End of tenancy cleaning throughout Acre Lane

End of tenancy cleaning on Acre Lane starts at £156 for a studio and is built to pass a Lambeth inventory check-out first time, deposit intact, backed by our 48-hour re-clean guarantee. We have worked the SW2 stretch between Brixton and Clapham since 2014, and we treat the Brixton-end period conversions, the Art Deco blocks in the middle and the newer Ivor House and Lexadon builds as three different jobs, because they are. Fixed quotes on 0333 555 2076 or [email protected].

Last updated May 2026. We cover every postcode on Acre Lane, SW2 5TN, 5TH, 5TU, 5TX, 5RS, 5RA, 5RJ, 5QN, 5SG, 5SP, 5SQ, 5UA, 5UG, 5UL, 5UQ and 5UT, plus the surrounding Brixton Hill, Clapham Park and Ferndale streets. Parent hub: end of tenancy cleaning in Lambeth.

The road from Brixton to Clapham

Acre Lane runs a little over a kilometre, dead straight, from the foot of Brixton Hill to the edge of Clapham Old Town. At the Brixton end it starts under the clock tower of Lambeth Town Hall, which sits right on the corner of Brixton Hill and Acre Lane. Halfway along you pass the old Sunlight Laundry at number 125, a white Art Deco block from 1937 that once washed 200,000 items a week and is still the landmark people use to give directions. By the far end the SW2 postcode has given way to Clapham Park and the SW4 border, the shopfronts thin out, and the housing turns from converted terraces into a mix of mansion blocks and bigger family houses.

That matters for a clean more than it sounds. One road, two markets. A one-bed conversion at the Brixton end and a four-bed share at the Clapham Park end are inspected by the same kind of clerk against the same kind of report, but almost nothing about the actual cleaning is the same.

The buses tell you where you are. The 35, 37 and P5 run the whole length; the 137 and 417 pick up at the Brixton end near the town hall.

This page walks the road the way we work it, end to end. It covers why deposits get held back here, the licence almost every landlord on the street now has to hold, the five very different kinds of flat we clean along it, exactly what goes into the 57-point clean, what the inventory clerk reaches for first, and what the job costs. If you only want the price, skip to the pricing section; if you are mid-dispute, the housing-advice link is near the end.

What a failed check-out costs here

The short version: the stakes are high and the scrutiny is higher. ONS data for Lambeth puts the average private rent at £2,522 a month as of February 2026, up 7.2% on the year, which is a sharper jump than London as a whole at 1.7%. On Acre Lane the mix runs from one-bed conversions around £1,650 to £1,850 a month up to two-beds pushing £2,400 to £3,100. Five weeks of that, the cap under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, is a deposit of roughly £2,900 to £3,800 sitting in a scheme with your name on it.

Landlords know you cannot shrug off that kind of sum, and they price the check-out accordingly. House prices say the same thing about how closely this stock gets watched. Rightmove house-price records put the Acre Lane twelve-month average at £439,933, ranging from about £330,000 at SW2 5TX up to £628,000 at SW2 5TN. When a flat is worth that, the freeholder and the agent are not in a forgiving mood about oven carbon or grout that has gone grey.

Three items account for most of the money clawed back in this postcode: the oven and extractor, limescale on shower screens and taps, and tile grout in the bathroom. None of them are difficult to get right. All of them are easy to miss if you are cleaning your own flat at 11pm the night before the clerk comes.

That is the whole case for paying someone. Not the cleaning itself, which you could do. The cost of getting one corner of it wrong.

The licence on your landlord’s wall

Since 1 September 2025 your Acre Lane landlord almost certainly holds a selective licence. The Brixton Acre Lane ward is one of 19 wards in Phase 2 of Lambeth’s Selective Licensing Scheme, which the council confirmed on 23 May 2025 and brought in that September. A licence now costs £1,025 per property from 1 April 2026, split into a £717.50 application fee and a £307.50 enforcement fee. It applies to virtually every privately rented home in the ward that is not already an HMO.

