The clean the Elizabeth line bought us
On 24 May 2022 the Elizabeth line platforms opened at Custom House, and the moving vans have not really stopped since. Before that you had the DLR, branded Custom House for ExCeL, which is still there. After that you had a fast train into Liverpool Street and out to Paddington from a station that, for a couple of decades, most of London had never heard of. Faster trains mean faster turnover. People take a flat here for the commute, stay a year or two, and move on, and every one of those moves ends with a set of keys, a check-out and a deposit on the line.
That is the bit we get called for. We are Monster Cleaning, and end of tenancy is the work we do most weeks. When somebody rings about a clean “in Custom House” they are usually in one of two kinds of home. Either an older terrace or ex-council flat north of the railway, off Freemasons Road and Prince Regent Lane, or a newer dockside flat down towards Royal Victoria Dock and ExCeL. Those two jobs are not the same afternoon’s work, and I will get to why.
This page is the long version. It covers what a deposit-back clean involves around here, why E16 is its own particular job, what Newham expects of landlords, and how we get you through the check-out first time.
Two Custom Houses in one postcode
Custom House sits in the south of Newham, in E16, wedged between Canning Town to the west and the water of the Royal Docks to the south. The name comes from the old customs house that stood on the Victoria Dock when this was one of the busiest cargo ports on earth. The docks closed to commercial shipping by 1981, the work went, and the area spent a long stretch as one of the poorer corners of east London. Then the regeneration money arrived, and it has not finished arriving.
Stand on the bridge by the station and you see both halves at once. North of the railway are the streets people picture when they say Custom House: older Newham terraces, post-war maisonettes, low-rise blocks and a good deal of ex-local-authority stock, much of it now privately let. South and east, towards Royal Victoria Dock and the great shed of ExCeL, the skyline is cranes and new flats, balconies facing the water, a Premier Inn, a Sainsbury’s Local in the bottom of a tower.
That split is the single most useful thing to understand before booking a clean here. The older homes carry more grease history and more worn paintwork, and they take longer. The new flats are lighter dirt but a fussier spec, because integrated ovens and induction hobs have to come up perfectly and the clerks on those blocks check inside every appliance. Same postcode, two very different jobs.
One more thing about the streets north of the line. A big chunk of them, around Freemasons Road, is in the middle of being knocked down and rebuilt.
The docks that are being rebuilt around you
The Royal Docks is the only Enterprise Zone in London, run jointly by the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Newham since 2018, and the headline number is enormous. The plan is for something like 36,000 new homes and 55,000 jobs across the Royals over the long term. Royal Albert Dock alone is a twelve-hectare site, and Royal Wharf down by the river adds well over a thousand homes. For a cleaning firm that means a steady supply of new flats, new tenants, and new check-outs, year after year.
ExCeL is the engine of the daytime economy here. The exhibition centre runs along the north quay of Royal Victoria Dock on a hundred-acre site, and it finished a big expansion in October 2024 that added six more halls. When a major show is on, the area fills with tens of thousands of visitors and the agency workers who staff them, and a lot of those workers rent locally on short lets. They are part of the churn too.
Then there is the cable car over the Thames between the Royal Docks and Greenwich Peninsula, the one a lot of people still call the Emirates Air Line. The name keeps changing. It was the IFS Cloud Cable Car until that sponsorship ended on 18 March 2026, and Transport for London now runs it simply as the London cable car. If a listing near you still says IFS Cloud, it is out of date.
The part that matters most to the people who actually live here is the estate renewal around Freemasons Road. Since 2018 Newham has been pulling down and rebuilding a stretch of the older Custom House estate, part of the wider £3.7bn Canning Town and Custom House regeneration programme that is meant to deliver up to 10,000 homes in total. The first new homes are already finished. Around 95 affordable homes have opened on the former William Patton site off Leslie Road and Freemasons Road, built to Passivhaus standards by Hill and Bugler, with roughly 364 planned for the Custom House scheme overall. It was not a quiet process. Residents were balloted on demolition in December 2022, and on a 62% turnout the vote scraped through at 53% in favour. If you are renting on or near that estate, your tenancy may be shorter than you would like, and the moves come thick and fast.
