What does an inventory clerk check first in a Georgian townhouse above one of the West Street antiques shops? The window seats, nine times out of ten, because dust settles into the old sash grooves faster than anyone expects. Monster Cleaning has covered end of tenancy work across Dorking and the wider Mole Valley patch since 2014, at £30 per hour per cleaner, with a 48-hour re-clean guarantee measured against whatever the agent’s report says. Ring 0333 555 2076 for a price.
Last updated July 2026. We cover RH4 and the RH5 villages: Pixham, Westcott, the Holmwoods, Beare Green and Capel, along with the Box Hill and Ranmore foothills. This page sits inside the Surrey directory at End of Tenancy Cleaning Surrey.
The window seat is where a West Street inventory clerk looks first
Ask any inventory clerk who works the Dorking patch and they will tell you the same thing: check the window seats before anything else. In the Georgian townhouses along West Street, many converted above the antiques shops that give the street its name, dust collects in the old sash grooves faster than a tenant expects, and a clerk trained on this stock knows exactly where to run a finger.
Dorking is a market town wedged into the Surrey Hills, and the housing reflects it in layers. The historic centre along West Street, South Street and the High Street is a mix of Georgian merchant houses and Victorian terraces, several with shopfronts below and flats above, the kind of building where the antiques trade has traded for generations. Climb out towards the hills and the stock changes to substantial detached houses, some backing onto woodland near Box Hill and Ranmore Common. Head north across the railway and it is mostly 1930s semis and terraces, pebbledash and bay windows, built for the commuter wave that followed the line into Dorking.
That mix matters because an inventory clerk does not apply one standard to all of it. A clerk walking a period townhouse looks for damage to original joinery and plaster. A clerk walking a 1930s semi looks for scale on the taps and dust in the airing cupboard. The check-in report, written when you moved in, describes the flat as it was on day one, usually straight after a professional clean, and the check-out report measures you against that same document. Miss the mark and the difference comes out of the deposit.
Deposits in this town are not small. Mole Valley sits inside the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which keeps demand for the better streets high, and agents here know the market well enough to be exacting at check-out. A failed inspection is rarely about one big fault. It is usually five or six small ones, stacked.
Section 21 is gone: what that means for a Dorking move-out
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 commenced on 1 May 2026. Section 21 no-fault evictions are abolished. Every assured shorthold tenancy still running in England converted automatically to a periodic tenancy on that date, and a tenant can now give two months’ notice whenever they choose rather than waiting for a fixed term to expire.
Here is what did not change. The cleaning standard did not move. The check-in benchmark is the same document it always was. A landlord still cannot make professional cleaning a contractual condition under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, and the deposit maths runs exactly as it did the week before the Act commenced.
What changed is the calendar.
A rolling notice period spreads move-outs across the year instead of bunching them around fixed dates, which sounds calmer, but it also means a Dorking landlord has less warning and less time to line up an inventory clerk, so bookings can move faster than they used to.
Mole Valley District Council held a landlord briefing on the changes earlier this year at the Pippbrook offices. The advice from the floor, more or less, was to get organised early. The same goes for tenants booking a clean.
The 57 things we go through, room by room
Every Dorking booking runs to the same 57-point checklist, built from a decade of local check-outs and tuned to what agents in this town actually flag. The full list comes with the job. Here is the shortlist a clerk reaches for first, wherever in Mole Valley the property sits.
- Oven door glass, split apart and cleaned between the panes
- Airing cupboard slats above the immersion tank in the 1930s semis north of the station
- Sash window boxes and the lower pane edge on the West Street and South Street townhouses
- Shower screen and tap chrome, where the chalk water sits hardest
- Skirting and radiator backs in the detached houses toward Ranmore
- Boot room or porch tiles, where Box Hill mud tracks in on a wet weekend
That is the shortlist. The full clean goes considerably further.
