House Clearance

A house clearance covers a lot more ground than the name suggests. Sometimes it's every room of a family home after a death in the family. Sometimes it's a single overstuffed spare room, a garage nobody's opened in years, or a rental property that needs to be emptied and cleaned before new tenants move in. HouseClearances.ie handles all of it — full and partial clearances, single items and entire properties, straightforward jobs and genuinely difficult ones — across Dublin and the wider Leinster area.

We're a fully insured waste carrier, and every clearance is quoted for free with no obligation to book. There's no pressure and no hard sell — you tell us what needs to go, we tell you what it costs and when we can do it.

What Counts as a House Clearance

"House clearance" is the umbrella term, but the jobs underneath it vary enormously:

• Full house clearance — every room, garage, shed and attic emptied, typically ahead of a sale, a probate process, or moving a family member into care.
• Partial clearance — one room, a set of furniture, or specific items removed while the rest of the house stays as it is.
• Estate and probate clearance — clearing a property as part of settling an estate, usually coordinated with executors, solicitors, or family members handling the process.
• Bereavement clearance — clearing a loved one's home with the sensitivity that situation deserves. See our dedicated Bereavement Clearance page for how we approach this specifically.
• Hoarder clearance — properties with a significant volume of accumulated belongings, handled discreetly and without judgement. Full detail on our Hoarder Clearance page.
• Landlord and rental clearance — getting a property back to a lettable standard between tenancies, or clearing a tenant's abandoned belongings.
• Apartment clearance — flats and apartments bring their own access considerations (stairs, lifts, parking), covered on our Apartment Clearance page.

Most house clearances also touch on garage, shed and attic contents at the same time — we cover all three in detail on their own pages: Garage Clearance, Shed Clearance, and Attic Clearance.

House Clearance for Different Situations

Two house clearances rarely look the same, because the reason behind them shapes what actually needs to happen. Moving house is usually the most time-pressured version — there's a completion date, a van booked for your own belongings, and a pile of furniture and household items you're not bringing with you that has to be gone before keys change hands. We work around that kind of deadline regularly, including where the notice is short.

Downsizing is a different pace entirely. Whether it's moving to a smaller house, an apartment, or into assisted living, the job is usually about deciding what genuinely fits the next stage of life and clearing the rest — furniture, duplicate household items, years of accumulated belongings that made sense in a bigger home but won't in a smaller one. We can do this in stages if that suits better than one single visit.

When a property is being prepared for sale, an empty, clean house shows better and photographs better, and estate agents will often ask for it directly. We can time a clearance around a specific viewing date or closing date, and leave the property swept and presentable rather than just emptied.

Inherited and probate properties bring their own timeline, usually set by solicitors, executors, or the wider family rather than by the person living there — because in most cases nobody is. We're used to working with whoever holds that responsibility, fitting around probate paperwork, family visits to identify keepsakes, and properties that may have sat closed up for some time before anyone was ready to deal with them.

Landlords and letting agents call us most often between tenancies, where a property needs to go from however the last tenant left it back to a lettable standard before new tenants view it — sometimes including furniture and belongings a tenant simply left behind. For clearances tied specifically to a tenancy ending, see our End of Tenancy Clearance page.

Hoarding situations need a different approach again — more time, more patience, and no judgement about how a property got to where it is. Family members are often managing this on someone else's behalf, sometimes without the person who lives there fully on board, and that's a conversation we're used to having sensitively. Our Hoarder Clearance page goes into how we handle these jobs specifically.

And where a clearance follows a death in the family, there's rarely a rush from our side, whatever the practical deadline might be. Going through a home full of someone else's belongings is difficult, and we try to make the physical side of it as easy as possible — see Bereavement Clearance for more on how we approach that.

What Actually Gets Cleared

In a typical full clearance we remove furniture, appliances, household contents, clothing and textiles, books and media, garden equipment, and general accumulated belongings. Large or awkward items — wardrobes, sofas, beds, fridges, washing machines — are handled as standard, not treated as an extra job. If a property has specific items that need particular care (a piano, for instance, or anything of clear sentimental or resale value the family wants set aside first), tell us during the quote and we'll factor it into the plan for the day.

