"Is it possible to request a copy of the waste disposal notes?"
A customer asked us that, and more executors should. The answer is yes, always, and it takes one email. But it is worth understanding what you are asking for and why it matters.
What the note actually is
Every time waste changes hands in the UK, the transfer has to be recorded. The document records who produced the waste, who took it, what it was, how much, and where it went. The receiving site issues it and the carrier keeps it.
The legal point is duty of care. **You remain responsible for waste produced at your property even after it has left it.** If a firm takes a house full of furniture off your hands and fly-tips it in a lane, the trail leads back to the address it came from — which means back to you, or to the estate you are administering.
That is not a theoretical risk. It is the single most common way ordinary householders end up in correspondence with the Environment Agency.
How to protect yourself in one minute
Two things, before anyone loads anything.
Check the carrier registration. Every firm removing waste for money must be registered with the Environment Agency, and the register is public and free to search. Ours is CBDU419679. A firm that cannot give you a number, or gives you one that does not match its name on the register, is a firm to walk away from.
Ask for the transfer notes afterwards. A legitimate operator has them and will send them without fuss.
Why executors in particular should hold them
If you are administering an estate you may have to account for what happened to the contents. A transfer note shows the contents went to a permitted site rather than disappearing. It sits in the file next to the invoice, costs nothing, and answers a question that is awkward to answer later from memory.
We send them on request as a matter of course. Ask when you book and they come with the invoice rather than needing a second conversation.
The cheap-quote problem
If a price seems far below everyone else's, the difference has to come from somewhere. The usual place is disposal — either the load goes to a household recycling centre it has no right to use, or it does not reach a permitted site at all.
A quote that cannot survive being asked for a transfer note is a quote with a problem in it.