House clearance in Birmingham

The law makes you responsible for who takes your waste. Book through scrapmarket and the checks and the paperwork are done for you:

• We check the collector’s waste carrier licence on the Environment Agency register before they can quote, and again every night. If it lapses, they can’t quote.
• We check their insurance, and their photo ID against a selfie.
• When they collect, they record their van’s registration and the licensed site your waste is going to.
• Your waste transfer note is made for you when you confirm the collection, and kept in your account.
• We pay the collector only once we’ve reviewed proof that your waste got to that site.
• If your waste is ever fly-tipped anyway, we’ll report the collector to the Environment Agency and the council, and cover any fine. Here’s how that works.

Birmingham City Council’s bulky waste service isn’t taking bookings: it was paused during the bin strike, and the council’s strike FAQ says it’s suspended until further notice. That was still the case when we checked on 9 October 2026.

Even when it runs, it’s sized for a few things, not a whole house. Each booking covers up to 10 items, with two bin bags counting as one, so the council’s own example of a house clearance is 20 bags of household waste. Electrical items go separately, sometimes on another day, and every booking is charged.

For what else the strike has paused, and where you can still take waste yourself, see our Birmingham bin strike guide.

Checked 9 October 2026. Sources are at the end of the page.

Doing it yourself means a lot of trips to the five recycling centres Veolia runs for the council. One booking is one visit, you can hold two at a time, and you must show that you live in Birmingham. Vans, and trailers over 6 by 4 feet, book through a separate van system. A hired van needs its hire papers, and rubble or soil is capped at eight 25kg bags a visit.

The centres take household waste only. Veolia’s examples of what they turn away include waste from a landlord, and from anyone clearing rubbish from a house that isn’t their own. So a house clearer can’t take your waste there: it has to go to a licensed site.

• Castle Bromwich, Tameside Drive, B35 7AG

  Open to cars without a booking for now. Veolia says it has the most free slots while Kings Norton is rebuilt.

• Kings Norton, Lifford Lane, B30 3JJ

  No vans or trailers until the rebuild is finished. Large appliances, books and fluorescent tubes aren’t taken meanwhile.

• Perry Barr, Holford Drive, B42 2TU

  Rebuilt, with its booking system open again.

• Sutton Coldfield, Norris Way, B75 7BB

• Tyseley, James Road, B11 2BA

  No height barrier: the only Birmingham site a van over 2.1 metres can use.

Checked 9 October 2026. Sources are at the end of the page.

Executors and landlords often clear a home they don’t live in, and that’s where the recycling centres’ rules bite. Birmingham City Council also reminds households that they have a legal duty to make sure anyone taking their waste is authorised by the Environment Agency, and that using someone who isn’t is a criminal offence.

When you post, choose “From a home, but I don’t live there”. The checks and the paperwork are the same as on every job. Our Zero Fly-Tip Promise is narrower: it covers household waste from your own home, as our Terms explain.

Checked 9 October 2026. Sources are at the end of the page.

1. Take photos of each room, and the loft, garage or shed if they’re part of it.
2. Say what’s staying, so nobody quotes for it.
3. Add access notes: stairs, parking, keys, anything that needs taking apart.
4. Collectors quote. Ask them questions by message on scrapmarket, then choose one and agree the day.
5. When it’s done, confirm the collection in your account. That’s when you’re charged, and your waste transfer note is issued.

Furniture, mattresses, carpets, clothes, kitchen and bathroom units, non-cooling appliances such as washing machines, small electricals and general household rubbish can all go.

We can’t take fridges or freezers, TVs or monitors, asbestos, gas bottles, paint, chemicals or clinical waste. Your council’s recycling centre takes most of these. When you buy a new appliance, the shop must take your old one of the same type back free of charge, or offer a free way to drop it off.

Furniture in good condition, books, clothes and kitchenware can often go to charity shops or local reuse schemes. Take out anything of value and any personal papers before collectors arrive: they quote to take waste away, not to value it.

If you’re clearing a home you don’t live in, as an executor or a landlord, the paperwork matters more. Every job gets a waste transfer note, kept in your account. Landlords, businesses and anyone clearing a home they don’t live in must keep it for two years.

The note shows who took the waste and where it went. If anything is ever questioned, that’s your evidence.

You’d need to make the checks on your own: look up their licence on the Environment Agency register (our free checker does it in seconds), note their van registration, ask where your waste is going, and keep a waste transfer note. Through scrapmarket, that’s all done for you.