Kitchen
The oven is stripped, not wiped: racks soak separately, the door glass comes apart, and the fan, element and seals are all done by hand. Hob rings and knobs come off and get washed. Every cupboard is cleaned inside and out, including the deep awkward corners in the older West Street kitchens where a Georgian reception room has been split to fit one in. Fridge and freezer are cleaned through once defrosted. Appliances get pulled forward so the gap behind the fridge and the washing machine gets done, then pushed back. The washing machine door seal is checked first, because that is where the grey deposit shows fastest on this town’s water. Sink, taps and drainer get a proper descale, and the floor is mopped last, once the dust has settled.
Bathrooms
Taps, shower screen and tile grout get a dedicated descaling pass, because a quick wipe does nothing to scale that has already set into chrome. The toilet is done properly: inside, under the rim, base, cistern and behind the pedestal, which is the spot most DIY cleans skip. Mirror, cabinet and extractor vent are wiped, and the floor gets done into the corners, where the middle-only wipe never reaches.
Bedrooms and living rooms
Wardrobes, drawers and any built-in storage are emptied and wiped, and the built-in cupboards in the older West Street and South Street houses run deep, so they always get opened properly. Skirting, door frames and light fittings are wiped, and in the period townhouses that means picture rails and the odd ceiling rose too. Sash windows, where the property has them, get a careful hand-wipe rather than a spray, because old glazing putty does not take kindly to being soaked. Radiators are cleaned behind and underneath, cast-iron ones in the older stock taking longer than a modern panel radiator would. Walls are spot-wiped for marks, with a fair line drawn: nail holes and scuffs are a decorator’s job, not a cleaner’s.
Carpets are vacuumed and spot-treated as standard. A full carpet shampoo is a separate add-on, priced by room, and it matters here because a fair few Dorking tenancies write it into the contract as a condition of the deposit return.
Chalk water and the scale it leaves on a Dorking bathroom
Dorking sits on chalk, and the water supplied here, by SES Water, runs hard as a result, up near the 280 to 290 parts-per-million mark depending on the exact zone. Anything over 200 counts as hard. In practice that means scale builds back onto chrome, glass and kettle elements within a couple of weeks of the last proper clean, well inside the gap most tenants leave between one and their move-out.
Clerks in this town know it. They run a thumbnail down a tap, they hold a shower screen up to the light, they check the kettle. A film that has been left to set is not a five-minute fix, and on the original chrome fittings still in place in some of the West Street houses, an aggressive descaler is the wrong tool entirely, because it strips the finish along with the deposit. We use a measured soak and a proper dwell time instead, then a polish.
A film that has been left to set is not a five-minute fix.
Grout is the other one. It rarely fails outright, but a clerk marking it down as “not as new” is enough to cost a chunk of a deposit on its own. Where grout is already grey at check-in, we photograph it before we start, so nobody gets billed for wear that predates the tenancy.
Dorking street by street, from the antiques quarter to the Box Hill foothills
Dorking is compact, but the housing turns over completely within about a mile in any direction, and each band needs a slightly different approach.
West Street, South Street and the antiques quarter
West Street is the oldest part of town, often called the antiques quarter, and it still trades on that reputation: a run of individual dealers and antique centres in buildings that go back to the sixteenth century, with the Dorking Museum tucked among them. A lot of the flats here sit above a shop, reached by a narrow internal stair, with Georgian proportions and a period fireplace surround that nobody wants touched with anything abrasive. South Street runs the same character down toward the station, with more Victorian terrace stock mixed in among the older houses.
Out toward Box Hill and Ranmore
Head east out of the centre and the town gives way to the foothills. Box Hill itself has been in National Trust hands since 1914, it hosted nine laps of the men’s road race and two of the women’s at the 2012 London Olympics, and it draws walkers and cyclists from across the south east most weekends of the year. The houses that back onto that ground, and the ones scattered around Ranmore Common to the west, tend to be substantial and detached, often with a boot room or a porch built specifically to catch the mud that a day on the hill brings in. Nothing about those cleans is quick, but the work is straightforward: floors, thresholds and radiator backs, done properly.
North of the railway
Cross the tracks and the town turns suburban fast. Streets off the Reigate Road are largely 1930s semis and terraces, pebbledash and bay-fronted, built for the wave of commuters the railway line brought in. These houses are more forgiving on original fabric and less forgiving on grease and scale, because there is more kitchen and bathroom surface per square foot and less of it original.