Faster trains mean faster turnover. People take a flat here for the commute, stay a year or two, and move on.
What a deposit-back clean actually covers
An end of tenancy clean is not a tidy-up. It is the clean that gets the flat back to the state recorded in the check-in inventory, so the clerk who walks round at the end has nothing to write down. We clean to a 57-point agent-approved checklist, and it exists because we got tired of arguing with clerks over the same dozen things on every job.
The list goes where the weekly tidy never does. Inside the oven, around the door seal, the grill pan and the trays. Behind and underneath the white goods where the grease creeps in. The tops of door frames and the picture rails. Limescale off the taps and the shower screen, the inside of every kitchen cupboard and wardrobe, the skirting boards, the window frames and the glass. Carpets hoovered properly and spot-treated, hard floors washed, the lot. We tick each item as it is done, so nothing gets skipped on the bigger flats.
Here is the part most firms will not put in writing. If your inventory clerk or letting agent challenges the work, we come back and put it right under a 48-hour re-clean guarantee, free, no quibble. Across the homes we clean it almost never gets called on, because our first-time pass rate sits at 97%, but the guarantee is there in black and white so you are not left exposed on inspection day. We are on the books of 300+ letting agents and have helped tenants recover £1.2m in deposits that would otherwise have gone on cleaning deductions. Those are not slogans. They are the reason agents around the Royal Docks pass our number to their tenants in the first place.
A few practical things we need on the day. The flat has to have electricity and running hot water, or we cannot do half the list. It needs to be empty of your belongings, because we are cleaning the place, not packing it. If there is a fridge or freezer, defrost it the night before so we can get inside it. Tell us about anything unusual when you book, because a cooker nobody has touched in two years is a different job to one wiped down last week.
It is worth going room by room, because people underestimate where the marks actually come off. The kitchen is where most deductions are won or lost. We degrease the hob and the splashback, clean the extractor and its filter, wipe out every cupboard and drawer inside and out, pull the kickboards where we can and clean the floor underneath, descale the sink and the taps, and do the oven properly as a job in its own right. If there is an integrated dishwasher or washing machine, we clean the seals and the detergent drawer, because that is the first place mould shows and the first place a clerk pokes a finger.
Bathrooms are mostly about limescale and grout. We take the scale off the taps, the shower screen and the head, scrub the grout lines, clean and disinfect the toilet inside and behind, polish the mirror and the chrome, and clear the extractor fan of dust. In the living rooms and bedrooms it is dust, marks and floors. Skirting boards, the tops of doors and frames, light fittings and switches, inside the windows, the radiators, and a proper hoover of carpets with spot-treatment where something has been spilled. Built-in wardrobes get done inside, where the odd sock and a year of dust always live.
None of that is glamorous. It is the stuff you stop seeing after a few months in a place, which is why a fresh pair of eyes with the right kit gets a different result to a tired tenant with a sponge on the last night.
What the clerk opens first
If you have not been through a formal check-out before, it helps to know how it runs, because the clean and the inspection are two halves of the same thing.
At the start of a tenancy a clerk, or sometimes the agent, writes a check-in inventory. It is a room-by-room report, usually with photos, describing the condition and cleanliness of everything in the flat. When you leave, a check-out report gets made against it. The clerk is not judging the place against perfection. They are judging it against how it was handed to you, minus fair wear and tear. That distinction is the whole game, and it is why we tell people to dig out their check-in report before they move a single box.
Clerks have a fixed set of places they go to every time, and we clean to match. The oven first, always. Inside the kitchen cupboards. Behind the toilet. The window tracks and the tops of the frames. Extractor filters. The seals on the washing machine and the fridge. Limescale on the bathroom fittings. Carpet edges and the patch under where the sofa stood. Our 57-point checklist exists because those are the recurring flashpoints, and ticking each one off in order is how the first-time pass rate stays at 97%. We built the list from real check-out reports, not from a template, which is why an agent tends to recognise their own bugbears in it.
