On a hill house in Upper Shirley the inventory clerk goes to the main bathroom first and turns the shower screen edge-on to the light. The chalky bloom that the hard water leaves on glass and chrome is the single most reliable cleaning deduction up here, and a quick wipe never shifts it.
So an end of tenancy clean in this part of Croydon has to be built backwards from that report: checklist-led, descaled properly, finished to the standard the agent inspects against, at a fixed price by bedroom count, with a 48-hour re-clean guarantee on it. Ring 0333 555 2076 for a price in about three minutes.
Last updated June 2026. We cover the whole CR0 hill: Upper Shirley Road, Oaks Road and the streets running off them, plus the wider Shirley, Coombe and Addington side of the borough. This page sits inside the borough directory at End of Tenancy Cleaning Croydon.
How the clean and the hand-back actually work
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
We clean to the check-in inventory, because that report decides the hand-back. Start with the mechanism, because almost nobody does, and it decides everything.
- When you moved into the house, a clerk walked it and wrote a check-in inventory: every room, every surface, usually with photographs. On a big detached place that document can run to forty or fifty pages.
- Against the kitchen and the bathrooms it will often say “clean to a domestic standard” or “as new”. Those words set the bar.
- At check-out a clerk walks the same house and compares it line by line against that report.
- Anything materially worse than the check-in entry, past fair wear and tear, is chargeable against your deposit.
So we do not clean to a vague idea of tidy. We clean to that report. The job is:
- a full top-to-bottom on an empty property
- worked through a 57-point agent-approved checklist the established Croydon and Shirley agents already recognise
- photographed room by room at the end
That photo set goes out with the invoice, dated and timestamped, and it is the evidence you keep if anyone later claims the house went back dirty.
The hand-back
The hand-back is where most of the worry sits. Up here the check-out is rarely a quick look round: the landlords are letting substantial family homes and they expect them back in the state they went out, so they instruct a proper inventory clerk who works methodically through every room with a clipboard.
If that clerk flags anything on cleaning within 48 hours, we come back and put it right at no charge under the 48-hour re-clean guarantee, provided the house is still empty.
A failed check-out on a deposit this size is not a small thing, and the re-clean turns it into a phone call rather than a fight.
It holds up because the work is built for the inspection, not for the clock. Over the years our work has helped tenants recover £1.2m in deposits that would otherwise have gone on cleaning charges.
We are on the approved or known list for 300+ letting agents across London and Surrey, including the offices that handle the Shirley and Addington side of Croydon.
We do not clean to a vague idea of tidy. We clean to the report the clerk is holding.
The 57 things we go through, room by room
The 57-point agent-approved checklist is just the clerk’s inspection turned into an order of work. The full list comes with the job, and we will walk you through it before we start if you want it. This is the shape of it on a typical Upper Shirley house, which is to say a large one.
The kitchen, where most of the hours go
These kitchens are big and usually extended, so this is where the time goes. The oven, if you add it (from £31), is cleaned by hand: racks out and soaked, the door glass split where the model allows so the brown film between the panels comes out, then the interior, fan, element and seals.
Range cookers are common up here in the knocked-through kitchens, and they take longer than a standard single oven. Then the rest of the room:
- The extractor hood degreased inside and out and the filter soaked or swapped, because on a family let it is usually thick with set grease
- Hob, splashback, tiles and grout
- Every cupboard and drawer wiped inside and out, fronts degreased, including the deep corner units
- Sink, mixer and drainer descaled rather than wiped, since the hard supply leaves a film a cloth will not lift
- The gaps beside and behind the washing machine, dishwasher and fridge cleaned where the floor is reachable, then the appliances pushed back
- Skirting, the floor, and the window and sill to finish
Bathrooms and en-suites, which on these houses means more than one
A hill house often has a family bathroom plus one or two en-suites, so this can be three wet rooms rather than one. Each gets the same treatment, and the scale comes off first, because that dull film on the glass is the thing the clerk checks before anything else.
- Scale off the taps, shower heads, screens and tiled surrounds
- Toilet cleaned and disinfected inside, under the rim, around the base and behind the pedestal
- Bath and basin scrubbed, the underside of the taps and the overflow done
- Mirrors and any glazing polished
- Extractor vent dusted
- Grout brought back as far as honest effort takes it, and photographed first where it is plainly past saving
- Floor washed into the corners, skirting wiped
Bedrooms, reception rooms and the conservatory
- Bedrooms and reception rooms get a full dust down from coving height to skirting, taking in the tops of doors, the frames, and any fitted wardrobes inside and out
- Light fittings, switches and sockets wiped
- Radiators front, top and the backs where a brush reaches
- Carpets vacuumed thoroughly, hard floors washed
The conservatory is its own task on these houses, and the clerk knows it: the roof channels cleared of leaves and dead insects, the frames cleaned of the green bloom they pick up, the glass done inside and the floor washed.
