End of tenancy cleaning in Hackney Downs

Hackney Downs Park covers 41 acres of common land between the Lower Clapton spine and Stoke Newington Road, and the streets ringing it – Downs Park Road, Sandringham Road, Cricketfield Road south end, Downs Road – are mostly late-Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses split into upper and lower flats. That’s the housing stock you’re cleaning at the end of a tenancy here. Monster Cleaning has worked the Downs patch since 2014 – the residential cluster either side of Hackney Downs station, the period mansion blocks on Downs Road, the modern infill near the Amhurst Road junction, and the Hackney Downs Studios surrounds on Amhurst Terrace. Phone 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected]. Two-bed upper-floor split from £243, full agent-approved.

Last updated April 2026. We cover E5 8NP, E5 8DG and E8 1JG in full plus the wider Downs cluster from the railway cutting east towards Lower Clapton Road and west to Stoke Newington Road. See the full Hackney end of tenancy page for our wider coverage across the borough, and our sister page on Clapton Pond end of tenancy for the listed Georgian frontage on the eastern side of Lower Clapton Road.

“We had a two-bed split on Downs Park Road, the upper two floors of a late-Victorian terrace, looking south over the back gardens onto the railway line. Two years. We’re both in TV production – long shoots, late takeaways, the gas hob ran most evenings and the extractor canopy over it had gone amber by the time we gave notice. Hatched warned us at the pre-walk that the hood would be the failure point. Monster came in on a Wednesday morning, three cleaners, seven hours. They stripped the baffle filter, soaked it, scrubbed the canopy interior up to the rim, and got it back to brushed steel. Did the rest of the flat to the same standard. Clerk passed it first time. £2,750 deposit back the next Tuesday.” – Lara and Tom, Downs Park Road upper split, E5 8DG

Why Hackney Downs deposits get deducted

Average private rent across Hackney was £2,598 a month in March 2026, an annual rise of 6.8% (ONS Private Rent and House Prices, March 2026). On the Downs streets a typical two-bed upper split lets at around £2,500 a month, slightly under the borough median because the bedrooms are smaller than the Clapton Square Georgian flats but bigger than the studios on Mare Street. A one-bed in a Sandringham Road conversion runs about £1,850. The deposit is still five weeks. Roughly £2,900 sits with the protection scheme on most Downs-area tenancies. The smaller the flat, the harder a single failed line on the inventory hits. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 has tightened the path – more on that below – but the deposit-return route is now the cleanest exit.

The housing stock around the Downs runs to one dominant archetype: late-Victorian and Edwardian terraced houses, three storeys with a half-basement, split into a lower flat and an upper flat by a side-passage hallway and a tight stair. Downs Park Road is the spine of it – long yellow-stock-brick terraces from the 1880s and 1890s, all converted, most with the original cornice run and picture-rail still in place in the front receptions. Sandringham Road repeats the pattern with slightly later Edwardian frontages. Cricketfield Road’s south end (the half closer to the Downs, distinct from the north-end stretch towards Clapton Pond) is the same 1870s-80s yellow-stock terrace stock. Downs Road has a few period mansion blocks – red-brick, four-storey, communal stair and lift in some – that let as one and two-beds. Modern infill sits on the railway side near the station and on Amhurst Road. Hackney Downs Studios on Amhurst Terrace is a creative-industry complex of converted railway warehouses; a handful of live-work units there appear on the rota too.

The third factor is water. The Downs sits on the Thames Water network with north London supply tested at around 293ppm calcium carbonate (Thames Water hard water guidance). Chrome shower heads, kettle bases, washing-machine drawers and mixer taps build chalky white film inside two weeks if you skip the descaler. Inventory clerks in E5 know this and look for it specifically on the kitchen sink mixer tap base.

Renters’ Rights Act 2025 and the deposit angle

Section 21 no-fault eviction was abolished a week ago. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and Phase 1 commenced on 1 May 2026. Rolling periodic tenancies have replaced fixed-term assured shortholds, and any Section 21 served before 30 April 2026 has to be acted on by 31 July 2026 or it falls. Practically this means the deposit-return route is now the cleanest exit path for tenants moving out of a Downs flat. A clean move-out, a documented inventory, deposit back, no court time. Tenants in a deposit dispute should review the route through the relevant scheme: Tenancy Deposit Scheme, mydeposits, or the Deposit Protection Service. Tenant-rights advice is on Shelter’s deposit pages.

