What tenants can and cannot legally leave
Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, you cannot charge tenants for "ordinary wear and tear", but you can recover the cost of removing items left behind from the deposit — provided the inventory and check-out report support it. Anything not listed on the inventory as belonging to the landlord, and not removed by the tenant, can be charged for at cost. Disposal receipts and waste transfer notes are the evidence the deposit scheme will want to see.
Deposit recovery: what evidence you need
Three things make a deposit recovery case for left-behind items: (1) a signed inventory at the start of the tenancy that does not list the items now present; (2) a check-out report dated within 14 days of tenancy end, with photos; (3) a clearance invoice from a licensed waste carrier showing the items removed and the disposal route. The Deposit Protection Service and other schemes expect all three. Skipping any one of them usually loses the dispute.
The clearance timeline that works
For a same-property turnaround (tenant out Monday, next tenant in Saturday), the realistic sequence is: keys back Monday morning, check-out report by Monday afternoon, clearance Tuesday, cleaning Wednesday and Thursday, snagging Friday, new tenant Saturday. Squeezing the clearance into a half-day on Friday is where these turnarounds usually break — book the clearance slot in advance, not on the day.
What gets reused vs disposed
A licensed clearance operator should default to reuse for items in usable condition — local charity partners, second-hand outlets, scrap metal for the rest. Reuse keeps your invoice smaller (less weight at the transfer station) and is increasingly something agents and tenants ask about. Anything genuinely past it goes to a registered transfer station with a waste transfer note in your inbox the same day.
Why landlords standardise on one clearance contact
Agents who run a portfolio of Bristol properties tend to settle on one or two regular clearance contacts and stop shopping around. The reason is invoicing speed and paperwork consistency — same-format invoices, same waste transfer notes, predictable arrival windows. The hourly saving on shopping around for the cheapest quote disappears the first time a clearance runs late on a Friday and a new tenant cannot get in on Saturday.
What to ask before you book
Five questions: are you a licensed upper-tier waste carrier (and what is the CBDU number); do you provide waste transfer notes by email same-day; can you do a fixed-price quote on a video walk-through or photos; what is your standard turnaround for a 2-bed flat; will you invoice the agent or the landlord direct, whichever I prefer. Any clearance operator that hesitates on these is not the right operator for a managed-portfolio relationship.