Full-height bay windows and patio doors get particular attention, because on a south-facing slope they show every smear in the low afternoon sun.
Everywhere else in the house
- Stairs and landings vacuumed and the edges done by hand
- Hallways, the understairs cupboard, the airing cupboard and any utility room cleaned out, the utility being somewhere inventory clerks reliably check on a house this size
- Internal glass, banisters and handrails wiped
- Cobwebs out of the ceiling corners on every floor
- Bins washed
- The integral garage interior swept and wiped, and the front porch and step cleared down
The house is left so that someone can walk in with a clipboard and find nothing to write under cleaning.
None of it is clever. On a five-bed it is simply a lot of surface area worked slowly and in the right order, built around the clerk’s list so the report gets signed without a cleaning deduction.
Which clean you are actually booking
People ring asking for a deep clean when they mean a move-out clean. The two are priced and scoped differently, so it is worth being clear which job you need.
- Check-in inventory report
- The document the clerk writes on day one, describing every surface with photos. It is the benchmark your check-out is judged against, which is why we clean to it and not to a generic notion of clean.
- End of tenancy clean
- Built to pass that inventory and get the deposit back, on an empty property, measured against the letting agent’s standard, with the 48-hour re-clean guarantee on it. Charged at a fixed price by bedroom count.
- Deep clean
- A reset for a home you are staying in, with no formal standard to hit. A deep clean is the same careful work without the inventory pressure, done by a team at £26 per cleaner-hour, at least two cleaners for three hours plus a £30 kit charge, so from £186.
- Regular domestic clean
- Ongoing upkeep on a weekly or fortnightly visit. A domestic clean starts at £23 an hour weekly, £24 fortnightly, and keeps the same cleaner on the house.
What 1 May 2026 changed for a move out up here
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026. It changed how tenancies end and left the cleaning alone.
- Section 21
- No-fault evictions are gone.
- Tenancies
- Every existing assured shorthold tenancy in England has converted to a periodic one, so a tenant can give two months’ notice at any point rather than waiting for a fixed term to end.
- The deposit rules
- You can read the rules themselves on gov.uk.
Here is the part people get wrong. The cleaning side of a move-out did not change at all:
- Your deposit still sits in one of the three government-backed schemes.
- A landlord still cannot deduct for fair wear and tear.
- They still can deduct for the house going back dirtier than the check-in recorded.
What shifted is timing. With periodic tenancies now the norm, more handovers happen on a proper documented check-out rather than a quick glance, because the landlord wants the position on paper.
On a long family let up here that means the inventory clerk is more likely to attend, not less, and the clean that matches the check-in standard is still the single most controllable part of getting the money back.
Croydon licensing, and why a Shirley landlord still cares
This is the local detail most people get wrong, so it is worth getting right. Croydon Council has brought in a major overhaul of private-rented rules that took effect on 25 September 2026 and runs for up to five years.
- Selective licensing
- Part of it is a selective scheme covering 14 of the borough’s 28 wards: Addiscombe East, Addiscombe West, Bensham Manor, Broad Green, Fairfield, Norbury and Pollards Hill, Norbury Park, Selhurst, South Croydon, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Waddon, West Thornton and Woodside. Shirley is not on that list.
- Additional HMO licensing
- Running alongside it, this applies right across the whole borough, Shirley included, to shared houses with three or more people from two or more households that fall outside the national mandatory rules.
- Penalties
- Letting a licensable house without a licence is serious: the council can issue a financial penalty of up to £40,000 (raised from £30,000 on 1 May 2026) as an alternative to prosecution, and an unlimited fine on conviction.
The affluent south-eastern wards were left out of the selective scheme, so a landlord up on the hill might reasonably assume none of it touches them. That assumption is the trap.
A large house off Oaks Road let room by room is exactly the kind of property the HMO scheme catches.
So landlords and agents on this side of Croydon pay close attention to compliance and to the condition a property is handed back in, and a clean check-out report is part of how they keep their paperwork tidy.
Check the current position with Croydon Council directly if your tenancy is a shared house.
Shirley sits outside the selective scheme, but the borough-wide HMO rules still reach the big shared houses up here.
What SES Water does to a hill-house bathroom
The water up here is hard, properly hard, and that one fact loses more deposits up here than almost anything except the oven.