The villages and the licensing picture
Out past the ring road sit Westcott, Pixham, the three Holmwoods and Beare Green, mostly inter-war and post-war stock with a scatter of older cottages, all inside the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Mole Valley District Council runs a mandatory licence for any house with five or more occupants forming two or more households, but the council has not introduced an additional Article 4 restriction or a selective licensing scheme, which is a simpler position than several neighbouring Surrey boroughs. Any licensed HMO gets its shared stairs, hallway and kitchen priced and cleaned as standard rooms, not as an extra.
What it costs, and the maths nobody runs until it is too late
| Property | Typical duration | Estimated cost |
|---|---|---|
| Studio or one-bed flat above a West Street shop | 3-4 hours, 1 cleaner | From £156 |
| One-bed flat, town centre | 4-5 hours, 2 cleaners | From £207 |
| Two-bed terrace or flat | 5-6 hours, 2 cleaners | From £243 |
| Three-bed semi, Reigate Road or the villages | 6-8 hours, 2 cleaners | From £339 |
| Four-bed detached house, Ranmore or Box Hill side | 8-10 hours, 2-3 cleaners | From £425 |
| Carpet shampoo add-on | Same visit | From £36 per bedroom |
| Oven-only spec | 1.5-2 hours | From £77 |
Dorking runs at our standard rate: £30 per hour per cleaner, kit and travel across RH4 and RH5 included, no rural surcharge for the Westcott or Holmwood end. Those prices assume a property in ordinary lived-in condition. A long tenancy with heavy wear, a pet in the house, or several years since the last proper clean costs more, and we say so on the phone rather than after the job is done.
Run the numbers the way a deposit forces you to. A two-bed at £243 set against a deposit running to several thousand pounds is not really a choice. Every booking carries a 48-hour re-clean guarantee, and our pass rate across Dorking jobs sits close to 97%. We are on the books of 300+ letting agents across Surrey and London, and that work has helped recover £1.2m in deposits that would otherwise have gone on cleaning deductions.
A detached house near Ranmore, six years in
“Six years in a detached house off the Ranmore road, two kids and a dog who both loved Box Hill, and the boot room told the whole story. Monster sent three cleaners for most of a day: boot room tiles, radiator backs, the works. The oven was the other worry, years of a big Sunday roast every week. Agent’s inspection came back clean, full deposit back inside three weeks.”
Rachel, Ranmore RH4 3, March 2026
That job is a fair example of what the hillside houses need. Long tenancy, a family who used the outdoors hard, and a kitchen that had done a lot of cooking. None of it was complicated work. It was just a lot of it, done properly, with the boot room getting the same attention as the bathroom.
Booking it, and the village-lane problem
Book earlier than feels necessary. Since the Renters’ Rights Act came in, move-outs across Mole Valley are less bunched around a fixed date and less predictable as a result, so slots go on shorter notice than they used to.
- Ring 0333 555 2076. Price in about three minutes. Give us the postcode, property size, move-out date and anything the check-in report flagged as “new”.
- We book you in, ideally the day before check-out. Allow a few days’ notice in town, longer for a village address with a single access lane.
- Property empty when we arrive. Furniture and personal items out, so nothing blocks the room-by-room pass.
- Photo record at the end. Every room, before and after, for your own file.
- Check-out happens. Anything flagged inside 48 hours, we come back and fix it free.
One practical note for the villages. Westcott, Pixham and the Holmwoods often mean a single-track lane or a key safe rather than a doorstep handover, and that is routine for us, not a problem. Tell us the access arrangement when you book and we plan the day around it.
West Street itself has its own quirk: limited parking right on the street, so a team arriving for an antiques-quarter flat usually parks on South Street and walks the last stretch with the kit.
Four jobs that get muddled: end of tenancy, deep, regular and domestic
These four get confused often enough that it is worth setting them out plainly.
- Check-in inventory report
- The document written on day one, describing every surface, usually with photographs. It is the benchmark your check-out gets measured against, which is why we clean to it rather than to a general idea of clean.
