A three-bed in AL3 with the stair lift that stayed
November, a three-bedroom house in AL3, out at Flamstead on the western side of the district. Access was by key safe, and the person arranging it had already sent the code over before we asked twice — she wanted it settled, and she told us plainly what to expect from the safe itself: "the key safe is a pain when putting the key back but the key can be posted through letter box if easier once property has been cleared." She was right about the safe. Those older units stiffen up and half the time the key goes back through the door instead.
The instructions ran to a page and they were the good sort — specific, written down, no guessing. Everything out, carpets and curtains included. Black sacks in the hallway and dining room, already filled by her during an earlier attempt to do the whole thing on her own; anyone who has tried that knows how far you get before the sacks stop moving. Kitchen cupboards and drawers still had contents in them, and she apologised for that, which she did not need to do. Outside there was an outhouse, and at the end of the outhouse a shed, reached through the back door off the kitchen. A folding lightweight wheelchair stood in the hall, to go. The washing machine was to be cleared. The fridge and freezer had already been taken out before we arrived.
One thing had to stay: the stair lift. It belonged to the local authority and was going back to them, so it was flagged in writing before the day and again to the team on the morning. That happens more than you would think in Hertfordshire, and it is exactly the sort of detail that goes wrong if nobody writes it down. The upstairs bathroom and the downstairs toilet were left alone as well; the wardrobes, drawers and cupboards upstairs had already been emptied. The garden was not to be touched.
That house clearance ran across two days at the back end of November, and the reason it went smoothly had nothing to do with us being clever. It went smoothly because everything anybody needed to know was on paper before a van moved.
Wheathampstead, AL4 — five bedrooms and a double garage
April, out in Wheathampstead. Five-bed house with a double garage attached — a garage and loft clearance in its own right, and the list of what to leave was longer than the list of what to take: fridge, freezer, washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, one bed, the fitted cupboards and wardrobes, plus carpets and curtains throughout. The family were decorating afterwards, so no cleaning was needed and nobody wanted the garden touched.
Plenty of parking on that one, which sounds like a small thing until you have tried to unload a five-bedroom house through a village lane. Wheathampstead sits between St Albans and Harpenden, and the older properties along there can be awkward for a caged tipper. This one was not, and the day ran short because of it.
Where we go for house clearance around St Albans
The four postcode districts we work in here are AL1, AL2, AL3 and AL4. AL1 is the city centre, the streets around the Abbey and out towards Fleetville. AL2 covers the southern edge — Park Street, Bricket Wood, Chiswell Green, How Wood and London Colney, the belt between the city and the M25. AL3 runs west and north-west through Redbourn, Flamstead and Markyate, and includes the older streets on the St Michael's side of town. AL4 takes in Sandridge, Wheathampstead, Colney Heath and the fields east of the city.
Just beyond those four sit Hemel Hempstead to the west, Harpenden to the north, and Hatfield and Welwyn to the east, and we are in and out of all of them. St Albans City station puts you twenty minutes off St Pancras, which is why so many of the houses we clear in AL1 have been in one family since long before the Thameslink service made the place what it is now. St Albans Abbey, on the little branch down to Watford, marks the other end of town.
The whole lot falls under St Albans City and District Council, with Hertfordshire County Council running the household waste recycling centres. Their site rules on van access catch people out — turn up in anything van-shaped without a permit and you will be turned round at the barrier. That is one of the ordinary reasons people ring us rather than doing four trips themselves.
The order of a house clearance day in St Albans
We start at nine. The team walks the property with whoever is there, or with the written instructions if nobody is, and we agree what stays before anything is lifted — stair lifts, a bed somebody still needs, the fitted wardrobes when the house is being decorated rather than sold. Then it is the far rooms first and the hallway last, because the hallway is the road out.
Lofts and garages get opened early, not late. A garage and loft can double a job on their own, and finding that out at four in the afternoon helps nobody. Where a property in AL2 or AL4 has a long drive or a shared parking court, we say so on the phone and plan the walk from door to van into the day rather than discovering it on the morning.