Hackney Council selective licensing – Hackney Downs ward sits inside the new scheme

Hackney’s new selective licensing scheme started a week ago. Hackney Downs ward is one of seventeen wards explicitly designated under the scheme (Hackney Council property licensing). The other sixteen are Brownswood, Cazenove, Clissold, Dalston, De Beauvoir, Hackney Central, Hackney Wick, Homerton, King’s Park, Lea Bridge, London Fields, Shacklewell, Springfield, Stamford Hill West, Stoke Newington and Victoria. The scheme runs from 1 May 2026 to 30 April 2031. Application fee is £925 per property in two instalments, with a £100 discount for accredited landlords and at least £50 off for properties with EPC ratings A to C. Any private landlord renting to a single household or two unrelated sharers in Hackney Downs ward now needs the licence; failing to license is a civil penalty offence under the Housing Act 2004 (Housing Act 2004). Practical effect on cleaning: licensed properties get inspected closer at check-out because the licence creates a paper trail the council references in any later dispute. Communal stairwells in the side-passage upper-and-lower split flats get walked separately by some clerks; we price those as standard areas, not extras.

The Downs Park Road extractor problem

This one is specific to the Downs split-flat archetype. The kitchens in the upper flats sit at the back of the building, often under a flat-roof rear extension, with a gas hob against the party wall and an extractor canopy hooded directly above it. Two years of takeaway cooking, gas-flame heat rising, and the canopy interior browns to amber. The baffle filter clogs first, then the rim where the canopy meets the wall, then the splashback tile grout. Generic kitchen spray will not lift it. We strip the baffle, soak it in a hot degreaser, scrub the canopy with a stronger wash, then polish dry. Rim and grout get a separate pass. It runs about 40 minutes done properly. The Hatched and Keatons inventory clerks know the pattern and they check it.

It fails most.

Streets and zones we cover around Hackney Downs

We work the streets ringing the park, the residential cluster either side of Hackney Downs station, the period mansion blocks on Downs Road, and the modern infill near Amhurst Road. The streets and zones we book most often:

• Downs Park Road – the late-Victorian terraced spine, mostly upper-and-lower split flats, E5 8DG
• Sandringham Road – Edwardian terraces between the Downs and Stoke Newington Road
• Cricketfield Road south end – 1870s-80s yellow-stock-brick terraces, the Downs-side stretch (north-end Clapton Pond covered separately)
• Downs Road – red-brick period mansion blocks and terraced houses
• Queensdown Road, Rendlesham Road, Cleveleys Road – quieter residential streets running off the Downs
• Amhurst Road frontage – mixed period and modern infill near the railway bridge
• Amhurst Terrace – including the Hackney Downs Studios live-work units
• Dalston Lane east end – feeding towards Hackney Downs station
• Bodney Road, Wayland Avenue – Edwardian terrace pockets
• Spurstowe Terrace, Spurstowe Road – quieter residential band
• E5 8 in full and E8 1 east towards the railway cutting, with E5 0 bleed towards Lower Clapton Road

If your address sits a few streets outside this list, ring the office. We almost certainly cover it.

What’s included in our Hackney Downs end of tenancy clean

End of tenancy is the hand-back clean. Deep is for staying. Regular is for keeping it tidy. The work below is the first one. Everything is included as standard, fixed-quote, with the 57-point agent-approved checklist applied throughout and the 48-hour re-clean guarantee covering anything an inventory clerk flags afterwards.

Kitchen

• Oven full strip, racks soaked separately, door inner glass between the panes – the bit clerks open first
• Cooker hood baffle filter pulled and degreased, canopy interior scrubbed up to the rim, surrounds and splashback tiles polished – the gas-hob amber layer comes off here
• Hob burner caps off, cast-iron pan supports soaked, surface degreased to enamel
• Cupboards inside, outside, top, behind and underneath every unit, drawer runners wiped
• Fridge and freezer fully defrosted, washed inside and out, door seals scrubbed where mould blooms
• Washing machine drawer pulled out and soaked, door rubber gasket cleaned, filter inspected
• Dishwasher filter pulled, salt reservoir checked, body wiped down
• Sink and taps – acid descale on mixer base and aerator, chrome polished, plug and overflow cleared – the 293ppm step
• Tile grout brushed clean where shower water and kitchen splash hits hardest
• Bin storage washed inside and out, surrounding cupboard wiped, food cupboard interiors lined on request

