Abacus has been clearing houses since 2007, and house clearance in Winchester is a steady part of most weeks — the city itself, the Worthys, and the ring of villages out towards the downs. Some of it is probate, some of it is a downsize, and a good deal of it is one loft or one garage rather than a whole property. Two of ours, told properly, will tell you more about how a day actually goes than any list of promises.
The last thing added to that job was two small sheds. The email came in early, half apologising: the customer had been lying awake at four in the morning walking through the house room by room, and had remembered the tools at the bottom of the garden. Could we put the sheds on the list of areas to be cleared? We could.
That one was a family home in Kings Worthy, SO23, cleared on the 29th of October 2024. By the time the van arrived, the family had already found homes for the tumble drier, the washing machine and the fridge freezer, so none of those three ever went on board — which is the right way round, and we said so. Everything else went: the rooms, the garden items they had marked up in photographs the week before, and the two sheds. A bath lift came off the side of the bath. One shed had crates of empty jam jars stacked to the roof and a home brew kit that clearly hadn't been touched in years.
Keys were with a friend who lived over the road and let the team in at nine. The kettle, mugs and tea bags were deliberately left out on the worktop. The family wanted the lads to be able to make a cup of tea while they worked, and a relative to be able to do the same when they came back over the following days to finish going through the last of it. Afterwards we were asked to pass on their thanks to the team, and the invoice went to the relative dealing with the estate paperwork.
Barton Stacey, and the motorbikes that stayed
Different job, different corner of SO21. March 2025, a house at Barton Stacey out towards the A303, and the team met the customer there at half past nine. We reckoned it at two van loads on the day, and we were careful to say what wasn't in that: the white goods, the carpet, the motorbikes and a white armchair in the front room were all staying where they were. There were reasons for each. Motorbikes in particular are somebody's project more often than they're rubbish, and we don't decide that for you.
What did come out was a house-worth of ordinary contents, a bundle of cushions and duvets, and a single mattress. Two loads, one day. Afterwards the customer wrote: "The guys have been brilliant, polite professional and conscientious. They are a credit to you."
We say up front that a look at photographs is only ever a rough read. You cannot see the weight of a load in a picture, and you cannot see what is behind the wardrobe until the wardrobe moves. If the job turns out bigger than it looked, the team stops and rings the office, and the office rings you before anything else goes on the van.
Where the load actually goes
Anything with wear left in it we try to route to a charity shop or a reuse scheme rather than a skip — furniture in decent order, tools, kitchenware, unopened bits and pieces. It isn't always possible. Charity depots have their own rules about upholstery and electricals, and some days they simply have no room. What can't be rehomed goes to a permitted transfer station where it's weighed, sorted and recorded, and we can send you the waste transfer notes for your load if you want them for an estate file.
Abacus House Clearance is registered with the Environment Agency as an upper tier waste carrier, CBDU419679, and you can check that number yourself on the Agency's public register. We carry insurance for the work and for the property while we're in it.
A few things can't travel in a mixed load, and it's better to know beforehand: half-used tins of paint, gas cylinders, solvents, car batteries, old asbestos sheeting off a garage roof. Mention them when you ring and we'll say what the options are — sometimes a separate collection, sometimes a run to the Hampshire household waste centre at Bar End, which takes some of it from residents but not from us.
Foam, fridges and what has to travel separately
Upholstery is the one that surprises people. Sofas, armchairs, footstools, foam cushions, mattress toppers — under the persistent organic pollutants rules, soft furnishings with foam in them have to be kept out of the general load and sent for incineration through a controlled route. They travel separately and they are handled separately, which is exactly why we ask about them on the phone rather than find them on the landing.
Fridges and freezers are the same story for a different reason — the gas in them makes them hazardous waste, so they go their own way too. Mattresses are their own nuisance: transfer stations want them kept out of the mixed load, so even the single mattress that came out of a small clearance in SO22 travelled on its own.
Probate, executors and paperwork from another county
A fair share of the house clearance work in this part of Hampshire is probate — the solicitor or the executor rings, not the person who lived in the house. Probate clearances have their own rhythm. Nothing moves until the grant is through and the valuation is settled, and then it tends to be wanted quickly, because the property is going on the market. We do a lot of probate house clearance in Winchester on exactly that timetable, and it doesn't faze us if the executor is three counties away and hasn't seen the place in years.
One SO22 clearance came to us that way. The instruction arrived from an address in London, the property was over on the western side of the city, and nobody local was going to be there to open up. It wasn't a full house either — a short visit, a room's worth, and one mattress. Not every job is a five-bedroom emptying, and we'd rather do the small one properly than talk you into more than you need.
We're set up for the distance. We can take keys from a neighbour, an agent or a key safe, photograph every room once it's empty and send the pictures through, put any documents, jewellery or paperwork the team turns up to one side and post them on. Deal with the estate rather than with somebody in the middle of a bereavement.