Room by room, that usually breaks down into: living rooms and sitting rooms (sofas, armchairs, coffee and side tables, TV units, display cabinets, rugs); kitchens (freestanding appliances, kitchen tables and chairs, crockery, cookware, small appliances, and — where agreed — fitted units being ripped out as part of a renovation); bedrooms (beds, wardrobes, chests of drawers, mattresses, bedding and clothing); bathrooms (cabinets, shelving, general contents); and hallways, stairs and landings, which often hold their own overflow of boxes, coats, and furniture nobody quite knows what to do with. Gardens, sheds, garages and attics get cleared to the same standard — old tools, unused sports equipment, paint tins, garden furniture, and the general accumulation that collects in storage spaces over the years.

We also regularly deal with the items people assume will be a problem: waterbeds, gym equipment, upright and grand pianos, aquariums, wardrobes that don't come apart, old CRT televisions, and furniture that's simply too heavy or awkward for one person to move alone. None of that needs to be flagged as a special job — mention it at quote stage so we bring the right number of people and equipment, and it's handled as part of the same clearance.

Recycling and Responsible Disposal

We don't default to landfill. Items in usable condition are set aside for donation or resale wherever that's realistic, and we aim for an average recycling rate of up to 95% across the waste stream we handle. What's left after reuse and recycling is disposed of through licensed waste transfer stations, as required of any authorised waste carrier. If a property has anything specific you'd like donated rather than cleared as general waste — furniture in good condition, for example — let us know and we'll set it aside separately.

How the Process Works

1. Get a quote. Call, WhatsApp, or send us a few details and photos if you have them. For most jobs we can give a reasonably accurate estimate without needing to see the property first, though for larger or more complex clearances we're happy to visit in person.
2. Agree a date. We work around your schedule, including tighter turnarounds where a property needs to be cleared for a sale, a viewing, or a tenancy deadline.
3. We clear. Our crew arrives, works through the property systematically, and removes everything agreed on. Most single-property clearances are completed in one visit.
4. Sort and dispose. Items are sorted for reuse, donation, recycling, and — only where genuinely necessary — landfill, via licensed waste transfer stations.
5. Property left clean. We leave the cleared space swept and tidy, ready for its next use — whether that's a sale, a new tenant, or simply getting the room back.

Preparing for a Clearance

You don't need to do much in advance — sorting through everything yourself first is exactly what we're there to save you from. It helps if you can flag, before the day, anything you specifically want kept, and confirm access arrangements (parking, keys, whether anyone needs to be present). Beyond that, we take it from there.

What Affects the Price

Every clearance is quoted individually rather than off a fixed price list, because the volume and nature of what's being cleared varies so much house to house. The main factors are the amount of stuff, how much of it is bulky or heavy, and how easy the property is to access — ground-floor houses with off-street parking are naturally quicker than upper-floor apartments with restricted loading. We'll always confirm a price before any work starts, so there are no surprises on the day.

In more detail, the things that actually move a quote up or down are:

• Overall volume — roughly how much needs to come out of the property, from a single room's worth of furniture up to a full house.
• Number of rooms involved — a full clearance covering every room, plus garage, shed and attic, naturally takes more time and vehicle space than clearing one or two rooms.
• Amount and type of furniture — large upholstered pieces, wardrobes, and appliances take longer to move and take up more room in the van than boxes and smaller items.
• Access — whether there's off-street parking close to the door, or the van has to be loaded from further away or via restricted residential streets.
• Stairs and floor level — ground-floor properties are quicker to clear than upper-floor apartments, especially where there's no lift.
• Distance from the property to the load point — a long carry from the back of a house or garden to the van adds time even when the volume itself is modest.
• Number of workers and vehicle loads required — larger clearances may need more crew on site, or more than one van load to complete in a single visit.
• Special items — pianos, safes, or anything unusually heavy, fragile or awkward can affect how a job is planned and staffed.
• Time required on site — jobs that involve sorting through mixed keep/donate/dispose piles, rather than a straightforward full clear-out, take longer than the volume alone would suggest.

None of this needs to be worked out by you in advance — describe the property and what needs clearing when you get in touch, and we'll factor these in when putting a quote together.

How Long Does a House Clearance Take

There's no single answer to this, because it depends on the same factors that affect price — the size of the property, how much is being cleared, and how accessible it is. A single room or a small apartment is generally a short job. A full house — every room, plus garage, shed and attic — is a bigger undertaking and may need a larger crew or more than one vehicle load to complete in a day.

