Professional cleaners in Croydon charge £23 an hour for weekly housework, and a move-out clean for a one-bedroom flat starts at £207, something landlords in Croydon’s 14 newly licensed wards can book before each new let.

Croydon’s 152,945 households live in nearly every kind of London home. In the 2021 census flats accounted for 39.7 per cent, and 8.5 per cent of all households lived in a house that had been split into flats or was shared, with semis on 24.7 per cent, terraced houses on 23.3 per cent and detached houses on 12.2 per cent. The age of the stock is as varied. When the Valuation Office Agency counted 168,250 Croydon homes in March 2025, 28.4 per cent went back to before 1919 and 23.5 per cent to the interwar years.

North and south ask different things of a cleaner. In Thornton Heath, Addiscombe and South Norwood roughly half the homes or more predate 1919, central Croydon is largely new flats, and all four have more private renting and, from September 2026, selective licensing. Purley, Coulsdon and Selsdon have more owner-occupied houses and sit outside that scheme, and at the southern edge the water comes from SES Water and is softer.

Landlord licensing in Croydon from 25 September 2026

of homes are flats: 40%
of households rent privately: 26%
own their home: 55%

Census 2021

Two landlord licensing schemes came into force in Croydon on 25 September 2026, run by the council together with The Oyster Partnership. One is additional HMO licensing across the whole borough, covering a home with three or four tenants from two or more households; mandatory HMO licensing still takes in five or more. The other is selective licensing, which applies in 14 wards: Woodside, West Thornton, Waddon, Thornton Heath, South Norwood, South Croydon, Selhurst, Norbury Park, Norbury and Pollards Hill, Fairfield, Broad Green, Bensham Manor, Addiscombe West and Addiscombe East. A selective licence runs for up to five years. Kenley, Coulsdon, Purley and Selsdon wards are left out.

For a landlord the paperwork comes first and the clean comes between tenants. Our end of tenancy cleaning is priced on bedrooms. Studios start at £156, one-bedroom homes at £207, two bedrooms at £243 and three at £339; add £31 for a single oven and £29 for every bedroom carpet done on the day.

Visitor permits for a cleaner in Croydon

There are 20 controlled parking zones on the council’s list. Coulsdon has two of them, one for residents only and one in the town centre, and others cover Purley, Norbury, South Norwood, Thornton Heath and West Thornton. A street outside any zone can still carry its own restrictions, so read the signs. Each household in a zone is allowed one visitor day permit; the application goes through MyRingGo and needs proof of address. The price turns on two things, inner or outer zone and the CO2 band of the visiting car. Thornton Heath, South Norwood, Purley, Norbury and Coulsdon are outer zones, in the cheaper band.

For a cleaner booked for a long day that permit matters, because pay and display does not stretch. All paid parking in Croydon’s zones goes through RingGo, with no coins taken, and after a session finishes the same car cannot return to that place for two hours. A five-hour deep clean on pay and display alone is awkward for that reason. If the cleaner does end up paying, you see the amount on the bill as charged, at most £40.

Professional cleaning in Central Croydon

of homes are flats: 86%
of households rent privately: 58%
own their home: 22%

Census 2021 · CR0, CR9

New building dominates the town centre. In the neighbourhoods matched to Fairfield ward, the Valuation Office Agency counted roughly 8,830 homes in March 2025 and dated 56.7 per cent of them to 2000 or later, 18.8 per cent to before 1900 and a mere 2.3 per cent to between the wars. Saffron Square, by Berkeley Homes, is one of the big schemes: a purple-clad tower of 43 storeys and five podium blocks set round a plaza, on Wellesley Road between the East and West Croydon stations. The older town survives in two conservation areas, Church Street, which follows the curving Old Town street out to Croydon Minster, and Central Croydon, over the old commercial heart.

Flats house 85.9 per cent of Fairfield households, 57.9 per cent rent privately, and Fairfield is a selective licensing ward. For a flat high up, tell us the floor and how the professional cleaners get in, whether by concierge, fob or key safe. A single oven can join a move-out at £31, or be booked as an oven clean by itself from £77. Residents of the central zone can also hold an annual visitor permit, valid only on evenings and Sundays, so a Sunday booking puts it to use.