What cannot go in the van, and why
Fridges and freezers are treated as hazardous because of the gas in them and travel separately. Mattresses go their own way too, for a different reason: sites will not take them mixed into a general load, so they are stripped and recycled on their own. Televisions and monitors go to the electrical stream. Paint tins, solvents and garden chemicals — the sort of thing that accumulates in an outbuilding over thirty years — need a hazardous route, so they come off the load and are handled properly rather than quietly slipped in with the household waste. Gas bottles and car batteries are the same story.
What happens to everything a house clearance takes out
Nothing goes straight to landfill if there is another option. Furniture that is sound, working appliances, unopened household goods, books, tools — these get offered on to reuse schemes and charity shops around Hertfordshire before anything else is decided. Metal is split off and sold as scrap. Cardboard, paper, timber and green waste each go their own way. Whatever is genuinely finished is weighed in at a permitted facility and we hold the transfer paperwork for it, which we will send you a copy of on request. Our waste carrier registration is CBDU419679 and the company carries full public liability cover. We have been clearing houses since 2007.
Probate house clearance in St Albans, and executors at a distance
Executors and solicitors' clients make up a large slice of the St Albans work. A good half of the probate clearances we do here are arranged by someone who does not live in Hertfordshire at all — a son in Manchester, a daughter in Spain, a solicitor two counties away holding a key and a set of instructions.
That works, and it works because of paperwork and photographs. We take dated pictures of every room once it is empty and send them through, along with a written note of anything unexpected. On one job the person arranging everything lived in AL1 near the city centre while the house being emptied was over the county line altogether, and she never once had to stand in that hallway to know what was happening.
On probate work we invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, so payment comes out of the estate rather than out of anybody's own pocket, and it can wait until probate is granted if that is how the estate is being run. There is no deposit to hold a date.
Hoarder and verminous properties
Some houses have gone past the point where anyone can sort through them — years of newspapers, sacks that were never taken out, rooms you can only get halfway into. A hoarder house clearance is a different job from an ordinary house clearance: masks, gloves, a controlled disposal route and more hands, rather than a cheerful morning with a Luton van. We have done these around St Albans before. Say so when you ring, because it changes what we bring and how long we plan for — it changes nothing else, and there is no lecture waiting for you at the door.
Common questions about house clearance in St Albans
Do you do probate house clearance in St Albans, and who gets invoiced? Yes — it is a large part of what we do here. We invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, payment can come from the estate, and there is no deposit. If probate has not been granted yet, we can wait.
How do I find out what it will cost? Ring the office on 0800 046 5555 with the postcode, or send photographs of the rooms, the loft, the garage and anything in a shed. We will come back to you with a figure and the days we have free. We would rather be honest on the phone about a house needing two days than turn up and start renegotiating in the driveway.
Can you clear a house if nobody can be there? Yes. Key safe, an agent's key, or a neighbour holding one — all normal. Send the access details and the instructions in writing beforehand, tell us anything that must stay, and we will send photographs of each room as it comes clear.
Do you clear the garage and loft as well? Yes, and please mention them when you ring. A garage and loft that nobody has opened in twenty years can be the largest part of the whole house clearance, and it is much better planned for than discovered.
Which postcodes do you cover around St Albans? AL1 in the city centre, AL2 down through Park Street, Bricket Wood and London Colney, AL3 west through Redbourn, Flamstead and Markyate, and AL4 across Sandridge, Wheathampstead and Colney Heath. We also work the neighbouring towns — Hemel Hempstead, Harpenden, Hatfield and Welwyn.
Will you take things that are still good? We would rather they went on than went in a skip. Sound furniture, working appliances, books and tools are offered to reuse schemes and charity shops around Hertfordshire first. Only what is genuinely finished goes to a permitted facility, and we keep the transfer notes.
Ring the office on 0800 046 5555 with the postcode, roughly how many bedrooms, and whether there is a loft, garage or shed involved — or send photographs through and we will look at them the same day. We will tell you what house clearance in St Albans will come to and which days are free.
