London is where more of our work happens than anywhere else in the country. **1,175 clearances have landed in London postcodes, spread across 190 different districts** — SW5 in Earl's Court most often of all, then SW17 in Tooting, SW19 at Wimbledon, SW2 in Brixton, W6 at Hammersmith, SW7 in South Kensington and CR0 out at Croydon.
That is not a claim about coverage. It is what the invoices say, and it is the reason the crews rarely need the satnav south of the river.
What makes clearing a London property different
Three things, and none of them are about the contents.
Getting the van to the door. A Victorian terrace in Tooting or Brixton has no driveway, a controlled parking zone that runs most of the day, and a resident's bay you cannot legally sit in. Half of planning a London clearance is deciding where the van goes and how far things get carried. It is why we ask for clear, specific detail about the property when you enquire — the address included, and what the parking is actually like. The more we know at the quoting stage, the better we understand what your job will need, and the more accurately we can plan and price it.
Flats. A great deal of London stock is a converted house — two, three or four flats where one family used to live. That means shared stairs, a narrow turn on the half-landing, a front door onto a communal hall, and often no lift above a shop. A second-floor conversion flat is a slower job than a house with twice the contents.
The charges. Central London vans meet the congestion charge and the whole of Greater London is inside the ULEZ. Those are real costs on a clearance and we would rather they were in the quote openly than discovered later.
Find your own patch, not "London"
Nobody clears a house in London. They clear one in Tooting, or Harrow, or Peckham, and the practical questions are local ones: where the van goes, whether the flat is above a shop, what the parking is like at nine in the morning.
So this page is only the way in. Under it sit the 33 boroughs, and under those the individual areas — Chelsea under Kensington and Chelsea, Peckham under Southwark, Tooting under Wandsworth. The page for where you actually live is two clicks below, and it will tell you more than this one can.
Where it goes
Loads go through licensed commercial transfer stations. In and around London that includes Sortera on Markfield Road in Tottenham, N15 4QF, and on Weir Road in Wimbledon, SW19 8UG; Peter Norris at Station Approach, St Mary Cray, BR5 2NB; and SUEZ at Benedict Wharf, Mitcham, CR4 3BQ, and on River Road in Barking, IG11 0DW.
Almost no household recycling centre in London takes trade waste — they exist for residents disposing of their own. On the rare occasion one does, it has to be agreed in advance, and we pay to tip there, as we pay to dispose of every load we carry. Worth knowing if a quote comes in very low on the understanding that it is all just going to the local tip.
Our waste carrier registration is CBDU419679. Transfer notes come back from every load and we pass them on to executors who want them for the estate accounts.
Anything that cannot be reused is loaded first and taken to a licensed commercial transfer station. What can be used again is left until last: suitable furniture, working white goods, kitchenware, books, tools, bedding and clothing go to charity shops and reuse projects, and metal goes for scrap. Sofas and armchairs that are not fit for donation go down the POPs route, because of the persistent organic pollutants in the upholstery and padding; mattresses are counted individually; fridges and freezers travel separately for regulated degassing.