End of tenancy cleaning in Butler’s Wharf, same week if you need it

End of tenancy cleaning in Butler’s Wharf, Shad Thames and the spice-named warehouse courts of SE1. We have worked this riverside conservation pocket since 2014, getting deposits back on Grade II listed conversions where ordinary domestic cleaning falls short. Our 57-point checklist, 48-hour re-clean guarantee and 97% first-time pass rate hold from Tower Bridge through Cardamom Building, Cinnamon Wharf, Vanilla & Sesame Court and the river-facing penthouses of Butlers & Colonial Wharf. Call 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected] for a same-day quote.

Last updated April 2026. We cover the full SE1 2 postcode reach, including SE1 2YE, SE1 2YL, SE1 2NY, SE1 2NJ, SE1 2HD and SE1 2BB, across the stretch east of Tower Bridge Road. Butler’s Wharf sits inside the London Borough of Southwark.

The deposit on a Shad Thames handover

Butler’s Wharf is the most architecturally distinct rental pocket in Bermondsey, and the most demanding clean in SE1. The warehouse run stretches east from Tower Bridge to St Saviour’s Dock along a single cobbled lane. That lane is Shad Thames, and the overhead iron gantries crossing it once rolled barrels of tea and spice between the upper floors. Those same buildings are now flats, and the clerk who inspects yours has a longer sheet than almost any other clerk in the borough.

Here is the short version, the part most people actually want. A standard two-bed Butler’s Wharf clean starts from £243, a one-bed loft from £207, and a studio from £175, all to the 57-point agent checklist with a 48-hour re-clean guarantee on top. The rest of this page is the detail behind that: the fabric these flats are built from, the law your tenancy now sits under, what the clerk checks, and how a booking runs.

From 1873 spice store to Conran loft

The warehouses went up between 1871 and 1873 to store tea, coffee, spices and dried goods coming off ships in the Pool of London. When the docks shut in 1972 the buildings sat empty for years. In 1981 Terence Conran won the bid to redevelop the eleven-acre Butler’s Wharf site, and Conran Roche led the conversion that produced the stock you rent today: heavy timber-floored lofts, cast-iron-columned mezzanines, riverside penthouses with private terraces, and gated courts reached through Maggie Blake’s Cause.

Conran did more than the flats. He opened Le Pont de la Tour, the Blueprint Cafe and the Butler’s Wharf Chop House along the river, and helped found the Design Museum at the eastern end of Shad Thames, which opened in 1989 before moving to Kensington in 2016. You rent in a place that was deliberately made into a design showpiece, and the flats were finished to match.

The rents have followed that history up. Listings tracked across PrimeLocation, Zoopla and Rightmove through February and March 2026 put one-bedroom flats in Butler’s Wharf and the surrounding wharves between £2,500 and £3,500 a month. Two-beds run £3,200 to £4,866. Three-bed riverside flats in the Butler’s Wharf Building itself clear £6,500, and a recent one-bed loft in Cayenne Court listed above £4,000. Deposits sit at five weeks’ rent under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, which is why the average two-bed deposit lands between £3,690 and £5,610. That figure is what your clean is protecting.

Sale prices tell the same story. Local agency reporting puts the average sold price across Shad Thames near £927,000, with a three-bed in the Butlers & Colonial Wharf development listed at £1,675,000 in the past quarter. Service charges on the larger conversions run to roughly £12,500 a year, council tax tends to be band E or F, and the concierge teams inspect the moment you hand over keys. None of that leaves room for a clean that is merely fine.

You rent in a place that was deliberately made into a design showpiece, and the flats were finished to match.

The fabric that trips a checkout here

Almost everything you can rent here carries heritage protection. The Butler’s Wharf Building is Grade II listed. Cardamom Building, Cinnamon Wharf, Wheat Wharf, Tea Trade Wharf and the spice courts keep their original brickwork, cast-iron tie-rods, hardwood roof beams and the gantries that once carried barrels overhead. You cannot clean any of it with the products you would use on a 1990s buy-to-let. Get it wrong and the damage shows.