The reason this lands on your clean is paperwork. A licensed property has conditions attached to it on management, standards and the state of the place between tenancies, and the landlord has to be able to show the council it is meeting them. Your check-out report becomes part of that file. So the clerk is no longer being polite when they photograph the inside of the extractor; they are documenting a licensed property, and a slapdash hand-over can leave the landlord facing a civil penalty of up to £30,000 for a licence breach. That is why agents here will not sign off a flat that has not been cleaned properly.

There is a second scheme on top. Lambeth also runs a borough-wide Additional HMO licence, in force until 8 December 2026, covering any house in multiple occupation with three or more sharers from two or more households. A lot of the bigger three- and four-bed conversions on Acre Lane, Branksome Road and Ferndale Road fall into that net, which is why HMO check-outs here are held to the same paper-trail standard.

The law behind tenancies changed this spring too. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 took effect on 1 May 2026, abolishing Section 21 no-fault evictions and turning assured shorthold tenancies into open-ended periodic ones. One practical knock-on for deposits: a landlord can no longer quietly decline to renew a tenant who disputes an unfair deduction, so anything contested now goes through the deposit scheme on its merits. The incentive on the landlord is to build a watertight check-out, documented, photographed and professionally cleaned, and to do it every time.

Selective licensing

A council scheme requiring a licence for most private lets in a named ward. On Acre Lane it has applied since September 2025; you can look your address up on the Lambeth Council licensing page.

Check-in inventory

The dated, photographed report made when you moved in. The check-out clerk compares the flat against it, cleaning included, so the standard you are held to is the state it was in on day one.

Deposit scheme

The protected account your deposit must sit in. In England that is one of TDS, DPS or mydeposits. A cleaning dispute is decided by the scheme on the evidence both sides submit.

HMO

A house in multiple occupation, broadly three or more unrelated sharers. Many larger Acre Lane conversions are HMOs and carry their own Lambeth licence until December 2026.

Five kinds of flat on one street

For one road, the building stock is oddly mixed, and each type cleans differently. We bring different kit and a different order of work depending on which of these we are walking into.

• Period conversions on the side streets. Branksome Road, Ballater Road, Dalyell Road, Solon Road and Arodene Road are lined with Victorian and Edwardian terraces cut into flats. Sash runs, deep skirtings, cornices and original floorboards, all of which collect grime the regular hoover never reaches.
• Art Deco purpose-built blocks. Sandhurst Court is the best known, with crittall-style metal windows, parquet entrance halls and communal corridors a clerk walks through before they reach your door.
• Ex-factory warehouse lofts. The old piano works at Welmar Mews and the former lightbulb factory were turned into double-height flats with exposed brick, industrial extractor runs and polished concrete that you cannot mop like a kitchen floor.
• Modern blocks. Ivor House at 5 Acre Lane, Horseshoe Mews and the Lexadon schemes come with balconies, engineered flooring, integrated appliances and communal bike stores. Different surfaces, different chemicals.
• Ex-local-authority blocks toward Brixton Hill, usually three- and four-bed flats now let privately. Hard-wearing to clean, but big, so they take a full team a full day.

A period conversion needs the sash runners degreased, the cornices dusted down and the floorboards damp-buffed rather than wet-mopped, because soaking original boards warps them. A modern flat at Ivor House needs the integrated appliances pulled out, the balcony drain cleared and the engineered floor cleaned with a pH-neutral solution, never anything harsh. A warehouse loft at Welmar Mews needs the exposed ductwork wiped down, the industrial extractor degreased and the concrete sealed-floor treated properly. Same checklist, three different methods, and knowing which is which before we arrive is most of what twelve years on this road buys you.

The Art Deco blocks are their own thing again. The hard-water staining on a 1930s bathroom tile in Sandhurst Court is not the same as the scale on a new shower screen at Ivor House, and the crittall windows need a careful hand around the metal frames. We have cleaned Sandhurst Court enough times to know its quirks.

One road, two markets.

The 57-point clean, room by room

Every Acre Lane job runs against the same 57-point agent-approved checklist, the one we built from what Lambeth clerks actually flag rather than a generic spec off the internet. Here is what that means in practice, room by room.