Bathrooms

• Shower tray, screen, runner descaled with proper dwell time, head soaked overnight where heavy
• WC bowl, rim, hinge bolts, base, behind the pan, cistern lid
• Basin pedestal, plug, overflow descaled, mixer chrome polished
• Mirror, cabinet, shaver socket, extractor grille hand-wiped, brown dust load lifted off the grille
• Towel rail and radiator behind wiped, rail descaled where wet hands touch
• Original cast-iron radiator backs and fin spaces, where the period flat retains them – soft brush rather than spray

Bedrooms and reception rooms

• Wardrobes inside, outside, drawer runners, rails
• Picture rail tops dusted – the long Edwardian and late-Victorian terraces here mostly retain the original profiles
• Cornice run worked top and underside with stepladder and soft long-bristle brush where original plaster is still in place
• Original cast-iron fireplace surround dusted, hearth wiped, insert (where retained) brushed not sprayed
• Skirtings – the thicker period profiles get a proper hand-wipe rather than a vacuum-edge pass
• Internal doors both sides, hinges, original handles, the flat upper edge nobody dusts
• Stair-edge carpet wear – vacuumed and spot-treated where heavy commute footfall scuffs the tread nosings

Throughout

• Light fittings – inside dome of pendants, finger-marks under switches, thermostat, doorbell button
• Timber casement and sash windows hand-cleaned to glass, frames wiped, sills hand-dusted (period stock here mostly has original timber on the front elevation)
• Carpets vacuumed in two directions, edges done by hand, spot-treat marks – full carpet shampoo is an add-on
• Hard floors mopped after dust settles, edges hand-wiped, finished dry
• Stairwell to upper flat – banister, spindles, every tread, the side-passage hallway door from Downs Park Road or Sandringham Road if it forms part of the demise
• Curtains and nets shaken, nets washed if requested
• Final torchlight walk-through to catch dust shadows the daylight hides on cornice tops and skirting profiles

What it costs around Hackney Downs

Hackney sits at our standard London tier, so the prices below match the borough base. Pricing is the full agent-approved service, fixed quote not hourly, with the 57-point agent-approved checklist and the 48-hour re-clean guarantee included. No VAT add-on, no fuel surcharge, no extra for upper-floor flats with side-passage stair-only access in the period terraces.

Add-ons

• Carpet shampoo – £36 per bedroom, £43 per living room, £115 whole-2-bed package
• Single oven deep clean (already in standard EOT, listed for reference) – £77
• Double oven deep clean – £110
• Range cooker 90cm – £114
• External glass on upper-floor flats in the period terraces – quoted on site, reach varies along the railway side

For comparison, the National Living Wage rose to £12.21 an hour in April 2025 and is moving to £12.71 from April 2026 (gov.uk minimum wage rates). Our £23/hour bespoke rate covers two cleaners working in tandem with full kit, which is why it lands above a single-cleaner rate.

What your Hackney Downs letting agent will actually check

This list is built from feedback we get back from Keatons Lower Clapton, Hatched on Amhurst Road, Hunters working the wider E5 patch, Oliver Knight on the Stoke Newington edge, and Foxtons Hackney down on Mare Street, plus the inventory clerks who handle the Downs-area split-flat stock. Order matters – top of the list is what gets failed most often.

1. Cooker hood canopy interior and baffle filter – the gas-hob amber layer that builds in upper-flat kitchens above the rear extension, by a wide margin the most predictable Downs failure
2. Limescale on kitchen sink mixer base, kettle, washing-machine drawer and shower head – the Thames Water 293ppm failure mode
3. Stair-edge carpet on the side-passage flight – the heavy commute footfall to and from Hackney Downs station scuffs the tread nosings
4. Oven door inner glass – the gap between the panes where grease seeps in and bakes
5. Picture rail tops and the upper line of the cornice run in the front reception
6. Window-frame timber on south-facing units – particulate film from Downs Park Road below shows up where afternoon sun hits
7. Behind the cooker – oil pools in the gap between cooker and worktop on the narrow rear-extension galleys
8. Original cast-iron fireplace surround on the front-reception chimney breast – dust film, hard-water marks where a previous tenant has wiped with a damp cloth
9. Skirting tops, especially the deeper period profiles in Downs Park Road front receptions
10. Light fittings – the inside of the pendant dome as well as the outer shade
11. Fridge and freezer seals – the rubber where mould grows
12. Cupboard interiors, especially under-sink where historic chalk rings show up against the laminate
13. Door tops – the flat upper edge, particularly relevant on the taller period internal doors
14. Toilet hinge bolts, rim, behind the pan
15. Bathroom extractor grille – dust load looks brown when removed
16. Cast-iron radiator backs and fin spaces on the period flats that retain them
17. Stairwell to the upper flat – the dust that collects in the corners of the original timber treads