Professional cleaning in Purley

of homes are flats: 35%
of households rent privately: 20%
own their home: 68%

Census 2021 · CR8, CR2

Purley’s Edwardian garden suburb was the work of William Webb, a developer, who built a model village around Woodcote Green, and two conservation areas protect it: Upper Woodcote Village, designated in 1973, and the Webb Estate, in 1983, both extended in 2007. Purley & Woodcote ward is an odd mix, detached houses holding 33.1 per cent of households (12.2 per cent across Croydon) and flats 38.6 per cent. By age, 18.9 per cent of Purley’s roughly 12,350 homes come from 1900 to 1918, 21.3 per cent from the 1930s and 24.6 per cent from 2000 on.

A large detached house is a job for more than one pair of hands. A first deep clean begins at two cleaners for three hours, £26 each an hour plus a £30 kit charge, and grows with the house. Lets in either Purley ward fall outside selective licensing and need a licence only as HMOs. Purley counts as an outer parking zone, where a visitor day permit for the professional cleaners’ car falls in the cheaper band.

Professional cleaning in Coulsdon

of homes are flats: 15%
of households rent privately: 10%
own their home: 78%

Census 2021 · CR5

Coulsdon is mostly 20th-century. Of roughly 9,950 homes, the Valuation Office Agency placed 32.4 per cent in the 1930s and 25.2 per cent in 1945 to 1972, with only 9.0 per cent older than 1919. The oldest part is Bradmore Green in Old Coulsdon, made a conservation area in July 1968, whose listed buildings include an 18th-century farmhouse and St John’s, a 13th-century church listed Grade I.

The newest is Cane Hill, once a psychiatric hospital and now Greater London Authority land, which won permission in 2014 for up to 675 Barratt homes, 24 per cent affordable and 80 per cent with three bedrooms or more. Houses with that many bedrooms add up on the floors: carpet cleaning is £36 a bedroom and £43 for the living room. Coulsdon’s water comes from SES Water, whose Alderstead zone, which takes in CR5 2NE on Brighton Road, averaged 196.8 mg/l in 2025, a medium hardness, so scale comes back more slowly than in north Croydon. Professional cleaning here can mean parking under one of two zones, the town centre one or the residents-only one, both outer zones for visitor permit prices.

Professional cleaning in South Norwood

of homes are flats: 49%
of households rent privately: 31%
own their home: 46%

Census 2021 · SE25, SE19

South Norwood grew fast in Victorian times, and the houses show it: in the South Norwood and Woodside wards, 40.3 per cent of roughly 15,790 homes are older than 1900 and 47.9 per cent older than 1919. The conservation area takes in the district centre with its High Street buildings, the grand houses on its edges and the Stanley Halls. Converted houses are common. A fifth of South Norwood ward’s households (20.2 per cent) have a flat in a house that was converted or is shared, more than double Croydon’s 8.5 per cent.

Converted houses rarely have lifts. The cleaner climbs the shared stairs with everything, so say which floor when you book. Both wards are in the selective licensing scheme and 30.7 per cent of households rent privately, so move-out professional cleaning is part of letting here. The water at SE25 4UD is among the softer in the borough: Thames Water’s Croydon Woodside zone averaged 251 mg/l in 2025, though that still counts as hard.

Professional cleaning in Thornton Heath

of homes are flats: 38%
of households rent privately: 32%
own their home: 49%

Census 2021 · CR7, CR0

Until the station opened in 1862, this was a rural outpost. From 1861 to 1911 it became a suburb, and its houses and shops are still mainly Victorian: across the Thornton Heath, Bensham Manor and West Thornton wards, 53.7 per cent of roughly 20,920 homes predate 1919 and just 8.7 per cent were built from 2000. Terraced houses hold 39.0 per cent of households.

All three wards are under selective licensing and 31.9 per cent of households rent privately. In a Victorian terrace the stairs and hall usually carry the most worn carpet, and they can be done in one visit with the rooms: £41 for a flight, £22 for a hallway. Croydon runs separate controlled zones for Thornton Heath and West Thornton, and Thornton Heath sits in the outer price band for visitor permits. For professional cleaning, the water can matter less here than in Addiscombe: Thames Water’s Norbury zone, which takes in CR7 7QW in Thornton Heath, averaged 255 mg/l in 2025.

