A business is paying · 2
A landlord or agent is paying
Common across London and full of edges, because the person paying is usually not the person whose belongings are in the property. That single fact governs everything on this page.
Nothing here is legal advice. Goods left behind are a legal process and a landlord should take proper advice rather than rely on a removals website.
What we will do
The line we will not cross
We will not dispose of a tenant's belongings because a landlord has asked us to. Goods left behind at the end of a tenancy are subject to a legal process with notice requirements, and a removals firm carrying them off to a tip is not part of it.
What we will do is move them into storage in the tenant's name, listed at the property with photographs, or return them to an address the tenant gives. That leaves the landlord with a property they can re-let and a defensible position, which is usually what they actually wanted.
This is not legal advice. A landlord facing this should take advice on the notice they must give and the records they must keep.
Where the agent is instructing
Tell us at the booking whether the agent is acting for themselves or for a landlord, because it decides who the contract is with. It is a one-line question and it becomes a genuine problem if it is not asked until an invoice is disputed.
And we will contact the householder before the day, every time, even where the agent would rather be the single point of contact. It occasionally irritates somebody and it has never once been the wrong call.
Void properties and between-tenancy work
Moving a landlord's own furniture in or out of a void is ordinary removals work and the simplest thing on this page. Communal areas are protected as standard, existing damage is noted before we start, and the property is left as we found it.
What we will not sign is anything that reads as an inventory or a check-out report. Those are a different professional service and our note is a working record, not a schedule of condition.
And what a clearance actually needs
Anything going to disposal requires a licensed waste carrier, which we are not. On most void jobs that means two firms on the same day — us for what is going somewhere, somebody licensed for what is going nowhere.
A landlord or agent is paying
Questions about a landlord or agent is paying
- 01
Can you clear a property of a tenant's belongings?
We can move them to storage in the tenant's name or return them to an address the tenant gives. We will not dispose of them — that is a legal process with notice requirements and not something a removals firm can do on request.
- 02
Is that legal advice?
No, and nothing on this site is. A landlord in that position should take proper advice on the notice required and the records to keep.
- 03
Who is the contract with?
Whoever is named as the paying party — the landlord, or the agent acting for themselves. If an agent is instructing on a landlord's behalf we need to know at the booking.
- 04
Will you speak to our tenant?
Yes, before the day, every time. An agent occasionally prefers to be the only point of contact and we will still contact the householder.
- 05
Can you sign a check-out report?
No. We will protect communal areas and note existing damage as a working record, but a schedule of condition is a different professional service.
- 06
Do you do disposal?
No — we hold no waste carrier licence. Void jobs usually need two firms on the day: us for what is going somewhere, a licensed carrier for what is not.
Who is paying for yours?
Both addresses, roughly what is going, and — the useful part — who is paying and who will be instructing us on the day. That last question saves more trouble than any other on the form.