One honest word of warning. A clerk can only judge cleanliness, not whether a carpet was already worn or a wall already scuffed when you arrived. If you have no check-in inventory, or a vague one with no photos, deductions get harder to argue either way. That is not a cleaning problem, but it is worth knowing before you hand the keys back.
Your Newham landlord almost certainly needs a licence
Newham runs one of the longest-standing landlord licensing regimes in the country, and Custom House sits squarely inside it. The borough’s selective licensing scheme was approved by the Secretary of State for a third successive five-year term, running from 1 June 2023, which the council set out when it announced the third term of its licensing scheme. It covers 22 of the borough’s 24 wards. The two it leaves out are Stratford Olympic Park and Royal Victoria, so a good slice of the dockside falls under the separate additional scheme rather than selective, but the bulk of the Custom House streets are covered. The detail and the application route sit on the council’s own rented property licensing pages.
Why does a cleaning firm care about any of this? Because a licensed property comes with strings, and one of those strings is condition. The council inspects, and a licensed landlord is on the hook for the state of the home between tenancies. A clean that actually passes the check-out is part of keeping a property lettable and a landlord on the right side of the scheme. We get a steady stream of work from Newham landlords for that exact reason, turning a flat round between one tenant leaving and the next one moving in.
The turnaround is its own kind of job, and we do plenty of them. The old tenant leaves, the deposit gets settled, and the landlord wants the place spotless and re-let inside a week or two with no rent lost in the gap. So we are often in on a tight window, sometimes the morning after a check-out and the day before new viewings. We work to the same 57-point checklist whether the outgoing tenant or the landlord is paying, because a flat that shows clean lets faster, and a landlord who has paid for a licence does not want a void sitting empty over a dirty oven. Agents around Newham know us for this, which is part of why we are on the books of 300+ letting agents in the first place.
Deposits, the rules and the 2025 Act
Most of the deposit fights we see come down to two things. People not knowing the rules, and nobody writing anything down. So here are the rules in plain terms.
Your deposit has to be protected. By law your landlord must put it in one of the government-backed schemes and tell you which one within thirty days, and you can read how that works on the gov.uk tenancy deposit protection guidance. When you move out, the landlord can only keep money for a real reason, like damage or a clean that was not done, and never for fair wear and tear. Shelter’s guide to getting your deposit back walks through the steps, and Citizens Advice covers the same ground if you would rather a second source.
The law is also shifting under tenants’ feet. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in October 2025 and reshapes a great deal of how private renting works in England. It does not rewrite the basic deposit-deduction principle, though. Cleaning deductions still hinge on the gap between the check-in inventory and the state of the place when you leave. Which is the whole argument for getting the clean right the first time round.
The single most useful thing you can do is write things down. Take dated photos when you move in and again when you leave. Every room, the inside of the oven, the carpets, the corners. Get the check-in inventory in writing and check it matches the flat on day one. When you move out, ask in writing for your deposit back and keep the messages. If there is a dispute, the protection scheme runs a free adjudication service, and the side with photos and a clean check-out almost always comes out ahead. A good clean and a clear paper trail are worth far more than either one on its own.
Some of the jargon trips people up, so here is the short version.
- Check-in inventory
- The report made at the start of your tenancy describing the condition and cleanliness of every room. It is the benchmark everything at the end gets judged against, so dig it out before you move.
- Deposit protection scheme
- A government-backed holder of your deposit money with a free dispute service. The three main ones are the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, the Deposit Protection Service and mydeposits.
- Fair wear and tear
- The normal ageing of a home that a landlord cannot charge you for, like faded paint or a worn carpet. Dirt is not wear and tear, which is why cleaning is the most common deduction of all.
- Check-out
- The final inspection, often by an independent clerk, comparing the flat to the check-in inventory. Pass this and you keep your deposit.
Dockside flats versus the older E16 stock
The two main kinds of home around here clean very differently, and pricing a job blind is a mug’s game.