So we work to the material, not to a script. Exposed Victorian brick is vacuumed and soft-brush dusted, never wet-cleaned. Original beams are dust-extracted with a soft-brush attachment so the finish stays put. Cast-iron columns and tie-rods get damp microfibre and nothing else. The period sash windows facing the river collect hard-water spotting from Thames spray, so we treat the glass with dilute citric and hand-finish the restored frames. Underfloor-heated stone and engineered oak get dry-buffed rather than wet-mopped. The polished concrete in the newer Spice Quay Heights and China Wharf flats needs a pH-balanced, sealant-safe product, or it clouds.

This is the bit that separates a Butler’s Wharf clean from a flat in a modern block. A clerk here checks the brick and the beams for cleaning damage as carefully as for dust. The patina is part of the listed character, and a wipe mark from the wrong product is a deduction in its own right. We would rather under-touch a surface than scar it.

The law your checkout now sits under

The rules changed this spring. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in late 2025, and the main provisions came into force across England on 1 May 2026. Section 21 no-fault evictions are gone, fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies have become rolling periodic tenancies, and the Decent Homes Standard now applies to the private rented sector. For anyone leaving a Butler’s Wharf flat this year, the practical effect is simple: your landlord and agent are operating under the new framework, and any deposit dispute you raise goes through the modernised arbitration run by the scheme that holds your money.

That deposit will sit with one of three protection schemes. Dated photographs, a professional invoice and a signed checklist carry real weight in a dispute, which is exactly what a documented checkout clean gives you.

Deposit-protection scheme

By law your deposit is held in one of three government-backed schemes: the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, the Deposit Protection Service or mydeposits. Each runs free adjudication if you contest a deduction.

Selective licensing

Butler’s Wharf falls in the London Bridge and West Bermondsey ward, inside Southwark’s selective licensing scheme 2, which runs from 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2028. A landlord letting to a single household or two unrelated sharers in this ward needs a licence, and licensed flats carry tighter conditions on cleanliness, fire compartmentation and damp.

Check-in inventory

The dated, photographed record of a flat’s condition at the start of a tenancy. Your checkout is judged against it, so the standard you are cleaning back to is the one in those opening photographs, fair wear and tear aside.

End of tenancy clean

A fixed-price, inventory-spec clean built to pass a checkout inspection, with a re-clean guarantee attached. Broader and deeper than a regular tidy, and aimed squarely at the deposit.

Because the ward is licensed, the clerk arriving at your door has more to verify than a clerk in an unlicensed borough would. Mould traces in a bathroom, grease in an extractor, damp staining on a skirting, all of it carries deduction risk, because it is flagged not only for fair wear and tear but for licensing compliance too. The standard is higher here, and the clean has to meet it.

Inside the 57-point clean

Every Butler’s Wharf checkout runs to the same 57-point agent-approved checklist. What follows is what actually happens on the day. Nothing gets added for show, nothing gets quietly skipped.

Kitchen

The kitchen is where most of the hours go.

• Oven degreased right through: racks, trays, base plate, fan housing and the door glass inside, between and out
• Hob, induction plate or gas burners cleaned and descaled, grates lifted
• Extractor hood degreased inside; metal filters soaked separately, then refitted
• Microwave done inside and out, turntable and ceiling plate included
• Fridge-freezer defrosted, shelves washed, seals cleaned, exterior polished
• Dishwasher filter pulled and soaked, arm-jets descaled, door seal wiped
• Washing machine drawer soaked, door seal wiped clear of mould, filter cleared
• Cupboards and drawers wiped inside and out, handle backs too
• Worktops sanitised, tile splashbacks degreased, grout lines scrubbed
• Stainless sink polished, drainer delimed, taps re-shone, plug-hole cleared
• Skirtings, plinths and the kick-plate under the units wiped
• Floor steam-cleaned on stone, sealed on engineered oak, dry-buffed on polished concrete

Bathrooms

Limescale and grout are the watch points.