Kitchen

• Oven dismantled: door glass inner and outer, racks, trays, fan cover, element, seals and base tray, then rebuilt
• Hob lifted, burners degreased, pan supports soaked, splashback polished
• Extractor hood grease filters pulled and degreased, carbon filter checked, housing wiped where the clerk runs a white cloth
• Microwave inside and out, including the greasy roof of the cavity
• Fridge-freezer emptied, defrosted, shelves and seals cleaned, back vent dusted
• Washing-machine drawer out, soap residue cleared, drum wiped, the folded door seal scrubbed of black mould
• Dishwasher filter, spray arms, door seal and cutlery basket
• Cupboards emptied, wiped inside and out, handles polished, plinths lifted for the dust underneath
• Worktops sealed and polished, including the join behind the taps where water pools
• Sink and taps descaled, tap heads off and soaked, plughole and waste flushed
• Tiles and grout treated for staining and mould, then polished
• Floor mopped to the right solution for the surface, skirting wiped, under-appliance dust cleared

Bathrooms

• Shower screen descaled both faces, hinges and brackets dried off
• Shower head and hose descaled, wall bracket polished
• Bath enamel polished, sealant checked and treated for mould
• Toilet cistern, pan under the rim and behind the base, seat hinges lifted, floor round the pedestal
• Basin, taps and pedestal descaled
• Tiles and grout cleaned to ceiling height, well above where the eye lands
• Extractor grille off, housing dusted, blades cleared
• Mirrors, light fittings and shaver points finished streak-free

Bedrooms and living areas

• Skirting boards full length in every room, behind doors included
• Switches, sockets and dimmers wiped
• Windows: sash frames, runners and sills on the conversions, tilt-and-turn frames on the modern blocks
• Reveals and curtain tracks dusted
• Radiator fins top to bottom, and the cast-iron rads in the period flats are a known deduction trap
• Picture rails, dado rails and cornices, common in the Branksome and Ballater terraces
• Fireplace surrounds and tiled hearths
• Built-in wardrobes: shelving, drawer runners, mirrored fronts
• Floorboards damp-buffed if original, engineered boards on a pH-neutral solution
• Carpets vacuumed, with deep extraction as a paid add-on
• Doors both faces, the always-dusty top edge, handles and hinges
• Ceiling cobwebs in corners and round fittings
• Exposed brick in the warehouse lofts brushed and vacuumed
• Balcony glazing cleaned on the inside face at Ivor House and Horseshoe Mews

Everywhere else

• Internal doors, frames and architraves top to bottom
• The entry intercom handset polished
• Hallway floors mopped, under the radiator included
• Loft hatch and access points dusted
• All glass and mirrors finished streak-free
• A final walk-through against the 57-point list before we hand back the keys

We bring everything: vacuums, steamers, chemicals, ladders, microfibres and our own water and power where a flat restricts it. You supply nothing. The point of the checklist is that nothing gets left to memory on a long day, and the final walk-through is where a tired team catches the one cupboard everybody forgot.

What the clerk photographs first

This list is drawn straight from check-out reports we have seen across Acre Lane over the last year, from Keating Estates, Foxtons Brixton, Eden Harper, Winkworth, Pedder, Kinleigh Folkard and Hayward, Oaks and Hunters. It is in rough order of how often the item costs a tenant money.

1. Oven and extractor hood. The single most deducted item, every time. The clerk lifts the hob, slides the oven out if it is on rollers, and wipes a white cloth under the extractor.
2. Limescale on shower screens and taps. SW2 is a hard-water postcode. The crittall screens in the Art Deco blocks are especially unforgiving.
3. Washing-machine door seal. The folded rubber trap that grows black mould. Almost always photographed.
4. Fridge-freezer seals and back vent. Dust on the condenser coil gets flagged on the integrated appliances in the newer blocks.
5. Skirting behind the sofa and bed. Clerks pull the furniture out. Assume nothing is hidden.
6. Window runners and sash rails. The original sashes on the side streets hold years of grit.
7. Bathroom grout. Specifically the bath-tile junction and the shower corners.
8. Inside the kitchen cupboards. Crumbs, oil splatter behind the hob unit, ring marks in the mugs cupboard.
9. Balcony glazing and drainage. Relevant at Ivor House, Horseshoe Mews and the Lexadon schemes.
10. Carpet at the thresholds. The Clapham Park end has a lot of sharers, and door-threshold wear is standard.
11. Light fittings. Dead flies in pendant shades. Every clerk looks.

