Apartment Clearance in Dublin 2 and the Docklands for Landlords and Letting Agents

Written for the person arranging it from a desk

A landlord or letting agent clearing an apartment in Dublin 2 or the Docklands is rarely standing in the apartment when they book it. The instruction comes by email, the keys are in an office, the owner may be abroad, and the building has its own rules about when and how anything leaves. This guide is for that person: what a managed block adds to the job, who needs to be told, what the crew needs to get in, what to do about belongings a tenant has left behind, and the order of work that gets the unit back on the market.

It is practical guidance, not legal advice. The rules on tenants' belongings and on ending a tenancy are a legal matter; check your position with the Residential Tenancies Board or a solicitor before disposing of anything you are not certain belongs to the owner. The service is described on our apartment clearance and end-of-tenancy clearance pages, and the general rental process in our landlord clearance guide. PropertyClearance.ie is based in Athy, Co. Kildare, and clears apartments across Dublin; call 083 090 4545 if you would rather talk it through.

What a managed block in Dublin 2 or the Docklands adds to the job

The Docklands on both sides of the Liffey, and much of Dublin 2, are made up of apartment blocks built from the late 1990s onwards: several storeys, a shared lobby, lifts, an underground or podium car park, bin stores and a management company, often with a concierge. Elsewhere in Dublin 2 there are older buildings with apartments on upper floors and no lift, where everything comes down the stairs. Each of these changes the plan.

• The management company usually sets the hours in which moves are allowed, and may require notice before a lift is used for furniture.
• The concierge, where there is one, opens the loading bay, releases the service lift and knows which fob opens which door.
• The service lift is often bookable, sometimes padded, and the only sensible route for a sofa or a fridge.
• The loading bay is where the truck stands; it may have a time limit or a height limit, and on a busy street it may be the only legal place to stop.
• The bin store is for household waste, not for a mattress or a wardrobe. Bulky items left there bring complaints from the management company, which is one reason a clearance is booked at all.
• The car park space, the storage cage and the balcony belong to the unit and often hold as much as a spare room.

Keys, fobs and codes: what the crew needs on the day

In a managed block the list is longer than a front-door key, and a missing fob can stop a clearance before it starts:

The management company, the concierge and the service lift

Most blocks want to know in advance that a clearance is happening. The agent usually makes that contact, because the agent already has the relationship; once introduced, we deal with the concierge or managing agent directly. The points to settle are:

• The moving window. Many blocks restrict moves to weekday working hours and some allow Saturdays. We work Monday to Saturday, 8am to 5pm, which fits most windows; tell us the block's hours when you ask for the quote.
• The lift booking. If the service lift has to be reserved, book it for the whole day rather than a morning slot. A clearance is dozens of lift journeys, not one.
• Insurance details. Some management companies ask for a contractor's insurance details before confirming a lift booking. Ask us and we will send ours.
• Protecting common areas. Lift walls, lobby floors and corridor corners are protected on the day, and the route from the apartment door to the loading bay is walked before the first item moves.
• The loading bay. If it has a time limit, we load in stages and move the truck when we must. If there is no bay and the street is restricted, say so and send a photograph.

A tenant's abandoned belongings: the practical sequence

Apartments in this part of the city are let to people who move often and sometimes leave quickly, and what is left behind ranges from a few bags to a fully furnished life. Whether the owner may dispose of it is a legal question we cannot answer. What we can give you is a sequence that keeps the owner's options open and the record clean.

1. Photograph everything where it standsEvery room, the balcony, the storage cage and the car park space, dated, before anything is touched.
2. Write a short inventory of anything personal or valuableDocuments, post, electronics, a bicycle, anything with a name on it. This is the list the owner and, if needed, the RTB or a solicitor will want to see.
3. Get the owner's instruction in writingWhat is the owner's and stays, what is to be set aside and held, what is to be cleared. An email is enough; we work from it and keep it with the job.
4. If the position is unclear, holdA short delay to take advice costs less than a dispute. We can clear the rubbish and the owner's unwanted furniture and leave the tenant's belongings untouched in one room until you have an answer.
5. Set aside on the dayAnything personal the crew finds that was not on the inventory, such as papers, photographs or a passport, is set aside and handed to the agent rather than removed.

White goods, mattresses and the landlord's inventory

Apartments here are often let furnished, so the first question on every clearance is what belongs to the unit. The inventory from the start of the tenancy answers it. Send it with the photographs and we work from it: the owner's beds, wardrobes, sofas and appliances stay and are protected; everything else goes.

• Integrated appliances are part of the kitchen and stay unless you tell us otherwise. Freestanding fridges, washer-dryers and tumble dryers being replaced are taken and handled as waste electrical equipment; empty and defrost a fridge or freezer beforehand if you can, or tell us it is full.
• Mattresses are the most common item in a turnaround. If the owner is replacing them, the old ones go with us; if they stay, say so, because a bare mattress in an empty room looks like something to be cleared.
• Televisions, lamps and small electricals left by a tenant are set aside if they look like they have value and the owner has not decided; otherwise they are handled as electrical waste.
• Balcony furniture, plants and pots are included when you photograph the balcony.

We cannot take paint, solvents, oils, chemicals, batteries or gas cylinders, which turn up under sinks and on balconies; they go to a civic amenity site. Everything else is sorted at the truck for reuse, recycling or disposal, with good furniture set aside for reuse where possible.

From keys returned to listing photographs

The order that gets a unit back on the market with the fewest return visits:

1. Inspection and photographsThe agent inspects, photographs every room and the balcony, notes meter readings and the keys and fobs returned, and checks the inventory.
2. Instruction sheetOne email to us with the photographs, the inventory, what stays, what is set aside, the block's moving hours, the lift and loading bay arrangements and where the keys are. See the checklist below.
3. Fixed quote and dateOne written price covering labour, transport and disposal. We tell you what dates are available once we have seen the photographs; we do not promise timeframes before that.
4. Lift and bay bookedBy the agent or by us, once introduced to the management company.
5. ClearanceKeys collected, common areas protected, the unit cleared to the instruction, items set aside handed to the agent, every room swept.
6. Photographs and keys backDated photographs of every room sent to you, keys and fobs returned to the office or the concierge and counted.
7. Clean, repairs, photographs, listingA full clean is a separate job; ask when you request the quote and we will say what can be arranged. Repairs and painting follow, then the listing photographs.

When the apartment is being sold or is part of an estate

Not every apartment clearance here is a turnaround. Agents also handle sales, and executors clear apartments after a death. The block mechanics are identical: the same lift, loading bay and fobs. What changes is the instruction. For a sale, the agent decides what stays for photographs. For an estate, the solicitor or executor confirms what may leave, and personal papers, photographs and valuables found in the unit are set aside and shown to the family; our bereavement clearance guide covers that side, and furniture removal covers pieces going to relatives.

Dublin 2, the Docklands and the rest of the city

We clear apartments across the north and south Docklands and the city centre, including North Wall, Ringsend, East Wall, Irishtown and Ballsbridge, and the rest of Dublin. If you manage several units, send the addresses together and we plan one route where the blocks' hours allow. For the wider picture, see our property clearance guide.