- Supplier
- Croydon sits in the SES Water (Sutton and East Surrey) supply area, which reaches from South Croydon down towards Gatwick.
- Hardness
- The CR0 supply runs at roughly 300 parts per million of calcium carbonate, around 21 Clark degrees, which is very hard by any measure and well above the national average.
What it does is leave a dull calcium film on every tap, mixer, shower head, screen and tiled splashback, and it builds faster than tenants expect. A cloth does nothing to it.
The clerk knows where to look:
- a thumbnail down the tap
- the shower screen turned edge-on against the window
- the shower head pulled in close
On a hill house with three wet rooms that is a lot of glass and chrome to get wrong. We descale these surfaces properly rather than wiping them, which is the difference between a screen that looks cleaned and one that looks new.
Where a stain has etched into older chrome we say so, because some marks are damage rather than dirt and no descaler will lift them.
The version that costs deposits is the thin haze on a shower screen that the outgoing tenant has stopped seeing after three years of looking through it. The clerk has not, because it is the first thing they check.
Upper Shirley street by street, from the windmill to the heath
Upper Shirley is the high, green corner of the borough, the part that climbs south-east from the Wickham Road shops up Upper Shirley Road and Oaks Road towards the Addington Hills. It is distinct from Shirley proper down the slope and from central Croydon entirely; the old hamlet here was called Badger’s Hole.
The landscape sets the character:
- Addington Hills
- At the top sits the Addington Hills heathland viewpoint with its Chinese-style garden and the long panorama back over London.
- Shirley Windmill
- A turning off Upper Shirley Road brings you to it on Postmill Close: a working brick tower mill built in 1854, one of the last of its kind in London.
Family houses with gardens
The housing matches the setting. This is not the conversion stock you get nearer East Croydon. Up here it is large detached and semi-detached family houses with gardens:
- substantial inter-war and post-war homes on Oaks Road, Bishops Walk, Sandpits Road and Shirley Church Road
- a scatter of executive closes
- bungalow runs on the slope
Bishops Walk in particular is about as grand as the area gets. Coombe Wood and Coombe Lane sit just to the west, and the Shirley Park and Addington golf courses edge the whole patch.
These are big floor plans with extended kitchens, utility rooms, conservatories and integral garages, and a clerk treats a five-bed detached very differently from a flat.
Working up here
- The narrow uphill closes near Bishops Walk are tight for a van.
- The houses near the top back onto the heath, so the conservatories and gutters fill with leaf litter.
- The family lets tend to be long ones, which means years of build-up in the places nobody cleaned between tenants.
- The Tramlink stops at Gravel Hill and Addington Village put central Croydon within reach, which helps when a tenant has already moved out and is travelling back just for the check-out.
If your road is not named here we still clean it, so ring and ask.
We work the rest of this side of Croydon as well, which helps when a move crosses the hill: Shirley, Addiscombe and Selsdon are all regular ground for us.
What it costs, and the sum nobody does until the keys are due
Pricing is by property size.
| Property | Typical duration | Estimated cost |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | 3-4 hours, 1 cleaner | £156 |
| 1 bedroom | 4-5 hours, 1-2 cleaners | £207 |
| 2 bedroom | 5-7 hours, 2 cleaners | £243 |
| 3 bedroom | 6-8 hours, 2 cleaners | £339 |
| 4 bedroom (the common one up here) | 8-10 hours, 2-3 cleaners | £425 |
Most homes on the hill sit at the larger end, so the four-bed rate is the one we quote most; five and six-bed houses are priced on a walk-through or a room count over the phone.
If you only need part of the property cleaned, that is £30 per cleaner per hour. A full check-out is the fixed property price, because the job has to be finished to the standard, not to the clock.
- Carpets
- A separate add-on, since not every tenancy needs them: £29 per bedroom, £36 for a living room, or £94 for two bedrooms and a living room, with larger houses quoted on the rooms.
- Oven with the clean
- Oven deep-cleaning adds £31 an oven to the end of tenancy price (£62 for a double or a 90cm range).
- Oven on its own
- £77 for a single, £110 for a double and £143 for a 90cm range, common in the extended kitchens up here.
We tell you on the phone exactly what your house needs, so there is no surprise line on the day.
Then do the sum the deposit makes you do. A house this size up here usually sits on a deposit of several thousand pounds, capped at five weeks’ rent where the annual rent is under £50,000 and six weeks at or above.
Set the cost of the clean against the deductions a failed check-out invites on the oven, the scale, the carpets and the conservatory, and it stops being much of a decision.
Booking it before the clerk turns up
Booking takes one call or email, and the slot goes in before your check-out.
