Practical guides and answers to common questions about house clearances, executry clearances, junk removal and recycling in Glasgow and across Scotland.
An executry clearance is the clearing of a home and its contents after someone has died, carried out as part of the executry, which is the Scottish process of administering their estate. It is the Scottish name for what English firms call a probate clearance...
Yes, in many cases you can prepare a house for clearance before confirmation is granted, and with the executor's agreement some of the work can often start early. What you should not do is sell, give away or dispose of anything of value before the...
In Scotland, a house clearance after a death is normally paid for by the estate of the person who has died. The executor arranges it as one of the costs of administering the estate, and, like other debts and expenses, it is paid from the...
Usually not at first, as long as someone applies for the exemption. In Glasgow, a home that is empty because the person liable for council tax has died can be exempt, but the exemption is not automatic. There is no statutory time limit while confirmation...
There is no single deadline that applies to every council or housing association home in Glasgow. Each landlord has its own process, so the most important step is to contact the landlord as soon as you can after the death, ask how long you have...
You can donate furniture in Glasgow to charities that offer free collection, including The Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Shelter Scotland's Stockwell Street furniture shop, Emmaus Glasgow and the British Heart Foundation's Glasgow furniture and electrical store. Each has its own rules, and most...
To get rid of an old sofa in Glasgow, start with its condition. If it is clean, complete and still has its fire safety label, donate it to a furniture charity that collects or pass it on to someone local. If it is worn out...
To get rid of a piano in Glasgow, first ask a piano tuner or technician whether it is worth anything, because most old uprights have little resale value but a few do. If it is playable, offer it to the Glasgow Piano Project, a school...
In Scotland, a landlord should not simply throw away belongings a tenant has left behind. If the tenancy has properly ended, the safer approach is to photograph and list everything, write to the former tenant with a clear and reasonable deadline to collect, look after...
To check a waste carrier is registered in Scotland, ask the company for its registration number, then look it up on SEPA's free public register using the "Find waste transporters and brokers" search. Check that the status says Granted, that the expiry date has not...
As a rough guide, the clearance itself usually takes a few hours for a one bedroom flat, most of a day for a two or three bedroom house, and two days or more for a larger or very full home. Deciding what to keep, getting...
No, you do not usually need to be present during a house clearance. As long as the keep items have been agreed, the team knows exactly what is going and access to the property has been arranged, a professional company can clear the home without...
To clear a tenement flat in Glasgow, plan the route before you lift anything: measure the tightest turn on the stair, dismantle beds and wardrobes inside the flat, protect the banisters, and carry every item straight out to a waiting vehicle. Nothing should be left...
When you clear a parent's house, keep the legal and financial paperwork first, then the things that can never be replaced: photographs, letters, handwriting and the small everyday objects that hold memories. Everything else can be shared among the family, sold, donated or recycled in...
When a parent moves into a care home, start by talking to them about what they want to keep, check who has legal authority to make decisions if they cannot, and wait until the move is confirmed as permanent before clearing anything. Then take the...
Yes, you can clear a house when you live far away, and most of it can be organised by phone, email and video call. Get a quote from photos or a video walkthrough, arrange for someone local to hold the keys, make it clear what...
Yes, in almost every case, but it usually happens in two stages. Declutter before the Home Report, the photos and the viewings so the rooms look their best, then clear the house completely before the date of entry. In Scotland a buyer expects to walk...
Valuables found during a house clearance still belong to the owner or, if the owner has died, to their estate. They do not belong to the clearance company. A reputable company sets aside cash, jewellery, photographs and personal papers and hands them back to you...
Yes. A house clearance company can help with a hoarded home, and a good one will do it calmly, safely and without judgement. The best results come when the clearance is planned with the person who lives there (or with the executor or attorney if...
Yes. A house clearance can include the loft, garage, shed and garden, and it is usually better to clear them all in the same visit. One booking means one up-front rate, one team on site and one sweep and tidy at the end, rather than...
In Glasgow, as across Scotland, the person responsible for clearing a house after a death is usually the executor: the person named in the will or, if there is no will, an executor-dative appointed by the sheriff court. A solicitor often coordinates the work on...
For landlords, letting agents and estate agents, an empty property earns nothing, and a neglected garden or a pile of a former tenant's belongings can hold up a let or a sale for weeks. That is why so many property professionals in Glasgow bring in...
An office clearance follows a fairly predictable path: you fix a date, the clearance company surveys the space, you agree what stays and what goes, IT and confidential paper are dealt with securely, reusable furniture finds a new home, and the rest is removed, recorded...
A house clearance service removes the contents of a property, from a single room to an entire house, and deals with everything legally and responsibly. A good clearance team agrees a price up front, takes away only what you want gone, dismantles and carries out...
If your office is moving, a professional clearance service takes the heaviest and riskiest part of the move off your hands: emptying the old premises, dealing with everything that is not coming with you, and making sure it is disposed of legally. That leaves your...
When Jettison Express clears a house, everything we remove goes back to our depot to be sorted. Items in good condition are passed on for reuse where possible, materials such as metal, wood, textiles and electricals are separated into recycling streams, upholstered seating is sent...
If you are clearing a whole house in Scotland, a skip can look like the cheaper choice, and sometimes it is: when you have space for it, people to help, time and mostly rubble or garden waste. A house clearance usually works out better when...
Sustainable waste disposal means dealing with rubbish in a way that keeps as much as possible in use and as little as possible in the ground. The advantages reach well beyond the environment: it supports local charities and communities, helps businesses and households stay on...
Fly-tipping is the illegal dumping of waste on land that has no licence or permission to accept it, from a bag of rubbish left at the side of the road to a van load of building waste tipped in a lane. In Scotland, the fixed...
Whether it is a washing machine that has finally given up, a cooker coming out during a kitchen refit, or a cupboard full of old kettles, toasters and tangled chargers, old appliances need a little more thought than ordinary rubbish. Anything with a plug, battery...
An old fridge or freezer cannot go out with the bins or into a skip. It holds refrigerant gas in its cooling circuit and blowing agents in its insulation foam, and both need to be captured at an approved treatment facility rather than released into...
A little preparation makes a house clearance quicker, cheaper and far less stressful. The essentials are simple: decide what you are keeping, secure your paperwork and valuables, set aside anything the team cannot take, and make sure they can get in, park and work safely...
When someone dies, clearing their home is usually the responsibility of the executor: the person named in the will or, where there is no will, an executor-dative appointed by the sheriff court. In practice that is often a son, daughter, partner or close friend, sometimes...
A leaflet through the door or a post on a local social media group offers to take your rubbish away today, cash in hand, for a price well below anyone else. Some of these operators are properly registered. Many are not, and if an unregistered...
Garden junk rarely arrives all at once. It starts with a broken chair, a few leftover slabs, some bags of cuttings and an old sofa waiting to be taken away. A few months later the pile has become a home for rats, a fire risk...
An old garden shed with a leaking roof and rotten floor takes up space you could use for something better. Removing it means emptying it, checking the roof for asbestos, taking it apart safely, and disposing of the timber, felt, glass and base properly. You...