The cycle lane decided the start time. A four-bedroom semi in Whitton, TW2, on what was Middlesex until 1965, booked in for a Monday in July, and the person organising the house clearance had already worked out the one thing that would have caused us grief: "There is a cycle lane outside the property which is operational until 9.30am." So we met at half nine, not eight, and nobody spent the morning arguing with a passing cyclist about where a caged tipper ought to sit. Most of a house clearance in Twickenham comes down to exactly that — where the van can stand, and for how long.
It was a full house plus a garage, and the garage was the part people usually underestimate. Books boxed up, DVDs, CDs, bagged clothing, all stacked where a car should have been. Inside, the fridge freezer and the washing machine came out, the curtains came down, the blind in the kitchen stayed. Garden furniture went. The council recycling containers stayed put — they belong to Richmond upon Thames, not to the house, and leaving them is how you avoid an awkward phone call later. Carpets were left as they were; no cleaning was wanted. A couple of small items were kept back on the day, which is normal. People change their minds when they see a room going empty, and that's fine, so long as somebody says so before the item is on the van.
A flat clearance on the first floor, off the Richmond road
A one-bed first-floor flat in TW1, near St Margarets, took four days. Not because it was big — because of what was in it and where the van had to stand.
The list read like a small studio: musical instruments, amplifiers, electrical gear, computing equipment, sports kit, white goods apart from the fridge and freezer, and two large boxes in the lounge that had clearly been there a while. Then, mid-job, an update: a couple of computers, some amps and a few mobiles turning up in corners nobody had checked. The kitchen appliances — microwave, cooker, toaster, kettle — were left in place at the customer's request. The lounge TV was to go. What stayed came through late and only just in time, in the customer's own words: "I completely forgot and if its too late my mistake, but the tv in the bedroom, bed and mattress and chest of drawers and the tv stand could stay if not too late". It wasn't too late. Nothing of that had gone on the van yet.
Parking was the real work. A suspended bay in this borough is not something you arrange on a Friday for a Monday. Residents' permits, though, are quick — we needed a registration number, the flat's occupier booked three days of cover and then extended it when the job ran into a fourth. One neighbour was less than delighted about a tipper parked on his stretch of kerb. Nothing came of it, and the updates kept going out at the end of each day so nobody had to guess.
Stairs, no lift, everything down by hand. Amplifiers are heavier than they look and the cases are the awkward bit, not the weight.
Richmond upon Thames parking
Because it comes up on nearly every TW1 job, here is how it actually goes. On one clearance in TW1 the street was resident permit holder parking only between 10am and 4.30pm — zone S. Richmond Council want a minimum of seven days' notice for a bay suspension, so a suspension is a decision you make when you book the house clearance, not on the morning. Where there's a driveway, none of it applies and the day starts an hour earlier.
That seven days is why one probate team, working from an office up in Cambridgeshire, had us hold off entirely on a second TW1 property of theirs. Everything about that instruction was in writing, including the bit in capitals: "AUTHORISATION - PLEASE DO NOT START WORKS AS OF YET". Fair enough. The parking had to be authorised at their end before anything moved, and once it was, the go-ahead came back naming the option they'd chosen — clearance, clean and disposal, sell and recycle. The occupier had not asked to be present, so we took access, worked to the written scope and reported back with photographs. It was raised in the March and completed in the September, which tells you something about how probate house clearance work runs when a property is being dealt with from another county.
We ask about parking in the first two minutes of a phone call for that reason. Not to be difficult — because a week of council lead time is the one thing nobody can shorten afterwards.
Three outbuildings and a roof with holes in it
This was the biggest house clearance we've done in Twickenham. The house was verminous — heavily soiled, and treated as such: protective kit, sealed loading, regulated disposal, and a second crew brought in on the following day after the first day had already taken two loads.
The outbuildings were their own puzzle. There was a garage attached to the house with visible holes in the roof and a door so jammed we would not force it — if a door has swollen into its frame in a building that's already letting water in, forcing it is how you end up paying for someone's brickwork. We asked for written permission and an agreement on liability before touching it. Behind that was an outside WC, and further down the garden a shed. Our quote had named a shed and a WC; the administrator instructing us wanted the scope pinned down before the crew arrived, and put it plainly: "can you confirm if your quote includes the 3 or only the 2?" We confirmed it in writing, which is the only sensible way to handle it.
Out of that house came a fridge freezer, a mattress, one POPs-classified item, and a parking suspension we arranged with the council in advance. Nothing about it was pleasant. Nobody on the crew made a remark about it, either — that's not what we're there for. Hoarded and soiled properties are ordinary work for us; if that's what you're facing, our hoarder house clearance page explains how we handle it.