The dockside flats are mostly new-build. Think Royal Docks West, Brunel Street Works with its near-thousand flats over by Canning Town, the towers going up around Royal Victoria Dock. Modern kitchens, integrated appliances, a lot of glass, often underfloor heating and big windows facing the water. The dirt is lighter, but the spec is fussier, because integrated ovens and induction hobs have to come up perfectly and the clerks on these blocks check inside every appliance. New-build does not mean easy. It means a different list and a sharper eye.
The older E16 stock north of the railway is a different animal. Post-war terraces and maisonettes, ex-council blocks, conversions that have been let three or four times over. Older kitchens with more grease history, painted woodwork that wants care rather than a scouring pad, the odd serviceable carpet that needs a proper hot-water-extraction lift instead of a hoover. These take longer and we say so up front.
There is a third type worth a mention. The converted flat in an older Custom House house, carved into two or three units years ago, off Freemasons Road or Prince Regent Lane. These are the ones with the surprises. An oven that came with the house, a bathroom retiled badly in about 2004, carpet that has seen three tenancies and a couple of leaks. We ask a few pointed questions about those before quoting, because the photos a landlord sends almost never show the inside of the cooker.
That difference is exactly why we will not quote a flat-rate per bedroom over the phone without asking a couple of questions first. A one-bed at Royal Docks West and a one-bed off Freemasons Road are not the same job. The dockside flat is lighter dirt and a fussier spec; the older flat is heavier dirt and more forgiving finishes. Same number of bedrooms, very different afternoon, and we price each on what it actually is.
A one-bed at Royal Docks West and a one-bed off Freemasons Road are not the same job.
What it costs and how we price it
We price on the size and state of the property, not by the hour. That is deliberate. Hourly pricing rewards a slow team and punishes you for a flat that happens to need extra work, so we do it the other way round. You get a fixed quote before we start, and the team stays until the checklist is done, even when the place fights back.
A studio or small one-bed in one of the dockside towers sits at the lower end. A three or four-bed terrace north of the line that has had a family in it for years is at the higher end, and a neglected oven or heavy carpets will push it up. We tell you the figure honestly when you describe the place, and we would rather quote a touch high and come in fair than low-ball you and pad the bill on the day.
Carpets, ovens and exterior windows are the usual add-ons, and we will say plainly whether your flat needs them or not. If your carpets are fine, we are not going to sell you a carpet clean to bump the total. We work seven days a week, weekends included, with no weekend surcharge, because a Saturday move is still a move and charging extra for it always struck me as a bit cheeky.
Booking, parking and the ExCeL problem
Booking is a phone call. Ring us, tell us the postcode, the size of the flat and the condition, and roughly when you need it done, and we will give you a quote and a slot there and then. Call 0333 555 2076 or use the contact page if you would rather put it in writing. Try to book a day or two clear of your check-out, so there is room to breathe if anything overruns.
A word on access, because it is the bit specific to here. When a big show is on at ExCeL, the whole of the Royal Docks tightens up. Roads fill, parking near the dock gets scarce, and a job that takes twenty minutes to reach on a quiet Tuesday can take an hour on the morning of a major exhibition. Tell us if your move clashes with something at ExCeL and we will plan around it. On the new dockside blocks there is often permit or barrier access we will need sorting before we arrive, and some route deliveries through a loading bay rather than the front door. North of the railway, around Freemasons Road, the side streets are usually easier, though the building works mean the odd road is closed or down to one lane. Just tell us the parking situation when you book, because a van that cannot get near the door costs everyone time.
For the move itself, we also run a end of tenancy service across London and can line up the clean to land the day the flat is empty, which is the day it really should be done.
Extra jobs we fold into the clean
The end of tenancy clean is the core, but a few jobs sit alongside it and it is easier to do them in the same visit.
Carpet cleaning is the common one. When a carpet is past the point a hoover helps, we bring hot-water-extraction machines and pull the dirt out of the pile, down to the base, instead of skimming the surface. On the older terraces north of the line, this is often what stands between you and a deduction.