• Bath, shower tray and screen descaled with citric-based products to protect chrome and stone resin
• Grout scrubbed line by line; mould lifted with a non-bleach sanitiser safe on listed-building substrates
• Toilet bowl, cistern, base, hinges and seat cleaned both sides
• Basin, taps, plug-hole and waste polished; mirror left streak-free
• Shower head taken off and descaled, hose flushed
• Extractor grille pulled, dust cleared, interior wiped
• Towel rails and heated rails polished
• Cabinets, shelving and bottle traps wiped inside and out
• Floor cleaned and sealed where it is stone or limestone

Bedrooms and living areas

This is where the heritage fabric gets handled with care.

• Exposed timber beams dust-vacuumed with a soft-brush attachment, finish left undisturbed
• Cast-iron columns and tie-rods wiped with damp microfibre, no abrasives
• Exposed brick vacuumed then soft-brush dusted; we do not wet-clean Victorian brick
• Sash windows cleaned inside; cords, sash boxes and frames dust-cleared
• River-facing glass treated for hard-water spotting off Thames spray
• Window reveals, sills and internal shutters wiped
• Wardrobes, drawers and shelving emptied, hoovered and wiped inside
• Skirtings, dado rails and architraves wiped
• Doors, frames, handles and finger-plates polished both sides
• Switches, sockets, thermostats and entry-phone handsets sanitised
• Radiators wiped front, top and behind where we can reach
• Carpets vacuumed with the edge tool; engineered oak dry-buffed; polished concrete dry-mopped only
• Mirrors, picture rails and wall hangers dusted
• Curtains shaken, blinds done slat by slat

Throughout

Then the parts a tired clean tends to forget.

• Ceiling cornicing and original plaster mouldings dust-cleared
• Stairwells, landings and any mezzanine spiral steps cleaned, treads and risers
• Communal entry-phone handset and in-flat concierge tablets sanitised
• Underfloor heating thermostats and panels checked and wiped
• Bins emptied, recycling sorted, lids wiped inside
• Final walk-through with time-stamped sign-off photographs emailed to you

Want any of those broken out as a standalone job? Professional oven cleaning, carpet cleaning and hard floor cleaning all run as add-ons or on their own. More on those further down.

What a handover costs around Shad Thames

Pricing reflects the extra time these flats take. Heritage features slow a clean down, and the quote depends on flat size, condition at exit, and whether you add carpet, oven or upholstery work. Every figure below is a starting point.

For comparison, our hourly rate on deep cleans, end of tenancy and after-builders work is £30 per hour per cleaner. A two-bed Butler’s Wharf flat usually takes a team of two between five and six hours, which is where the package price comes from.

Those numbers are not decoration. Across 2025 our first-time pass rate held at 97%, and over the years we have helped tenants recover £1.2m in deposits that would otherwise have gone on cleaning deductions. We are on the books of 300+ letting agents, which is partly how we know what each clerk looks for before they walk in.

Where the deductions actually land

The agents working this stretch all use detailed photographic inventories, and their clerks know these buildings room by room. Hastings International out of Saffron Wharf, Garrett Whitelock off Tower Bridge Road, Felicity J Lord on Shad Thames itself, plus Anderson Rose, Cluttons and Foxtons. Two failures come up again and again here, and neither is obvious until someone points a torch at it.

The first is dust on the top surfaces of the original beams and joists. People clean what they can see at eye level and miss the upper faces, and a clerk with a step or a torch finds it every time. The second is hard-water spotting on the river-facing glass, which builds up faster here than anywhere inland because of the Thames spray. Both are cheap for us to put right and expensive to leave.

A third one catches people out in the spice courts: the grout in older bathrooms goes grey from Thames humidity rather than neglect, so even a flat that looks spotless can lose a line of deposit on a shower tray that was never properly descaled. We scrub those lines back as standard.

The list below runs roughly in the order a clerk moves through a flat.