The numbers behind our work are not marketing rounding. We hold a 97% first-time pass rate on Acre Lane and across the wider patch, which is the figure that matters most to a tenant who cannot afford a second hand-over. On the rare jobs where a clerk does flag something, the 48-hour re-clean guarantee means we come back and fix it free, no argument. Over twelve years we have helped tenants recover £1.2m in deposits that would otherwise have gone on cleaning deductions, and we are on the books of 300+ letting agents, including most of the names above.

Why the pass rate holds is simple. We clean to the clerk’s checklist, not to what looks clean from the doorway, because a flat that looks fine and fails on the extractor still loses you the money. It is the boring items, the ones nobody enjoys, that decide a check-out.

Prices on Acre Lane and how booking works

Flat-rate pricing, quoted firm and confirmed on arrival, no surprises on the day. These are the starting prices for Acre Lane flats.

Add-ons people book here most: double-oven deep clean £110, a 90cm range cooker £114, interior windows £35 to £70, upholstery steam clean from £40 for an armchair, £110 for a three-seater and £65 for a double mattress, and carpet deep extraction at £36 a bedroom or £115 for a whole two-bed. The full list is on our prices page.

End of tenancy versus deep clean versus regular clean

People mix these up, so here is the difference in plain terms. A regular domestic clean is weekly or fortnightly upkeep, from £22 an hour, and it wipes the oven down rather than stripping it. A deep clean resets a lived-in home, gets inside the cupboards and goes thorough on scale build-up, from £30 an hour per cleaner with a 48-hour guarantee. An end of tenancy clean is the only one built to return a flat to inventory-clean condition: the oven comes apart, every cupboard is emptied, the fridge and washing machine get moved, taps come off for descaling, and it carries the 48-hour re-clean guarantee. Fixed from £156 for a studio. Nine times out of ten on Acre Lane the agent expects the end of tenancy clean, and the deposit scheme wants to see the invoice for it.

If you are not sure which you need, call 0333 555 2076 with your tenancy agreement to hand and we will tell you straight.

Booking it

1. Tell us the basics. Phone or email with the postcode, the bed count, the block or conversion type, and your check-out date.
2. Get a fixed quote in writing, usually within the hour.
3. Hold the slot with a deposit or bank transfer. Most Acre Lane jobs we can fit within 48 hours.
4. We clean, a team of two to four, full kit, 5 to 9 hours depending on size.
5. Invoice the same day, itemised and ready for your deposit scheme. If the clerk flags anything within 48 hours, we are back free of charge.

Related services and nearby areas

Acre Lane tenants often book these alongside the clean:

• Oven deep clean, from £77 single, £110 double
• Carpet cleaning, £36 a bedroom, £43 a living room
• Upholstery cleaning, sofas, mattresses and armchairs
• Window cleaning, inside and out, £35 to £70 domestic
• Removals, studio £250, one-bed £320, two-bed £400
• After-builders cleaning, for the regularly refurbished Ivor House and Lexadon flats

We cover the streets either side of Acre Lane too, and the neighbouring areas down the road:

• Brixton (SW2 and SW9)
• Clapham (SW4)
• Streatham (SW16)
• Stockwell (SW9)
• Herne Hill (SE24)
• Tulse Hill (SW2)
• Parent hub: Lambeth end-of-tenancy

To book, call 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected] with your Acre Lane postcode, bed count and check-out date, and we will come back with a fixed written quote within the hour.

Frequently asked questions

How much does end of tenancy cleaning cost on Acre Lane?

Starting prices on Acre Lane are £207 for a studio, £207 for a one-bed flat, £243 for a two-bed, £339 for a three-bed and £345 for a four-bed house. Carpet deep extraction is a separate add-on. We quote fixed in writing, so there are no hourly surprises on the day.

