rear-bedroom cemetery-leaf sill are both environmental — one is water, one is trees. Neither is the tenant. Our guide on deposit dispute evidence covers how we document topographic and proximity issues.