The houses in Dulwich Village
Almost every home in Dulwich Village stands on land the Dulwich Estate has held since Edward Alleyn founded his College of God’s Gift in 1619, and most of them are period houses: Georgian on the village street, Victorian and Edwardian on Court Lane and Calton Avenue. Our end of tenancy clean for any of them has a fixed price by bedrooms, starting at £156 for a studio and reaching £425 for a four-bed house.
Last updated October 2026.
The Estate still owns about 1,500 acres of Dulwich, including private roads and the College Road tollgate, which has charged since 1789. Until the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 most of these homes were leasehold, and the Estate controlled how they looked through the leases.
Once owners began buying their freeholds, the Estate asked the High Court for a Scheme of Management, approved in January 1974. Freeholders under it must keep the house and garden in good order and need consent for alterations that change the look of the property.
That history is why the stock has changed so little. Southwark’s conservation area appraisal dates the village shops to the late 18th and early 19th centuries and records how fast the area grew once the railways came: the population went from 1,632 in 1851 to 10,247 in 1901. For a tenant leaving, the cleaning work follows the age of the building: sash windows, high ceilings with cornices, picture rails, fireplaces, deep cupboards and long staircases.
Street by street, from the Old College to Court Lane
Southwark designated the conservation area on 7 September 1968, extended it south of College Road in 1971, and in 2005 added Court Lane, Court Lane Gardens, Woodwarde Road, Dovercourt Road and the stretch of Red Post Hill up to North Dulwich station. The appraisal splits it into five parts, and three of them hold most of the lets.
- The old village
- The village street itself, with its grass verges left over from the common land enclosed under Acts of 1805 and 1808. Georgian houses, the old shopfronts, and listed buildings such as the Crown and Greyhound.
- College Road and Gallery Road
- The Old College and Christ’s Chapel at the junction, the Picture Gallery, and the houses running south along College Road towards the tollgate, among them Bell House of 1767.
- Court Lane, Calton Avenue and Woodwarde Road
- Late Victorian, Edwardian and inter-war houses, many in semi-detached pairs with bays and gables, plus the cottages the Dulwich Cottages Company built in the late 1870s to designs by Charles Barry the younger. Examples survive at the south end of Calton Avenue and on Turney Road and Boxall Road.
The railways shaped the edges. West Dulwich station came with the London, Chatham and Dover line in 1860 to 1863, and North Dulwich with the Brighton company’s line in 1864 to 1868; the College’s governors made the railway build its viaduct and bridges to their own architect’s designs, and several still carry the College’s initials.
West Dulwich, on the far side of the line, also has Estate land and Estate rules. Further south, the Estate commissioned hundreds of post-war homes, most built by Wates, which now sit in the Dulwich Wood conservation area; those mid-century houses have far less period detail to clean.
Dulwich Village prices
The price is set by bedrooms and does not move for period features, high ceilings or a long staircase.
| Home | Price | What takes the time in a period home |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | £156 | Kitchen and shower room, a tall sash or two |
| One bedroom | £207 | Cornice and picture rail in the main room, one bathroom |
| Two bedrooms | £243 | A cottage staircase, small sashes, a narrow kitchen |
| Three bedrooms | £339 | Two floors of sashes and bays, a fireplace or two |
| Four bedrooms | £425 | Three floors, several bathrooms, deep built-in cupboards |
| Five bedrooms or more | quoted from the room count | Attic and basement rooms, more bathrooms |
| Part of a home, or one room in a share | £30 per cleaner per hour | Your room plus a share of kitchen and bathroom |
The oven is an add-on and never sits inside the fixed price: £31 single or single wide, £62 double or 90cm range cooker. Carpets booked with the clean cost £29 a bedroom, £36 a living room, £47 a through lounge, £35 a flight of stairs, £20 a hallway and £8 a landing; the carpet cleaning page explains the method, and the oven cleaning page covers ovens booked on their own.
The clean, room by room
End of tenancy cleaning
from £156
For a studio, fixed by property size, agreed before we start.
Get your price0333 555 2076 · 8am to 7pm
Each job follows our 57-point checklist. In a village house the time goes on height and detail.