Professional cleaning in Norbury

of homes are flats: 27%
of households rent privately: 26%
own their home: 58%

Census 2021 · SW16, CR7

Norbury filled up between 1900 and 1930, when its population went from 475 to 15,538. The London County Council got there early. Its Norbury Cottage Garden Estate of 1901 covers 30 acres between Semley Road and Northborough Road, and as the LCC’s first cottage estate outside its own boundary it became the Norbury Estate conservation area in 2008. On London Road, many large Victorian villas came down in the late 20th century to make way for office blocks, and many of those offices were turned into flats later on.

Both Norbury wards are selective licensing wards, and a quarter of households (25.6 per cent) rent privately. The Edwardian cottage houses suit a regular cleaner: domestic cleaning has a 3-hour minimum per visit and is charged by the hour, and the same professional cleaners come back on the same weekday where they can. Norbury zone water came out at 255 mg/l on average in 2025, hard on Thames Water’s scale.

Professional cleaning in Addiscombe

of homes are flats: 45%
of households rent privately: 34%
own their home: 50%

Census 2021 · CR0

Part of Addiscombe’s street plan comes from the East India Company. Its military academy was sold in 1863, and five parallel roads went down on the site: Canning, Clyde, Elgin, Havelock and Outram Roads. Two academy buildings survive, on Clyde Road and Addiscombe Road, and the old gymnasium on Havelock Road is now flats. The East India Estate conservation area (2008) covers the grid and its many fine Victorian houses, and 48.3 per cent of homes in the two Addiscombe wards predate 1919. The old Addiscombe station closed in 1997 and housing on East India Way replaced it.

Renting is high: 40.2 per cent of Addiscombe West households rented privately in 2021, and both wards are in the selective scheme. Furnished lets mean chairs to freshen between tenants, and upholstery cleaning is £33 an armchair and £13 a dining chair. Water in Thames Water’s Croydon East zone, which takes in CR0 5RU in Addiscombe West, averaged 308 mg/l in 2025, over the very hard line, so professional cleaning here includes descaling the taps and shower glass every time.

Professional cleaning in Selsdon

of homes are flats: 20%
of households rent privately: 14%
own their home: 77%

Census 2021 · CR2, CR0

Until 1925 the land here was farmland belonging to the Selsdon Park estate. The manor was sold that year and building of Selsdon Garden Village began in 1926. Selsdon Wood, 200 acres saved as a nature reserve, opened in 1936 and went to the National Trust. Most homes here are post-war: 42.2 per cent date from 1945 to 1972 and 27.1 per cent from 1973 to 1999, with about 1 per cent before 1919. The wards are not alike: 60.8 per cent of households in Selsdon & Addington Village live in semis, while in Selsdon Vale & Forestdale 33.4 per cent are in terraces and 25.5 per cent in purpose-built flats.

Owner-occupiers make up 76.8 per cent of households, and a semi its owners live in suits a one-off clean before guests arrive or the house goes on the market. Selsdon water is very hard, a 2025 mean of 312 mg/l in Thames Water’s West Wickham zone, so the professional cleaners should descale shower screens and taps on each visit. Neither Selsdon ward is in the selective scheme; only HMO licensing applies to lets.

Questions about professional cleaning in Croydon

Does south Croydon have softer water?

In the far south, yes. SES Water supplies Coulsdon and Kenley, and its Alderstead and Warlingham zones averaged 196.8 and 195.6 mg/l in 2025, which SES calls medium. Thames Water supplies most of the rest of Croydon, and its figures run higher, from about 251 mg/l around South Norwood to 308 in the Croydon East zone, which covers parts of Addiscombe and Purley, and 312 in Selsdon. Thames Water classes anything over 300 as very hard, and on water like that a regular cleaner descales at every visit.

Does a shared house in Purley or Selsdon need a Croydon licence?

It can. Purley and Selsdon wards are outside the selective scheme, so a one-household let there does not need a Croydon licence. The additional HMO scheme does reach every ward, though: three or four tenants from two or more households need one, and so, under the mandatory scheme, do five or more.

How is a regular clean of a Croydon semi priced?

Regular cleaning is charged per hour: £23 if the cleaner comes weekly, £24 if fortnightly. The shortest visit is 3 hours, so a weekly booking starts at £69. A semi with three bedrooms usually takes longer than the minimum, and we settle the hours with you before the cleaner first comes. Every rate is listed on the prices page.

Professional cleaning in Croydon

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