Who we invoice
We invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly. Say so at the start and we'll set it up that way from the beginning rather than rewriting it later. Payment can come out of the estate, which is what most executors want, and there is no deposit — the invoice follows the work, once the house is empty and you've seen it. If you want the paper trail for the estate file, ask and the waste transfer notes come with it. There's more about how estate work runs on our probate house clearance page.
Full houses
Some houses are packed. Papers, boxes, forty years of bags-inside-bags, a path worn from the front door to one chair. Hoarder house clearance is work we do without comment and without pulling faces, and if what's in among the contents needs specialist handling. Damp, droppings, infestation — we'll tell you that plainly beforehand rather than discover it in front of you on the day. A typewriter, a projector with its screen still on the tripod, a slide carousel, sacks of knitting wool and boxes of singles. Brotherhood of Man, ABBA, Kate Bush — have come out of Winchester lofts, and every one of them was somebody's reason for keeping the rest. If that's what you're facing, there's a hoarder house clearance page too.
Garage and loft clearance in Winchester
Not every job is the whole house. Garage and loft clearance is a good half of the smaller work we do in Winchester, and it's usually the part of the property the family has been putting off. Lofts in the older city terraces are unboarded, reached through a hatch on the landing and lit by whatever torch you brought up with you. The team works off proper ladders and passes things down rather than dropping them, which is slower and worth it. Garages are the opposite problem — an up-and-over door that hasn't been lifted since the car stopped fitting through it, and behind it shelves of paint, oil, weedkiller and half a bag of set cement.
Sheds belong in the same conversation as far as the day is concerned. They go on the list of areas to be cleared, like the two at Kings Worthy, and they need saying beforehand because they change how long the day takes. Tell us what's up in the roof and what's out the back — loft, garage, shed, garden — and it goes into the plan instead of into a surprise.
Getting a van into Winchester
The city is not a straightforward place to load a Luton van, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. The streets around the Cathedral and the Brooks are tight and old, and much of the residential centre sits under permit control, so for anything in SO23. The centre, Winnall, Highcliffe, Abbotts Barton, and Kings Worthy and Headbourne Worthy just to the north — we'd rather know in advance where the van can stand and for how long. SO22 is the western side: Fulflood, Weeke, Stanmore, Teg Down and Oliver's Battery, where the terraces come with short driveways and a hill.
St Giles Hill, up over the river, is worse again for turning. SO21 is the ring of villages — Twyford, Colden Common, Otterbourne, Compton and Sparsholt, Micheldever, Barton Stacey — usually fine for access but longer for the run to the transfer station, and we build that into the day rather than spring it on you. SO25 belongs to the city as well; you'll hardly ever see it on a house, since Winchester post almost always goes out as SO22 or SO23, but if that's what's printed on your letter it's still us who come.
We don't stop at the city boundary, and we don't claim the whole county off one van either. South down the main line we do house clearance in Southampton and the villages in between; north up the A34 there's house clearance in Andover, which is the same day's drive; and out west past the forest we cover house clearance in Ringwood. Further than that, ring and we'll check the diary before promising you a date.
Winchester station sits on the main line between Waterloo and Southampton, which matters more than you'd think: plenty of the executors we deal with come down from London for the day, meet the team at nine, and are back on a train by late afternoon. Shawford and Micheldever cover the SO21 villages. If you're coming down for the day, tell us which train and we'll work the start of the day around it.
Winchester City Council collects your bins; it doesn't clear houses, and charity collections take selected items, not whole houses.
What to tell us when you ring
The address and postcode district, how many bedrooms, whether there's a loft, a garage, a shed or a garden to do, and anything being kept back. Photographs help. Send them through the form on this page and we'll come back to you with a figure and a date, or ring 0800 046 5555 and talk it through — that's the only number we use. There is no deposit, and nothing is due until the house is empty and you've walked through it.
If the clearance is part of an estate, say so at the start and we'll set the invoice up for the executors from the beginning. It saves rewriting it later, which nobody needs in the middle of everything else. For house clearance Winchester or any of the villages around it, the office picks up the phone from early.
Common questions about house clearance in Winchester
Can you invoice the solicitor or the executor?
Yes. We invoice the solicitor, the executor or the estate directly, and payment can come out of the estate. There's no deposit, and the invoice follows the work rather than the booking.
How much does a house clearance in Winchester cost?
Ring the office on 0800 046 5555, or send photographs through the form on this page, and you'll get a figure for your own job. We won't put a number on a web page, because it depends entirely on what's actually in the house.
Will you clear just a garage or a loft?
Yes. Garage and loft clearance, a single room, a shed, or one heavy item on its own is ordinary work for us, not a favour. Say what it is when you ring and we'll plan the day around it.
What can't go in the van?
Paint, gas cylinders, solvents, car batteries and asbestos can't travel in a mixed load, and fridges, freezers and foam-filled furniture have to be handled through their own route. Mention them when you ring and we'll tell you the options.
Do you cover the villages as well as the city?
We do. SO23 and SO22 across the city, SO21 out through the villages, SO25 on the same terms, and the nearer Hampshire towns beyond that.
