Property Clearance Dublin: Complete Guide to Clearing a House, Apartment or Investment Property

What 'property clearance' covers

Property clearance is the broad term for emptying any property of its contents so it can move to its next use. It covers houses and apartments, rental and investment properties, probate and bereavement properties, vacant and long-empty properties, and, at the commercial end, offices, retail units and storage. The customer is as often a landlord, a letting agent, an estate agent, an executor or a solicitor as it is the person who lived there.

That matters because the job is different from a householder's clear-out. The person booking it may never have seen inside; the property may be in another county or country from them; there's usually a deadline — a new tenancy, a viewing, a valuation, a completion date; and there's usually paperwork to satisfy — a deposit dispute, an estate file, a management company. This guide is written for that reader. It explains the types of clearance, how access and keys work when you're not there, how pricing and timing work, what happens to the contents, and how to get the property ready for whatever comes next. The service page is here: property clearance.

PropertyClearance.ie clears properties across Dublin city and county every working day — from our base in Athy, Co. Kildare — and across Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny and Laois.

Types of property clearance in Dublin

End-of-tenancy and landlord clearance

The tenants have left and the property has come back with furniture that isn't yours, mattresses, bags of rubbish, a full fridge and a garden nobody touched. The property needs to be back to a lettable shell — fast — so the cleaners and the next viewing can go in. We clear abandoned contents, lift carpets and curtains if they're being replaced, dispose of the landlord's own worn-out furniture if the property is being refurnished, and provide dated before-and-after photographs for deposit records. See end-of-tenancy clearance.

Vacant and empty property clearance

Houses and flats that have been empty for months or years: a parent's house nobody has got round to, a property bought at auction with the contents included, a long-void rental, a cottage inherited from a relative. These often involve damp-damaged contents, post piled behind the door, and a garden that has gone wild. We clear them completely and leave them swept and dry-able.

Investment property and portfolio clearance

Landlords and property managers with several units book us for repeat clearances — a turnover every few months across a portfolio in Dublin — and for one-off strip-outs before refurbishment. Several properties can be cleared in one day on a planned route.

Probate and bereavement property clearance

Clearing a property that belonged to someone who has died, usually for an executor, a solicitor or the family, with careful sorting for documents and valuables and written confirmation for the estate. We've written a dedicated, more personal guide: bereavement house clearance in Dublin.

Pre-sale clearance

Owners and agents getting a property empty before valuation, photographs and viewings. Full or partial — sometimes just the clutter needs to go so the rooms show. See also our house clearance guide.

Apartment clearance

A category of its own in Dublin because of the access: lifts, loading bays, management companies, underground car parks and walk-ups with no lift. See apartment clearance and the access section below.

Auction, receiver and repossession-related clearance

Where a property is being sold at auction or has come back to a lender or receiver, the contents often need to be cleared quickly and documented. We can work from keys supplied by the agent or receiver and provide photographs and written confirmation.

Commercial and storage

Offices, shops, workshops, storage units and containers are cleared under the same process — see office clearance and storage unit clearance.

Access and keys when you're not there

Most property clearances in Dublin are done without the customer present, and the arrangement is simple. Tell us who holds the keys — a letting agent, an estate agent, a solicitor, a neighbour, a key safe — and we collect them on the morning, clear the property to your instructions, send photographs of every room when it's done, and return the keys wherever you ask. Alarm codes, gate codes and parking arrangements are handled the same way.

Apartments need a little planning. Many Dublin blocks — in the Docklands, Dublin 1, 2 and 4, Sandyford, Tallaght, Santry, Swords, Blanchardstown and Dún Laoghaire — require the lift to be booked for moves, have loading bays with time limits, and have management-company rules about moving hours. Underground car parks often have height restrictions that rule out a truck. Older walk-up blocks and converted Georgian and Victorian houses in Dublin 1, 7 and 8 have no lift at all, so everything comes down the stairs. Tell us the floor, whether there's a lift, and the management company's rules, and we'll plan around them — or contact the management company on your behalf.

City-centre properties on permit-parking streets are routine; we plan loading so the street isn't blocked and advise if a parking suspension would make the job faster.

Properties with inspections — a surveyor, a valuer, a BER assessor, an insurance inspector — can be cleared before or around the inspection; tell us the date.