Oven cleaning is the other deal-breaker. We strip the removable parts, soak and scrub them, then do the interior and the glass, and reassemble. Clerks open the oven first, every single time, so it is worth doing properly rather than hoping a wipe-round will pass.
Window cleaning with water-fed poles for the outsides, which matters on the taller dockside blocks where you are not reaching the glass any other way. We also handle upholstery cleaning for sofas and mattresses left behind, a full deep clean where a place needs more than a standard turnaround, and ongoing domestic cleaning if you are the one moving in and want it kept up afterwards. If you have furniture or boxes to shift as well, we can sort removals alongside the clean.
Nearby areas we cover
Custom House does not stand on its own, and most of our local rounds run through the streets and docks around it. If you are nearby, we cover the lot.
Closest in is Canning Town just to the west, and the water of the Royal Docks to the south. Around the docks we work Royal Victoria Dock, Royal Wharf, Silvertown and North Woolwich down by the river. Inland and to the east we cover Beckton, Plaistow and West Ham, and the exhibition crowd at ExCeL London. The whole of the Newham end of tenancy patch is covered from the same vans.
Frequently asked questions
Do you cover both the older streets and the new dockside flats in Custom House?
We do both. Most jobs here split into two kinds: older terraces, maisonettes and ex-council flats in the streets north of the railway around Freemasons Road, and new-build flats down towards Royal Victoria Dock and ExCeL. The older homes carry more grease and worn paint, the new flats are lighter dirt but a fussier spec. We clean both to the same 57-point checklist, just with a different amount of time on the day.
What is the 48-hour re-clean guarantee?
If the inventory clerk or letting agent challenges our work after the check-out, we come back and put it right within 48 hours, free of charge. It is rarely needed, because our first-time pass rate is 97%, but it means you are never left carrying a deduction for something we can simply re-do.
How do you price an end of tenancy clean in Custom House?
By the size and condition of the flat, as a fixed quote, not by the hour. A small flat in one of the dockside towers sits at the lower end and a large lived-in terrace north of the line at the higher end, with neglected ovens or heavy carpets pushing it up. We give you the figure before we start, so there are no surprises on the day.
Will the clean actually get my deposit back?
A proper end of tenancy clean removes the most common reason landlords make deductions, which is a flat left dirtier than the check-in inventory recorded. We clean to a 57-point agent-approved checklist and back it with the 48-hour re-clean guarantee. We have helped tenants recover £1.2m in deposits that would otherwise have gone on cleaning deductions.
Does my Custom House landlord need a licence?
Most likely, yes. Newham’s selective licensing scheme runs borough-wide from 1 June 2023 across 22 of the 24 wards, excluding only Stratford Olympic Park and Royal Victoria, so the bulk of the Custom House streets are covered. As a tenant the licence is your landlord’s responsibility, not yours, but a licensed landlord has a strong reason to want a clean check-out signed off.
How does the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 affect my deposit?
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent in October 2025 and changes a lot about private renting in England, but it does not change the basic principle behind cleaning deductions. Your landlord can still only hold back deposit money where the flat is left worse than the check-in inventory recorded, and never for fair wear and tear.
Do I need to be there during the clean?
No. As long as we can get access, the electricity and hot water are on, and the flat is empty of your things, you do not need to wait around. Plenty of people hand us keys through the agent. Just flag any parking or barrier-access issue when you book, because around the dockside blocks and on ExCeL event days that can cost time if we turn up cold.
Can you clean at the weekend?
Yes, seven days a week, with no weekend surcharge. Most moves land on a Friday or a Saturday, so weekend slots are normal for us. Book a day or two before your check-out if you can, to leave room in case anything overruns.
What do you need from me on the day?
Electricity and running hot water on, the flat cleared of your belongings, and the fridge or freezer defrosted the night before if you want them cleaned inside. Tell us about anything unusual, like an oven that has not been touched in years, so we bring the right kit and quote you straight.