Deceased Estate Clean Up
Deceased Estate Clean Up in Adelaide
Clearing a parent’s or relative’s house is a job most people do once, with no preparation, usually while grieving and often to a deadline someone else set.
It takes longer than families expect. Not because of the volume – a three-bedroom house is a fairly ordinary amount of stuff – but because every third item requires a decision, and some of those decisions are hard.
What we do is straightforward: put a bin where you need it, for as long as you need it, and shift it when you’re ready. Longer hires, staged deliveries across several weekends, and no pressure to have it finished by Sunday.
Before anything goes in a bin
Three things worth sorting out first. They save real trouble later.
Confirm who has authority to clear the house
The executor named in the will, or the administrator if there's no will, is the person entitled to deal with the estate's property. If probate is still in progress, or if there are other beneficiaries, don't start disposing of contents on your own initiative - even with the best intentions, it can cause serious disputes and, occasionally, legal consequences. A quick call to the estate's solicitor before the bin arrives is worth it.
Photograph rooms before you start
It takes twenty minutes and it heads off almost every "what happened to Mum's..." conversation with a sibling six months later.
Search properly before you throw
Deceased estates routinely turn up things nobody expected, and they're often not where you'd look:
- Cash in books, envelopes, tins, freezers, pockets and under mattresses.
- Title deeds, share certificates, bonds, insurance policies, superannuation paperwork.
- Jewellery and coins in drawers, boxes and the backs of wardrobes.
- War medals and service records.
- Photographs - including in old albums and biscuit tins nobody opened.
Go through drawers, pockets and books rather than tipping them in. If there’s furniture that might have value – genuine antiques, particular mid-century pieces, older musical instruments – get someone to look at it before it goes in a bin rather than after.
Things that must not go in a bin
Some of these come up in estates far more often than people expect.
Firearms and ammunition
If you find a firearm, do not move it further than necessary, do not put it in a bin, and do not attempt to sell or give it away. South Australia has strict requirements for firearms in deceased estates - contact SA Police for instructions on surrender or transfer. This applies to old rifles in wardrobes and shotguns in sheds as much as to anything registered.
Medications
Return unused medicines to any pharmacy for safe disposal, free of charge. Don't bin them and don't flush them.
Sharps and home care equipment
If the person was receiving care at home, there may be sharps containers, syringes or clinical waste. These need a proper clinical stream, not a skip bin. Your pharmacy or council can direct you.
Confidential documents
Medical records, financial statements, tax files, Medicare and bank details. A bin on a footpath is not secure disposal. Use a shredding service, or shred them yourself.
Chemicals, paint, pool chemicals, gas bottles
Sheds and garages accumulate decades of these. Household hazardous waste drop-off, not the bin.
Asbestos
Common in Adelaide homes built before the late 1980s. If you're pulling up flooring or removing sheeting, stop and get it tested before you go further - see our renovation waste removal page.
Working through the house
There’s no correct method, but this order tends to work:
Shed and garage first
Highest volume, lowest emotional weight, and it gives you visible progress on day one.
Obvious rubbish next
Expired food, broken things, empty containers. Nothing here needs a decision.
Then room by room
finishing each before moving to the next. Half-cleared rooms are how a two-weekend job becomes a two-month job.
Set aside one room for undecided items
Not everything has to be resolved on the day you pick it up. This single habit does more than anything else to keep the job moving.
Papers and photographs last
They're slow, they're the hardest, and doing them early stalls everything.
If family are coming from interstate, use that visit for the decisions that need several people, and leave the volume work for whoever’s local.
What size bin, and for how long
A house that’s been lived in for decades usually needs 9m³ across the job, sometimes more with a full shed. A unit or a smaller home is often 4–6m³.
Sizing matters less here than timing. Options that suit estates better than a standard seven-day hire:
Two smaller bins
across two weekends rather than one large bin sitting half-full on a clock
Drop and return
a bin for one weekend, collected, another later
Tell us roughly when you’re able to work on it and we’ll fit the deliveries around that rather than the other way around.
When there is a deadline
Sometimes there isn’t the luxury of pace.
Aged care rooms
often have to be cleared within a short window after a resident dies - sometimes a week or less, because the room is needed. Small volume, hard date.
Rental properties
accrue rent until the lease ends and the keys are returned.
Settlement dates
on a sale require vacant possession by a fixed day.
If you’re working to one of these, say so at the first call. We’ll build the delivery and pickup around the date rather than the usual schedule, and tell you honestly if it’s tight.
Estate clearance when there's a lot to sort
Some estates need more than a bin. If the house holds genuine antiques, a collection, tools of trade, or forty years of accumulation that nobody has capacity to go through, it’s worth bringing in help:
Valuers and auction houses
for antiques, jewellery, collections and quality furniture
Estate clearance and clean-out services
who sort, remove and clean the property
Charities
for usable furniture and clothing - most will collect if it's in good condition
Professional organisers
who work alongside families on the sorting itself
Hoarded homes
Hoarding is a recognised mental health condition, not untidiness, and it changes how this job should be approached.
If the person has died
the practical job is a large-volume clean-out - often 20m³ or more across multiple bins, sometimes with pest, odour or biohazard issues that need a specialist cleaning service before general clearing can safely start. Ring us and describe the property honestly; we'd rather plan it properly than send one bin into a job that needs six.
If the person is still living
please be careful. Clearing a hoarded home without the person's genuine involvement and consent can cause serious distress, damage family relationships, and in most cases the hoard returns - often faster than before. It is not a job to surprise someone with on a Saturday morning.
Approaches that work better take longer: the person’s participation, decisions made at their pace, and usually support from a mental health professional experienced with hoarding disorder. Their GP is a reasonable starting point. Some Adelaide councils and community health services run programs specifically for this, and it’s worth asking.
We’ll supply bins for that work at whatever pace it happens, including staged deliveries over weeks or months. There’s no rush from our end.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can we keep the bin?
Standard is seven days.
Do we need a permit?
Not on the driveway or in the yard. On the road or footpath, the local council requires one – allow a few business days.
What does it cost?
Depends on size and contents. Full breakdown on our skip bin prices page.
What about the garden?
Keep it separate and it’s cheaper – see green waste skip bins.
Get in touch
Tell us the property, roughly what’s there, and whether you’re working to a date. We’ll sort the size and the timing around what you’re actually able to do.