- Ring 0333 555 2076 or email office@monstercleaning.com with the address, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and your check-out date.
- We give you a fixed price for the property and confirm exactly what is and is not included, plus any carpet or range-oven add-on.
- We book a slot before your check-out, ideally with the house already empty so nothing is in the way of the skirting, the cupboards and the floor edges.
- The team cleans to the 57-point checklist and photographs every finished room.
- If the clerk or agent flags anything on cleaning within 48 hours, we come back and put it right under the 48-hour re-clean guarantee.
An empty house passes more reliably than a part-furnished one, because the clerk checks behind the white goods, inside the cupboards and into the floor edges.
A couple of photos of the kitchen and the worst bathroom on WhatsApp sharpen the quote.
And if your check-out is tomorrow, ring anyway and we will do what we can, because dates up here move at the last minute more often than people expect.
Questions we get asked
How much is end of tenancy cleaning in Upper Shirley?
It is priced by property size: £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. Most homes up here are larger detached houses, so five and six-bed properties are quoted from a room count over the phone or a quick walk-through.
Do you guarantee the clean will pass the inventory check-out?
Yes. We clean to a 57-point agent-approved checklist and back it with a 48-hour re-clean guarantee. If the inventory clerk or agent flags anything on cleaning within 48 hours of the check-out, we return and put it right at no extra charge, as long as the house is still empty.
Is the hard water really a problem at an Upper Shirley check-out?
It is one of the most common reasons for a cleaning deduction here. The SES Water supply across this part of Croydon runs at around 300 parts per million, very hard, and the calcium leaves a dull film on taps, mixers and glass shower screens that a normal wipe does not remove. We descale these surfaces properly, which is usually the first thing the clerk inspects in a CR0 bathroom.
My rental is in Shirley, so does Croydon’s selective licensing scheme affect my deposit?
Not directly. The selective licensing scheme that took effect on 25 September 2026 covers 14 named wards and Shirley is not among them. However, a borough-wide additional HMO licensing scheme also applies in Shirley to shared houses, and letting a licensable house without a licence can mean a financial penalty of up to £40,000 or an unlimited fine on conviction, which is why landlords and agents up here are strict about condition and documentation at check-out. Check the current position with Croydon Council directly.
Do you clean the conservatory and the integral garage?
Yes, and on these houses they matter. We clear the conservatory roof channels of leaves and dead insects, clean the frames and the glass, and wash the floor, which counts double on the houses backing onto the heath. The integral garage interior is swept and wiped down, because inventory clerks on a house this size do check it.
How long does an Upper Shirley end of tenancy clean take?
A one or two-bed is usually a single team for most of a day. A four or five-bed detached house with a conservatory and several bathrooms is often two or three cleaners for a full day or more. We confirm the team size and timing when we quote, based on the room count and the state of the kitchen.
Should the property be empty before you clean?
Ideally yes. An empty house lets us reach the skirting, the backs of the cupboards, behind the white goods and the floor edges that the clerk will check. If furniture has to stay, tell us when you book and we will work around it, but a clean on an empty property is the one that passes most reliably.
Do you bring your own equipment and products?
Yes. The team brings everything: machines, descalers, oven products and cloths. You do not need to supply anything. We just need access and, ideally, the water and power left on at the property.
Can you clean at short notice before a check-out?
Often, especially midweek. Upper Shirley check-outs move at the last minute more than most, so ring on 0333 555 2076 as soon as you have a date and we will fit you in before the clerk is due wherever we can.
Is carpet cleaning included in the price?
No, carpets are a separate add-on because not every tenancy needs them. It is £29 per bedroom, £36 for a living room, or £94 for two bedrooms and a living room, with larger houses quoted on the number of rooms. If your check-in inventory noted professionally cleaned carpets, you will usually need them done again to match.
What happens if the agent still finds a problem after you have cleaned?
If it is a cleaning issue and it is raised within 48 hours, we come back and redo it free under the 48-hour re-clean guarantee. We also photograph every finished room, so if there is a dispute with the deposit scheme you have dated evidence of the standard the house was left in. Shelter’s guidance walks through the dispute steps.
Do you work with the letting agents that handle Upper Shirley?
We clean to a checklist the established Shirley and Croydon agents already recognise, and we are on the approved or known list for 300+ letting agents across London and Surrey. If your agent has a specific check-out standard or their own inventory clerk, tell us when you book and we will clean to it.
Other Monster Cleaning services in Upper Shirley
Staying put rather than moving out? We also offer carpet cleaning in Upper Shirley, oven cleaning in Upper Shirley and domestic cleaning in Upper Shirley.