How booking works

1. Phone 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected]. Tell us the postcode, the bedroom count, and your move-out date.
2. We confirm a fixed quote on the call. Carpet add-on, oven type, range cooker, any access quirks (side-passage stair access on the upper splits, Hackney Downs station commute-window parking, key-safe handover) get talked through then.
3. We email a written confirmation with the start time and the team lead’s name.
4. The team arrives, usually two cleaners on a one-bed and three on a three-bed-plus. They work to the 57-point agent-approved checklist. Stepladders carried in for cornice work as standard. Photos taken on completion if you want them for the deposit file.
5. Inventory clerk attends within 48 hours. If they flag anything that’s on our checklist, we come back free under the 48-hour re-clean guarantee. If they flag something outside the checklist (a pre-existing chip in the cast-iron fireplace, a curtain that’s gone yellow with age), that’s an inventory dispute, not a clean issue, but we’ll back you up with our photos.

Related services and neighbouring areas

If you’re booking the end of tenancy clean, you may also want one or more of these add-ons or sister services. Same teams across the same patch:

• Standalone oven cleaning – if the rest of the property is fine and only the oven let you down
• Carpet shampoo and stain treatment – the most common deposit-deduction line item across Hackney, especially the stair-edge wear from the Downs station commute
• Upholstery cleaning – sofa and armchair fabric, particularly worth doing on landlord-supplied furniture in the mansion-block flats
• Hard floor restoration – original encaustic tiles in some of the Downs Park Road entrance halls
• Window cleaning – external timber casement glazing on the front elevation
• After-builders cleaning – if the landlord ran works between tenancies, common in the Downs Road mansion-block refurbishments

Neighbouring areas we cover for end of tenancy:

• Lower Clapton end of tenancy – the wider E5 patch east of the Downs towards Lea Bridge Road
• Clapton Pond end of tenancy – the listed Georgian frontage on Lower Clapton Road
• Chatsworth Road end of tenancy – the shop-with-flat-above strip running south of the Downs
• Stoke Newington Church Street end of tenancy – the high-street neighbour west of Sandringham Road
• Dalston Junction end of tenancy – the Overground stop down on the western edge of the borough
• The full Hackney end of tenancy hub with every neighbourhood we cover

To date we’ve helped recover £1.2m deposits across our London and county books, working with 300+ letting agents on rolling rotas.

Frequently asked questions

How much does end of tenancy cleaning cost around Hackney Downs?

From £156 for a studio, £207 for a one-bed period conversion, £243 for a two-bed upper-floor split, £339 for a three-bed period split, and £425 for a four-bed terrace. E5 and E8 sit at our standard London tier. Carpet shampoo, double-oven and range-cooker add-ons are priced separately.

How long does the clean take?

A one-bed Sandringham Road conversion takes us four to five hours with two cleaners. A two-bed Downs Park Road upper split with original cornicing runs six to seven because the cornice and picture-rail work eats time. A three-bed Cricketfield Road south-end split runs eight to nine. We do not rush by the clock; we work to the checklist.

Do you guarantee my deposit back?

We can’t guarantee the deposit because the inventory has many lines we don’t touch (paint, wear and tear, the landlord’s furniture). What we guarantee is the cleaning side: if the inventory clerk flags any cleaning issue within 48 hours of our visit, we come back at no charge under the 48-hour re-clean guarantee. 97% first-time pass rate.

Are you insured?

Yes. Public liability cover is in place at £5m. We are Monster Cleaning Ltd, Companies House number 9919639, trading since 2014. Insurance certificate available on request.

Do I need to be there?

No. Most Downs-area clients drop a key with the letting agent at Keatons or Hatched, or use a key safe on the side-passage door. We send a written check-out report by email when we leave.

Do you bring all the cleaning products?