What we clear from a property

Everything, unless you tell us otherwise: furniture of every kind (beds, mattresses, sofas, wardrobes, tables, chairs, desks), white goods and electricals (fridges and freezers including contents, cookers, washing machines, TVs), household contents left behind (clothes, bedding, crockery, books, boxes, bags of rubbish), carpets, underlay, curtains and blinds if they're being replaced, free-standing kitchen units before a refit, the attic, the garage, the shed, the garden, and the storage cage or under-stairs cupboard.

If there are items to be kept — the landlord's own furniture, fittings that stay, a cooker that's in good condition — label them or list them for us and they stay. If any personal belongings of a former tenant or owner are found, we set them aside and tell you rather than disposing of them; what happens next is your decision.

What we don't take: asbestos, clinical waste and large quantities of hazardous chemicals, which need specialist contractors. Household amounts of paint, batteries and gas cylinders are fine if mentioned in advance. For larger quantities of construction and demolition waste after a refurbishment, our sister company ManageWaste.ie handles waste removal as a separate service.

How property clearance pricing works

Every property gets a fixed written price before we start, based on photographs or a visit. These are the things that set it:

How long a property clearance takes

A typical two- or three-bedroom rental in Dublin is cleared in half a day to a day. A full family house with attic, garage and shed takes a day; a very full one, or a large period house, two. Apartments depend almost entirely on the lift and loading arrangements — a top-floor walk-up takes longer than a ground-floor unit with a loading bay outside. Hoarded or long-vacant properties take longest because of the sorting and the condition of the contents.

Because we're in Dublin every day with our own trucks, we can usually offer a date within the week, and same-day or next-day for smaller turnarounds. If you have a viewing, an inspection or a handover, tell us the date and we'll work to it, including Saturdays.

The process, start to finish

What a property clearance looks like when you're a landlord, agent or executor working from a distance:

1. Photos and the keys arrangementSend a photo of each room (or have your agent do it), tell us the floor and access, and who holds the keys. Mention anything to be kept.
2. Fixed quote, usually the same dayOne written price covering labour, transport and all disposal. No hourly rate, no extras on the day.
3. Book a dateSame-week in most cases; next-day for urgent turnarounds. We book the lift or loading bay if the building needs it.
4. We collect keys and clearTop of the property down, everything sorted at the truck for reuse, recycling or disposal. Kept items stay. Found personal belongings are set aside and reported.
5. Sweep and photographsEvery room swept and photographed. Dated before-and-after photos sent for your records or deposit file.
6. Keys returned, confirmation issuedKeys go back to your agent or wherever you ask. Written confirmation of clearance on request for executors, solicitors and receivers.

After the clearance: ready for the next tenant, the valuer or the buyer

A cleared property is the starting point, not the finish. For a rental, the usual order is clearance, then cleaning, then repairs and decorating, then photographs and the listing; we leave the property swept so the cleaners can go straight in, and we can arrange a deep clean through a cleaning partner if you'd like one supplier to handle both. For a sale, the order is the same with the valuer and the estate agent's photographer at the end. For a refurbishment, we can strip carpets, curtains and free-standing units as part of the clearance so the builders start on day one.

For executors and receivers, the clearance closes a practical chapter: the property is empty and documented, the keys are back with the agent, and the estate or the sale can proceed.

And for a landlord with a portfolio across Dublin — in Dublin 1, 2, 7, 8 and 15, in Tallaght, Clondalkin, Lucan, Blanchardstown, Santry, Swords, Sandyford, Dún Laoghaire or anywhere else — a reliable clearance partner means every turnover takes days rather than weeks.

Where we clear properties in Dublin

All of Dublin city and county, including the city centre (Dublin 1, 2, 7 and 8, the Docklands, the Liberties, Stoneybatter, Smithfield), the southside (Rathmines, Ranelagh, Rathgar, Terenure, Harold's Cross, Crumlin, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Sandymount, Dundrum, Churchtown, Goatstown), Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown (Blackrock, Booterstown, Stillorgan, Foxrock, Cabinteely, Sandyford, Stepaside, Dún Laoghaire, Dalkey, Killiney), the northside (Drumcondra, Glasnevin, Phibsborough, Finglas, Santry, Beaumont, Clontarf, Raheny, Marino, Coolock, Artane, Donaghmede), Fingal (Malahide, Portmarnock, Swords, Howth, Sutton, Baldoyle, Skerries, Castleknock, Blanchardstown, Ongar) and west and south-west Dublin (Lucan, Adamstown, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Ballyfermot, Palmerstown, Rathcoole, Saggart, Citywest). Every area has its own page — start from the Dublin areas list. We also cover Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny and Laois.