Do you guarantee the deposit back?

We guarantee the clean. If your letting agent or inventory clerk flags any cleaning-related issue within 48 hours, we return free of charge and put it right. We hold a 97% first-time pass rate with 300+ partner agents, including those on Acre Lane. Damage and wear-and-tear are separate matters; we stand behind the cleaning only.

Is Acre Lane covered by Lambeth’s Selective Licensing?

Yes. The Brixton Acre Lane ward is one of 19 Phase 2 wards under Lambeth’s Selective Licensing Scheme, which went live on 1 September 2025. Your landlord is very likely licensed, so the check-out report is treated as a compliance document. You can check your address on the Lambeth Council licensing page.

Can you clean a warehouse conversion on Acre Lane?

Yes. We regularly clean the ex-piano-factory and ex-lightbulb-factory lofts around Welmar Mews. Exposed brick, double-height ceilings and industrial extractor ductwork need extending poles, industrial vacuums and the right brushwork, and we bring all of it. Polished concrete floors get treated properly rather than mopped like a kitchen.

What about Sandhurst Court and the other Art Deco blocks?

We have cleaned Sandhurst Court many times. The crittall-style metal windows, the parquet communal halls and the limescale that builds on 1930s bathroom tiles all need a different approach from a modern new-build. We handle the metal frames carefully and use the right descaler for the older glazed surfaces.

How long will the clean take?

A studio takes four to five hours with a two-person team. A typical Acre Lane two-bed conversion runs six to eight hours. Three- and four-beds at the Clapham Park end take eight to ten. We work until the 57-point checklist is done, not until a clock runs out.

Do I need to be there?

No. We collect keys from your letting agent or a lockbox and hand them back after the clerk’s check-out. We have worked with Keating Estates, Foxtons, Eden Harper, Winkworth, Pedder and KFH on Acre Lane for years, so the key hand-over is routine.

Can you do a same-day clean?

Often, yes. We hold emergency slots, so call before 10am and we can usually get a team to you by early afternoon. There is a same-day premium of £30 to £60 on top of the standard price, depending on how tight the turnaround is.

Do you bring everything you need?

Yes. Chemicals, vacuums, steamers, ladders and microfibres are all our own kit, and you supply nothing. Some Ivor House and Horseshoe Mews flats restrict water for balcony cleaning, so we bring bottled water where a building needs it. Power for our equipment is ours too.

What if the flat is not empty yet?

We can clean around boxes and leftover furniture, but the result will not meet full inventory standard. For a deposit-back clean the flat needs to be empty, ideally the same day as your removal. We run our own removals service from £250 for a studio if you want to bundle the two.

Do you clean ovens only?

Yes. It is £77 for a single oven, £110 for a double, £114 for a 90cm range, £115 for a 110cm-plus and £130 for an AGA. Most Acre Lane flats have single or double electric ovens; the Clapham Park end has more of the bigger range cookers.

What is included in the carpet add-on?

Hot-water extraction, which is steam plus a powerful vacuum, with stain pre-treatment and a deodoriser. It is £36 a bedroom, £43 a living room and £115 for a whole two-bed flat. We run fans to speed drying, so most flats are walkable within two to three hours of finishing.

Do you handle HMO cleans?

Yes. Three- and four-bed HMOs around Acre Lane and Branksome Road are routine work for us. Lambeth’s Additional HMO Licensing scheme runs until December 2026, so a licensed HMO needs a paper-trail-quality clean between tenancies, which is exactly what the 57-point checklist produces.

Can I get a receipt for my deposit dispute?

Every clean comes with an itemised invoice emailed the same day, referencing the 57-point checklist, the time on site and the services delivered. TDS, DPS and mydeposits all accept our invoice format as evidence.

Where can I get free housing advice if I am in a dispute?

Shelter gives free housing advice, including on deposit disputes and the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Lambeth Council’s housing team is the first port of call if you think your landlord is not licensed under the Selective Licensing Scheme covering the Brixton Acre Lane ward.