What speeds a clearance up is having access sorted in advance (parking close to the door, keys available, any locked rooms unlocked) and knowing roughly what's staying versus going. What slows one down is the opposite — restricted access, a lot of sorting decisions still to be made on the day, or discovering additional rooms or storage areas once the crew is already on site. We'll give you a realistic sense of timing at quote stage based on what you tell us about the property, and confirm it again on the day if anything's changed.

Areas We Cover

We work across Dublin city and county, and the wider Leinster area including Kildare, Wicklow, Kilkenny and Carlow. That covers everywhere from city-centre flats to suburban semis and rural properties on the county borders — areas like Rathmines, Ranelagh, Ballsbridge and Dundrum on the south side, Blackrock and the wider south Dublin coast, and Lucan, Tallaght and Swords further out, along with the city's postal districts from Dublin 1 through Dublin 24 and beyond. If you're searching for a house clearance company near you rather than a specific big-city chain, we cover both — city centre and county, not just one or the other. See our full list of areas covered for local detail on specific towns and suburbs.

Related Services

House clearance often overlaps with other jobs we do, whether as part of the same property or as a smaller job on its own:

• Clearing a flat rather than a house — see Apartment Clearance for the access and parking side of clearing apartments and flats specifically.
• Just the shed needs emptying — Shed Clearance covers garden sheds on their own.
• A garage full of tools, boxes and things that never made it back inside — Garage Clearance.
• Years of accumulated boxes in the roof space — Attic Clearance.
• A self-storage unit that's costing you monthly rent for no good reason — Storage Unit Clearance.
• Commercial or industrial space rather than a home — Warehouse Clearance for larger-scale premises.
• A property with a significant volume of accumulated belongings — Hoarder Clearance, handled discreetly.
• Clearing a loved one's home — Bereavement Clearance, approached with the sensitivity that situation needs.
• An office, shop or workplace being cleared out or closed down — Office Clearance.
• A rental property between tenants — End of Tenancy Clearance.
• Just the garden — overgrown gardens, old furniture, or general green waste — Garden Waste Clearance.

Frequently Asked Questions

How quickly can you clear a house?

Most single-property clearances are completed in one visit once booked. We can often accommodate urgent requests — get in touch to check current availability.

Do I need to sort through everything before you arrive?

No. Flag anything you specifically want kept, and we'll handle sorting the rest as part of the clearance.

What if there's a mix of items to keep, donate, and dispose of?

That's normal, and something we deal with on every job — just let us know your preferences and we'll work around them.

Are you insured?

Yes, we're a fully insured waste carrier holding a valid Waste Collection Permit.

How is the price worked out?

Based on the volume of items and ease of access to the property. You'll get a clear, free quote before anything is booked.

How much does house clearance cost in Dublin?

There's no fixed price list, because two clearances of the "same size" house can involve very different amounts of furniture, access, and time. Rather than quote a generic figure that won't match your actual property, we ask a few questions about what's being cleared and give you a free, specific quote before anything is booked — so you know the cost upfront, not after the job's done.

Can you clear a property before it's sold?

Yes, this is one of the more common reasons people contact us. We can time the clearance around a viewing date, closing date, or whatever deadline your sale is working to, and leave the property swept and presentable rather than just emptied of contents.

Do I need to be present during the clearance?

Not necessarily. Plenty of clients — particularly executors, landlords, and family members handling a property on someone else's behalf — arrange access and let us get on with it. If you'd rather be there, especially to point out what's being kept versus cleared, that's fine too.

What happens to the items you take away?

Nothing goes straight to landfill by default. Items in good condition are set aside for donation or resale where that's realistic, and we aim for an average recycling rate of up to 95% across what we collect. Anything left after reuse and recycling is disposed of through licensed waste transfer stations.

Can you do a same-day or urgent house clearance?

Where our schedule allows, yes — get in touch with as much notice as you can give us and we'll tell you honestly whether we can fit it in, rather than promising a slot we can't deliver.

Get a Free Quote

Tell us what needs clearing and we'll get back to you with a free, no-obligation quote.

Recent Work

A selection of genuine photos from recent clearances — not staged, not stock.