Yes. Everything from the acid descaler we use on the 293ppm North London hard-water scale to the soft brushes for original cast-iron fireplace surrounds and the neutral pH solution for original encaustic floor tiles in the Downs Park Road entrance halls. You don’t need to leave anything behind.

Do you handle Hackney’s new selective licensing properties?

We do. Hackney’s selective licensing scheme started on 1 May 2026 and Hackney Downs ward is one of the seventeen covered, alongside Brownswood, Cazenove, Clissold, Dalston, De Beauvoir, Hackney Central, Hackney Wick, Homerton, King’s Park, Lea Bridge, London Fields, Shacklewell, Springfield, Stamford Hill West, Stoke Newington and Victoria. The licence does not change the cleaning standard at end of tenancy, but it does mean licensed properties are inspected closer because of the paper trail. Communal stairwells in the side-passage upper-and-lower split flats get walked separately by some clerks; we price those as standard areas, not extras.

What about scale on the kitchen and bathroom chrome?

North London water tests at around 293ppm calcium carbonate. Chrome shower heads, screen runners, mixer taps and kettle elements need a dilute acid soak with proper dwell time, then a polish dry. Our team carries the lot. If your previous cleaner has been using a generic kitchen spray, the scale won’t lift; that is why hard-water inventory fails on this point. On flats with original brass mixer taps in the period kitchens we switch to brass polish instead of acid.

Do you cover the gas-hob extractor problem specifically?

Yes – it is the line item that turns up most around Hackney Downs. The upper-flat kitchens on the rear extensions of Downs Park Road and Sandringham Road carry an amber oil layer on the cooker hood canopy that ordinary spray won’t shift. We strip the baffle filter, soak it separately, scrub the canopy interior up to the rim where it meets the wall, then polish dry. Roughly 40 minutes done properly. The Hatched and Keatons inventory clerks check it specifically.

Can you clean a property while it’s still partly furnished?

Better if it is empty, but we will work around stored furniture if it is confined to one room. We cannot shampoo carpets under furniture, and the inventory clerk will see the difference, so be aware. On the heavy original-furniture flats in the Downs Road mansion blocks we ask for the wardrobes and chests to be left as supplied; we wipe around them.

What about the stair-edge carpet wear from the station commute?

The side-passage stair flights on the Downs Park Road and Sandringham Road upper splits get heavy footfall to and from Hackney Downs station, and the tread nosings scuff. Vacuum alone won’t lift the dirt that grinds into the pile. We spot-treat the worst nosings during the standard EOT and offer full carpet shampoo as an add-on. The Hatched clerks pull the runner edge specifically on the side-passage flight.

What if my landlord uses a specific inventory company?

Tell us the firm when you book. We have worked with most of the E5 and E8 inventory clerks and we know which ones lean strict on which categories – the cooker hood canopy and the side-passage stair flight are two of those. We will brief the team accordingly.

What’s the 48-hour re-clean guarantee?

If the letting agent or inventory clerk flags any cleaning issue within 48 hours of our visit, we send a team back at no extra charge to put it right. We have had to use it on roughly 3 in 100 jobs since 2014. Across our books to date that is £1.2m of deposits recovered for tenants we have cleaned for.

Do you take card or only bank transfer?

Card on the day, bank transfer in advance, or cash if that is easier. We send an itemised invoice for the deposit file.

How quickly can you book me in?

Usually 48 to 72 hours’ notice across E5 8NP, E5 8DG and E8 1JG. Same-day work is sometimes possible if a team is finishing nearby on Downs Park Road or Sandringham Road; phone the office to ask.

Will you work with my letting agent’s preferred inventory firm?

Yes. We work with Keatons, Hatched, Hunters, Oliver Knight and Foxtons Hackney regularly across the wider Hackney patch. Coordinating timings, leaving keys, sending reports – that is how every job runs.

Ready to book?

Phone 0333 555 2076 or email [email protected]. Tell us your move-out date, the postcode, and the bedroom count. We will come back with a fixed quote inside an hour during office hours. The 57-point agent-approved checklist, the 48-hour re-clean guarantee and the agent-approved standard are all included; the only optional extras are carpet shampoo, double-oven, range cooker and external glass on the period frontage.

Monster Cleaning Ltd. Trading since 2014. Companies House 9919639. HQ at 255 Upper Richmond Road West, SW14 8QS London. Trustpilot 3.1 over 128 reviews.