- Reception rooms and bedrooms: cornices and picture rails dusted from a step ladder, ceiling roses and light fittings, skirting, architraves, doors and finger plates, radiators front and back, inside every built-in cupboard, and fireplace surrounds wiped down with a product that suits stone or tile.
- Windows: sashes cleaned on the inside, with the runners, sills and shutters; old glass gets a soft cloth and no blade.
- Kitchen: cupboards inside and out, worktops, splashback, hob, extractor and filter, sink and taps descaled, fridge and freezer, behind appliances that pull out, and the washing machine seal and drawer.
- Bathrooms: tiles, grout, bath, basin, toilet, screens, taps and shower heads descaled, mirrors, cabinets and extractor grilles.
- Stairs and halls: treads, risers, spindles and handrail by hand, then floors washed or vacuumed to suit the surface.
Thames Water supplies the area and says all the water in its region is hard: it draws about 65% from rivers and 35% from underground, and the water passes through chalk and limestone on the way. The result is scale on taps, screens and shower heads. Descaling is part of every clean, using a gentler product near marble, old brass and original chrome.
Deposits, licensing and the Estate’s rules
The ONS put Southwark’s average rent at £2,474 a month in August 2026; terraced houses averaged £2,849, semi-detached £3,416 and homes with four or more bedrooms £3,608. Where the yearly rent is under £50,000 the deposit is capped at five weeks, so on a four-bedroom house at that average about £4,163 rides on the check-out. Measured against the check-in inventory, with fair wear and tear allowed, the clean is what decides most of it.
On a four-bedroom house at the borough average, about £4,163 rides on the check-out.
Licensing in the village is lighter than in much of Southwark:
- Selective licensing, which covers every private let, does not apply in Dulwich Village ward. The current scheme, from 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2028, does cover the neighbouring Dulwich Hill and Dulwich Wood wards.
- Additional licensing does apply. Since 1 March 2022 every house in multiple occupation in the borough with three or more people from two or more households needs a licence; that designation ends on 1 March 2027.
- The Estate’s Scheme of Management binds the freeholder. It has no say over the clean.
Your landlord also cannot make a professional clean a condition of the tenancy. What counts is that the home matches the check-in report.
Getting a van to the village
The junction of Calton Avenue, Court Lane and Dulwich Village is now a public square, after Southwark made the traffic filter there permanent: walkers and cyclists can cross it, through traffic cannot. We plan the approach to your street with that in mind.
In November 2024 the council also approved a controlled parking zone, DV, covering Townley Road, Gilkes Crescent, Gilkes Place, Calton Avenue and part of East Dulwich Grove, running 8am to 9.30am and 3pm to 5pm on weekdays. Any parking we have to pay for is added to the quote at what it costs us.
Book through the calculator at the top of the page or call 0333 555 2076, 8am to 7pm, seven days a week. We have been cleaning in London since 2014, across Southwark and beyond; more than 300 letting agents use us, tenants have won back £1.2m in deposits, and our Google rating is 4.7.
Cleaners are interviewed in person, insured and trained on the checklist. If the agent or clerk reports a problem within 48 hours, we come back and clean it again free.
Dulwich Village end of tenancy FAQs
I rent one of the Dulwich Cottages on Calton Avenue. What will it cost?
It depends on bedrooms: £243 for two, £339 for three. Add the oven at £31 for a single if your inventory lists it.
Is my house in Dulwich Village covered by Southwark’s selective licensing?
No, Dulwich Village ward is outside the selective scheme. If you share the house with people from other households, the borough-wide additional HMO licence may apply to your landlord.
Can you still reach a house on Court Lane now the junction is closed?
Yes. The square only stops through traffic, so we come in from the far end of the street. Give us the house number when you book.
Our College Road house has five bedrooms. How is it priced?
Homes above four bedrooms are quoted from the room count. Tell us the bedrooms, bathrooms and any attic or basement rooms, and we will give you a fixed figure.
Do you clean the outside of the sash windows?
The end of tenancy clean covers the inside of the glass, frames, runners and sills. Outside panes on upper floors are a window cleaning job, booked separately.
