End-of-tenancy clear-out checklist for Birmingham landlords and tenants

20 October 2026 · 4 min read

Tenancy changeovers are tight. The old tenants leave on a Friday, the new ones arrive on a Monday, and whatever is left behind in the middle has to go. A clear plan makes it one visit instead of three.

For tenants: what to clear before you hand back the keys

• Your own furniture, bedding and mattresses. Anything that belongs to the property, such as a furnished flat’s sofa, stays.
• Anything in the loft, cellar, shed, garden or under the stairs. These are the places deposit deductions come from.
• Bags of rubbish and broken items. Do not leave them for the bins, which may not be emptied before the check-out.

For landlords: what you can and cannot clear

Do not clear belongings left by a former tenant until you have followed the correct process for abandoned goods under your tenancy agreement and the law. Once something is clearly yours to dispose of, a single collection avoids paying for several.

Photograph first

Take photos of what is left, room by room, before anything moves. They help with a deposit discussion, and they help us price it: you can send photos and get a price back rather than waiting in for a visit.

Plan one collection

Pricing is by volume, so gather everything in one place first and be honest about how much there is. The instant quote lets you add items one at a time and shows the total as you go. Landlords turning over several properties should look at a business account, where the per-yard rate falls with volume.

Keep the paperwork

Every collection comes with a waste transfer note. Keep it with the tenancy file in case anyone asks later what happened to the items.