1. Front door, handle, letter plate and any communal entry hardware
2. Hallway switches, entry-phone handset, coat hooks and skirtings
3. Kitchen oven inside, glass and racks, then hob, extractor and the high-level cupboards
4. Worktops, splashback grout, sink limescale and fitted-appliance seals
5. Living-area exposed brick, checked for cleaning damage as well as dust
6. Original beams and ceiling joists, top surfaces included
7. Cast-iron columns and tie-rods, checked for wipe marks from the wrong product
8. Sash windows, cords, reveals and the internal sills
9. River-facing glass for hard-water spotting
10. Bedroom carpets at the edges, under bed positions and into corners
11. Wardrobe interiors, shelving and drawer runners
12. Bathroom grout, shower-screen limescale and the silicone seals
13. Toilet base, hinges and the porcelain rim under the seat
14. Extractor grilles in the bathrooms and kitchen
15. Skirtings behind where the furniture stood
16. Underfloor heating thermostats and any concierge-system tablets

If a clerk does flag something, that is what the 48-hour re-clean guarantee is for. Send us the report within 48 hours of our visit and we come back free to deal with any cleaning item on it. We would rather drive back over the cobbles than argue about a grout line.

We would rather drive back over the cobbles than argue about a grout line.

Which clean the flat actually needs

Not every move-out needs the full package. A flat kept well through the tenancy sometimes only needs a deep clean rather than a full end of tenancy job. Where the deposit is genuinely on the line, the EOT package with its guarantee is the safer call. Here is the difference, plainly.

Not sure which one fits? We will quote both on the phone and tell you which we would book in your shoes. No pressure either way.

Booking a clean on the cobbles

Booking is quick. Phone 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected] with your address, flat size, checkout date and any add-ons. We confirm a fixed price in writing within the hour, slot the clean for the day before or the morning of your checkout, and send a team of two to four with all their own materials and equipment. You supply nothing. Afterwards you get time-stamped before-and-after photographs, and if the clerk flags anything inside 48 hours we return free.

One honest warning about access. Shad Thames is cobbled, narrow and effectively a no-through-road for a van, so we sort parking and the concierge in advance rather than circling the block. The car park off the wharf and the loading bays fill early, and a few of the gated courts only let a vehicle in by arrangement. Tell us the building when you book and we handle it, because turning up to a locked gate with a full van helps nobody. Honestly, the parking is the worst part of working down here.

We coordinate with the concierge teams in the managed buildings, The Circle, Saffron Wharf and the rest, to confirm access windows and any building-specific rules before the day. Our cleaners carry ID and the firm holds public liability cover up to £5 million plus full employer’s liability.

Streets, wharves and buildings we cover

We work the whole Shad Thames conservation area and the SE1 2 streets feeding the river. If your address is on any of the lanes running down to the water, we cover it. The named buildings are below.

• Shad Thames: the cobbled spine, with the Butler’s Wharf Building, Cardamom Building and Cinnamon Wharf
• Queen Elizabeth Street: The Circle, Java Wharf, Tea Trade Wharf
• Curlew Street: Vanilla & Sesame Court, Coriander Building, Anise Building
• Gainsford Street: Cayenne Court, Wheat Wharf, Saffron Wharf
• Maguire Street: Clove Building, Tamarind Court, Caraway Building
• Lafone Street and Mill Street: Cumin Court, Ginger Apartments, St Saviour’s Wharf, New Concordia Wharf
• Spice Quay Heights and China Wharf: the river-facing and curved red-fronted blocks at the eastern end
• Butlers & Colonial Wharf, Earls Way, Crown Square and Maltings Place: the wider conversion and the modern blocks behind Tower Bridge

Block not listed, and your postcode starts SE1 2 or SE1 3? Call 0333 555 2076. We cover everything between Tower Bridge and St Saviour’s Dock, and the streets running south toward Bermondsey Street.

Add-ons and nearby areas

Plenty of Butler’s Wharf checkouts pair the clean with one or two extras. The full service pages set out pricing and process:

• Professional oven cleaning, £77 single and £110 double
• Carpet cleaning, £36 a bedroom and £115 for a whole two-bed
• Upholstery cleaning, £55 two-seater, £110 three-seater, £65 double mattress
• Window cleaning, £35–£70 domestic
• Hard floor cleaning for engineered oak, polished concrete and stone
• Removals, £320 one-bed, £400 two-bed, £550 three-bed
• Deep cleaning for non-checkout work
• After-builders cleaning for refurb sign-offs in listed buildings

We run end of tenancy cleans daily in the areas next door, too. Bermondsey sits south of Tower Bridge Road, London Bridge is west toward The Shard, Borough covers the market and the cathedral cluster, and Rotherhithe runs east along the river. For the full borough picture, see our Southwark borough hub.