What leaves the house, and where it goes
Anything still fit for use gets offered on before it's treated as waste. On one Twickenham job instructed by a probate team, the brief was explicit: sell and recycle, with a preference for charity. We were honest back about what that means in practice. Charity shops choose what they accept; a television set and a wheelchair were the two items we could say for certain would be taken. Everything else we can offer, not guarantee. Carpets stayed in that one, and the garage was included alongside the house.
The rest is sorted at the yard and tipped at permitted sites, with transfer notes kept for every load — our waste carrier registration is CBDU419679, and we're insured for the work and for the properties we're standing in. Upholstered items — sofas, armchairs, padded office chairs, footstools — are kept apart from the general load under the POPs rules, because of the flame retardants in the foam, and they go down a permitted route of their own. Fridges and freezers are handled separately too, for a different reason: the gas has to come out under controlled conditions.
Some things we simply can't put on the vehicle. Tins of half-used paint, gas bottles, solvents, car batteries, anything with asbestos in it — those need a specialist route, and the council site won't take them from us either. Richmond upon Thames runs a household reuse and recycling service for residents' own smaller quantities. Ask us and we'll tell you which pile each item belongs in before the day, rather than on it. Where it's only a few bulky items and not a whole property, that's house rubbish removal instead — same van, smaller job.
Where we work around TW
Twickenham sits in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and the postcode districts we cover here are TW1, TW2, TW9, TW10, TW11 and TW12. That takes in St Margarets and East Twickenham, Whitton, Strawberry Hill, Teddington, Hampton and Hampton Hill, and up through Richmond, Kew, North Sheen, Ham and Petersham.
Access varies more across those six districts than you'd expect for a few square miles. The Victorian and Edwardian terraces near Twickenham station and St Margarets station have narrow halls and steep staircases; the interwar semis around Whitton station and out towards Hampton usually come with a drive and a garage, and garage and loft clearance is half the day on those — thirty years of things end up in one or the other, and the loft hatch is always smaller than whatever somebody carried up through it. Strawberry Hill and Teddington have their own station each, which matters mostly because the roads around them fill at the wrong times. Match days at the stadium we plan around — we won't book a house clearance in TW1 or TW2 for a Saturday international and pretend the roads will be normal.
We work the places next door on the same run, and several of them have a page of their own: house clearance in Teddington just over the bridge, house clearance in Feltham and house clearance in Brentford either side of the A316, and further out, house clearance in Harrow for the north-west London end of things.
Pricing and booking
We've been doing this since 2007, and the honest answer on cost is that it isn't a number you'll find written on a page — it depends on what's in the property, what has to go down a regulated route, and whether the van can stand outside. So we do it the quick way: ring the office on 0800 046 5555, or send photographs through the form on this page, and you'll get a figure back. The quote is free and doesn't oblige you to anything.
Have the postcode ready, the number of bedrooms, whether there's a garage, loft or shed, and whether there's a driveway or permit bays. That's enough to quote most of Twickenham accurately in one call.
For probate house clearance we invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly — whichever you tell us — and payment can be settled from the estate. There's no deposit, and the invoice comes after the work is done, not before it. Executors dealing with a Twickenham property from another county are a good half of what we do, and none of it needs you to be in the room.
Common questions about house clearance in Twickenham
How much does a house clearance in Twickenham cost? We don't publish figures, because two four-bed semis in the same street can be entirely different jobs. Ring 0800 046 5555 or send photographs through the form on this page and you'll get a proper figure for your property, free and with no obligation.
Can you invoice a solicitor or executor, and can it be paid from the estate? Yes. On probate work we invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, and payment can come from the estate. No deposit is taken; the invoice follows the completed clearance.
Do you clear the garage, loft and shed as well as the house? Yes, and it's worth saying so when you book. Garage and loft clearance changes how long the day takes far more than an extra bedroom does. Outbuildings need naming individually in the written scope — a shed, an outside WC and an attached garage are three separate things, and we confirm which are included before the crew arrives.
Do I need to arrange parking? Tell us what's outside and we'll take it from there. Residents' permits are quick and only need a registration number. A bay suspension in Richmond upon Thames needs a minimum of seven days' notice, so that decision has to be made at booking, not on the day.
Do I have to be there on the day? No. Plenty of our TW1 and TW2 clearances are done with keys and a written scope, with photographs sent back afterwards. If you'd rather be there for the first hour and then leave us to it, that's just as common.
What won't you take away? Paint, solvents, gas bottles, car batteries and anything containing asbestos need a specialist route we don't run. Fridges, freezers and upholstered furniture we do take, handled separately under the relevant rules. Tell us what's in the property beforehand and we'll say which is which — our waste carrier registration is CBDU419679 and every load leaves with a transfer note.
