Renting in Ebbsfleet now
The homes people mean by Ebbsfleet, from Springhead to Castle Hill and Alkerden, have all gone up since 2007, much of it on old quarry land between Swanscombe and Northfleet, so a check-out here usually means handing back a nearly new house or flat. Our end of tenancy clean in Ebbsfleet starts at £176 for a studio and is fixed by bedrooms up to £445 for four.
Last updated October 2026.
The Ebbsfleet Development Corporation was set up in 2015 to deliver a garden city of up to 15,000 homes. Its board papers from late 2025 count 5,128 new homes inside its boundary, with 511 more under construction. Most of the area falls in Dartford borough, with a smaller eastern part in Gravesham.
Rents are below London levels and climbing. The ONS put the Dartford average at £1,575 a month in August 2026, up 3.1% on a year earlier: £1,277 for a flat, £1,578 for a terraced house, £1,705 for a semi and £2,297 for a detached house. On a three-bedroom home at the borough average of £1,709, the five-week deposit cap comes to just under £2,000.
For tenants who work in London, the station is the draw. Southeastern’s high-speed trains reach St Pancras in about 17 minutes, four an hour off-peak. Eurostar trains have not stopped here since 2020.
The Ebbsfleet neighbourhoods and their lets
Each neighbourhood was built at a different time by different housebuilders, which is why two Ebbsfleet lets with the same number of bedrooms can be very different jobs.
- Springhead
- The first homes, started in 2007 beside Ebbsfleet International. Springhead Bridge opened in 2020.
- Castle Hill
- The first village in Whitecliffe, the new name for the Eastern Quarry, with about 1,600 homes. Its community centre and Cherry Orchard Primary Academy both opened in 2017.
- Ashmere and Alkerden
- The other two Whitecliffe villages, with up to 4,600 more homes between them and still being built. Alkerden has the education campus and the area’s first custom-build neighbourhood, 67 homes finished by Chartway in 2023. At Alkerden Parcel 5B, Chartway’s 162 homes are going partly to the private rented operator Packaged Living, which had taken 40 by late 2025.
- Harbour Village and Cable Wharf
- Two riverside schemes on the Northfleet side, in Gravesham. Bellway plans about 630 homes at Harbour Village, on the old Northfleet Cement Works, and phase 3A is under way. Keepmoat’s Cable Wharf, on the former AEI Cable Works, is planned to reach 598 homes by 2035.
The Fastrack bus route through Whitecliffe to Bluewater opened in summer 2025. If you are leaving a build-to-rent flat at Alkerden, ask the management office for its check-out list in advance and send it to us with the booking.
Dartford’s HMO rules
Since 9 December 2025, turning a family house into a small HMO (three to six people sharing) in Dartford’s urban area north of the A2 has needed planning permission, under an Article 4 direction. A second direction for the area south of the A2 is due on 10 December 2026. The national mandatory licence still applies to any home shared by five or more people from two or more households. None of this changes the cleaning standard at check-out: that is set by the check-in inventory, allowing for fair wear and tear.
Cleaning a new-build for check-out
The check-in inventory on a two-year-old house will describe most things as new. The clerk compares your check-out against that, so the clean has to bring back as much of the new finish as dirt removal can. Scuffs and marks on emulsion that come off with a damp cloth come off; worn paint and chipped worktops are a matter of wear and tear.
Our 57-point checklist covers it. The parts that take longest in an Ebbsfleet new-build:
- Integrated appliances: the dishwasher filter and door seals, the washing machine drawer and seal, the fridge-freezer behind its cabinet door, and the cooker hood filter.
- Handleless gloss kitchen doors and quartz or laminate worktops, which show every smear.
- Walk-in showers and en suites: glass screens, chrome fittings, tiles and grout descaled. The water here is hard, and scale shows up clearly on new chrome.
- Bifold and patio doors to the garden: glass, frames and the tracks along the bottom.
- Stairs in three-storey townhouses: every tread, the handrail and the glass or spindles.
- Windows cleaned on the inside, sills, skirting, doors, switches and radiators throughout.
Two Ebbsfleet lets with the same number of bedrooms can be very different jobs.
Ebbsfleet end of tenancy prices
| Property | Price |
|---|---|
| Studio | £176 |
| One-bed flat | £227 |
| Two-bed flat or house | £263 |
| Three-bed house | £359 |
| Four-bed townhouse | £445 |
| Five bedrooms or more | quoted from the room count |
| Part of a home, or a room in a share | £30 per cleaner per hour |
The oven is not part of the fixed price. Booked with the clean it costs £31 for a single or a single wide oven, and £62 for a double or a 90cm range cooker. More information is on our oven cleaning page.
Carpet cleaning booked with the clean costs £29 a bedroom, £36 a living room, £47 a through lounge, £35 a flight of stairs, £20 a hallway and £8 a landing. A three-storey townhouse usually has two flights and a landing on each floor, so count them before you book. See our carpet cleaning page for the full service.
Booking and getting here
Use the calculator at the top of the page for your price, or call 0333 555 2076, 8am to 7pm, seven days a week. Our cleaners come by van. If your drive or allocated bay will be taken by the removal van, tell us. If we have to pay for parking, the cost goes on the quote at what it costs us.
Every cleaner is interviewed in person, insured and trained on the checklist. We have been in business since 2014, more than 300 letting agents use us, and tenants have won back £1.2m in deposits. Our Google rating is 4.7. If the agent or clerk raises a problem within 48 hours, we come back and clean it again free.
We also clean the older streets of Northfleet, whose own station is only 300 metres from Ebbsfleet International but about 2km away on foot, and in Gravesend further east along the Thames. Other towns are on our Kent page.
Ebbsfleet questions
I rent a three-storey townhouse in Castle Hill. What will the clean cost?
£359 with three bedrooms, £445 with four. Stairs are included; carpet cleaning on them is £35 a flight if you add it.
My flat at Alkerden is managed by a build-to-rent operator. Can you clean to their check-out list?
Yes. Send us the list when you book and the cleaner works to it alongside our own checklist.
Do you clean the integrated appliances in a new-build kitchen?
Yes, the fridge-freezer, dishwasher and washing machine are cleaned inside as part of the kitchen. Only the oven is an add-on.
We share a house north of the A2. Does the Article 4 direction affect us?
No. It is a planning rule for landlords converting houses. If you are the first to leave, book your room and a share of the kitchen and bathroom at £30 per cleaner per hour.
Our Springhead house is ten years old. Will the clerk still expect it to look new?
The clerk compares against the check-in report from the start of your tenancy, so age and fair wear and tear are allowed for. The clean removes dirt, grease and scale; it cannot undo wear.