Ready when you are. Call 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected], and we will free your checkout day for the move itself.

Butler’s Wharf end of tenancy questions

How much does end of tenancy cleaning cost in Butler’s Wharf?

Studios start from £175, one-bedroom warehouse flats from £207, two-beds from £243 and three-beds from £339. The prices reflect the extra time exposed brick, original timber beams and listed-building-safe products take. Your final quote depends on add-ons and condition.

Do you clean Grade II listed warehouse conversions safely?

Yes. We use pH-neutral products on exposed brick, soft-brush dust extraction on original beams, and damp microfibre only on cast-iron columns. We do not wet-clean Victorian brick, use abrasives on patinated metal, or steam-clean engineered oak floors.

How long does it take to clean a 2-bedroom Butler’s Wharf flat?

A team of two takes about five to six hours on a standard two-bed loft. Three-bed riverside flats with mezzanines and extra bathrooms run seven to nine hours, which is why we send larger teams to those.

Do you guarantee my deposit back?

We cannot guarantee a third party’s decision, but we do guarantee the clean. If your clerk flags any cleaning issue within 48 hours of our visit, we come back free to put it right. Across 2025 our first-time pass rate held at 97%.

Will you handle exposed brickwork without damaging it?

Yes. Exposed Victorian brick is dust-vacuumed and soft-brush dusted only, never wet-cleaned and never treated with chemical cleaners. The patina is part of the listed character, and visible cleaning damage triggers an immediate deduction.

Can you clean original timber beams and cast-iron columns?

Yes. Beams are dust-extracted with soft-brush vacuum attachments so the original finish stays put. Cast-iron columns and tie-rods are wiped with damp microfibre only, with no products on them.

What if my letting agent finds issues at checkout?

Forward the report to [email protected] within 48 hours of our clean. We re-attend free of charge to deal with any cleaning-specific item the clerk has flagged.

Do you supply your own materials and equipment?

Yes. We bring everything, vacuums, steamers, products, microfibre and ladders. You do not need to supply a thing, and we never use cleaning equipment found in the flat.

Do you clean concierge-managed buildings like The Circle and Saffron Wharf?

Yes. We coordinate with the concierge teams beforehand to confirm access, parking restrictions and any building-specific rules. Our cleaners carry ID and are fully insured.

Can you book at short notice?

Same-day and next-day slots are usually there in Butler’s Wharf. Call 0333 555 2076 before midday for same-day, or before 6pm for next-day.

Are you fully insured?

Yes. Public liability cover up to £5 million, plus full employer’s liability. Certificates are available on request.

Do you work with the major Butler’s Wharf letting agents?

We have run checkouts with Hastings International, Garrett Whitelock, Felicity J Lord, Anderson Rose, Cluttons, Foxtons and a number of independents. Our 57-point checklist is recognised across 300+ London letting agents.

What’s the difference between end of tenancy and deep cleaning?

End of tenancy comes with the 48-hour re-clean guarantee, fixed-package pricing and clerk-ready scope. A deep clean is hourly and broad but without the deposit-tied guarantee. For any move-out where the deposit is at stake, the EOT package is the right call.

Do you clean carpets in addition to the EOT?

Yes. It is £36 a bedroom, £43 a living room, or £115 for a whole two-bed. We use hot-water extraction on a low-moisture, quick-dry setting that suits warehouse-conversion underfloor heating.

Will you tackle limescale on river-facing windows?

Yes. River spray and Thames-air hard-water spotting come up often at checkout here. We treat the external-facing glass with dilute citric and finish with a squeegee, and where the windows are restored sash we hand-finish them without abrasives.

What if I need help with deposit dispute documentation?

We give you time-stamped before-and-after photographs and a signed checklist as standard. If you need to escalate through TDS, DPS or mydeposits, our documentation is accepted as evidence by all three. Shelter publishes free guidance on the dispute process.