- End of tenancy clean
- Built to pass that inventory and protect a deposit, with the property empty, the 57-point checklist applied, and the 48-hour guarantee attached, at £30 an hour.
- Deep clean
- A top-to-bottom reset for a home you are keeping, with no inventory framing and no agent involved, also priced at £30 an hour.
- Regular domestic clean
- Ongoing maintenance on a weekly or fortnightly visit, from £22 an hour, the cheapest of the four because the job never gets a chance to build up.
A Dorking move-out often pulls in more than the core clean. Carpet cleaning is the most common add-on, sometimes a contractual line rather than optional, particularly in the village lets where a landlord has just re-fitted. Oven cleaning is built into every end of tenancy job as standard and also stands alone if that is the only thing an agent flagged. Upholstery cleaning covers a furnished let, and hard floor work handles the parquet that turns up under the carpet in a fair few of the older Ranmore-side houses once you lift it.
Questions we get asked
How much does end of tenancy cleaning cost in Dorking?
From £156 for a studio, £207 for a one-bed, £243 for a two-bed, £339 for a three-bed and £425 for a four-bed. Carpet shampoo and oven add-ons are priced separately.
Does the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 change anything for a Dorking tenancy?
From 1 May 2026, Section 21 evictions are gone and existing tenancies convert to periodic, giving tenants two months’ notice at any point. The cleaning standard itself has not changed; the difference is that move-outs are less predictable, so book earlier than you used to.
Do you cover Westcott, Pixham, Beare Green and the villages around Dorking?
Yes, the whole RH4 and RH5 patch, including Westcott, Pixham, the three Holmwoods, Beare Green and Capel. Single-track lanes and key-safe handovers are routine for us.
What does the 48-hour re-clean guarantee actually cover?
If the letting agent or inventory clerk flags a cleaning issue within 48 hours of our visit, we come back and put it right at no extra charge, provided the property has not been reoccupied in the meantime.
Is carpet cleaning included in the price or an add-on?
An add-on, from £36 per bedroom or £115 for a whole two-bed carpeted area. A fair number of Dorking tenancies write it in as a condition, so check your agreement before you decide to skip it.
Do you handle shared houses under Mole Valley’s HMO licensing rules?
Yes. Mole Valley District Council licenses any house with five or more occupants forming two or more households. Shared stairs, hallway and kitchen in a licensed HMO are cleaned and priced as standard rooms, not as an extra.
Can hard water staining really be sorted in one visit?
Usually, yes. Dorking’s chalk-fed water sits close to 280 to 290 parts per million, and a measured descaling soak with proper dwell time lifts scale that a quick wipe never touches. Where a fitting is original chrome, we go gentler and slower rather than reach for anything aggressive.
How long before check-out should I book?
A few days’ notice usually works for a town-centre flat. Village addresses and the larger detached houses toward Ranmore or Box Hill are worth booking further ahead, especially since move-out dates have become less predictable under the new tenancy rules.
Do you work on Georgian and Victorian buildings on West Street with original features?
Yes, regularly. Original fireplace surrounds, plasterwork and any period joinery get a careful hand approach rather than anything abrasive, and we do not put a strong product near original paintwork.
What happens if my landlord or agent disputes the clean afterward?
Escalate to the deposit scheme adjudicator. Our invoice, photo record and re-clean history are admissible evidence, and Shelter’s guidance sets out the steps clearly if you want to read around it first.
Do I need to be there on the day?
No. Most of our Dorking clients leave a key with the agent or use a key safe. We send a written report by email once we are done.
Does the property need to be completely empty?
Fully empty is strongly preferred. A single piece of furniture left for the next tenant can be worked around; more than that and the clean is genuinely less complete, which the inventory clerk will notice.
Do you work with specific Dorking letting agents?
Yes, we are on the books of 300+ letting agents across the wider area, and in Dorking that includes regular work with the firms based around West Street, South Street and the High Street.
Is there a surcharge for the detached houses out toward Ranmore or Box Hill?
No. Pricing across RH4 and RH5 is the same standard rate, £30 per hour per cleaner, whether the property is a flat above a West Street antiques shop or a detached house backing onto Box Hill woodland.