End of Tenancy Cleaning in Whitechapel

A second-floor flat in a converted Victorian brewery off Fieldgate Street — a 4-minute walk from Whitechapel Elizabeth Line station, 6 minutes from the Royal London Hospital. The building was Grade II listed: original brickwork, steel structural columns, and arched window openings retained during the residential conversion. Two bedrooms (proper rooms with doors, not Shoreditch-style open sleeping platforms), an open-plan kitchen-living room with a double-height ceiling over the living area, a bathroom, and access via a communal staircase with a goods lift. The tenant — a brand strategist at an agency in Farringdon — had rented for 2 years at £2,400/month. Managed by Dexters (City office, covers Whitechapel, Aldgate, and Spitalfields).

The building had a concierge during office hours and a goods lift. Equipment went up in the lift — the communal staircase was original industrial with steel treads, not ideal for carrying a full vacuum and mop bucket.

The kitchen-living room was the main space. The kitchen was fitted along the rear wall — a long run of handleless grey cabinets with a quartz island, integrated Siemens oven and induction hob, and a canopy extractor. Behind the upper cabinets: the exposed brick wall of the original brewery, sealed with a clear matt sealant. The brick was warm London stock — yellowy-brown, with the original mortar joints visible.

Oven first. Integrated behind a cabinet door — we opened the cabinet, removed the door glass (inner pane with 2 years of a single person who cooked regularly), sprayed both cavities, left 20 minutes. The induction hob was cleaned with ceramic cleaner — no residue on the glass surface. Extractor filter slid out and soaked. The quartz island and worktops cleaned with pH-neutral product.

The exposed brick behind the kitchen was the careful bit. Sealed, so a damp cloth was fine — but we made sure no alkaline degreaser or descaler splashed or pooled against the brick surface. Even on sealed brick, acidic or alkaline product can leave a mark if it sits. We cleaned the splashback area between the worktop and the upper cabinets with a wrung-out cloth only, working horizontally to avoid drips running down the brick face.

The living area had the double-height ceiling — about 4.5 metres at the apex, with the original arched window opening now fitted with a steel-framed window spanning almost the full wall. That's a lot of glass. We cleaned it in two stages: the lower section (reachable from the floor) with specialist glass cleaner and squeegee, and the upper section (above about 2.5m) with the extension pole. The steel frame was wiped with a damp cloth — no abrasive, no spray directly onto the metal. Total window time: 25 minutes for one window. Standard apartments: about 5 minutes.

The double-height ceiling had cobwebs in the upper corners and along the junction between the brick wall and the ceiling. Extension pole with the cobweb brush attachment. The lower walls (exposed brick throughout the living area) were dusted with a soft brush and any marks spot-checked with a damp cloth.

The polished concrete floor ran throughout the open-plan space — a light grey poured finish with a matt seal. Mopped with pH-neutral product only. We'd had one experience early on where a team member used standard degreaser on polished concrete in a Shoreditch loft and it left a cloudy patch — lesson learned. pH-neutral, barely-damp mop, and the sheen stays consistent.

Two bedrooms. The master (rear-facing, quieter side) had standard plasterwork (not exposed brick — the bedrooms were partitioned during the conversion with new stud walls). Carpet vacuumed, built-in wardrobe wiped inside. The second bedroom (also plastered walls, also carpeted) was used as a home office — desk wiped, cable area cleared of dust. Both rooms had the original steel-framed windows (smaller than the living room's arched window but still more glass than a standard sash). Each cleaned, frames wiped.

The bathroom was a modern installation — walk-in shower with a rainfall head and a frameless glass panel, wall-hung basin, wall-hung toilet. Limescale at ~270 ppm. Phosphoric acid on the shower glass, 10-minute dwell, one pass — clear. The rainfall head had visible scale on the underside — we soaked a cloth in descaler and wrapped it around the head for the dwell time (you can't just spray upward). Taps descaled. Wall-hung fixtures cleaned underneath. Floor mopped including behind the toilet.

The communal areas: tenant's front door wiped both sides, the landing outside the flat swept. The goods lift wiped down after use (building management requirement — we left it as we found it).

Dexters City inspected the next morning. They manage several flats in this building and know the listed features. They checked the exposed brick first — no product marks, no drips, no discolouration (passed). The polished concrete floor: consistent sheen, no cloudy patches (passed). The arched window: glass clear top to bottom, steel frame clean (passed). The oven glass between panes (clean). The rainfall shower head (descaled). The wall-hung fixtures (clean underneath). Everything passed. Deposit returned within 8 days. No deductions.

The tenant had worried about the listed features — she'd read online that brewery conversions can be tricky at checkout because the surfaces are non-standard. Having a cleaning team that knew the materials made the difference. That's exactly the kind of situation where getting a professional clean protects your deposit better than attempting it yourself — the risk of damaging a listed surface with the wrong product is real, and landlord cleaning charges on a Grade II listed flat would be eye-watering.