The end-of-lease pile
Every flat share ends the same way. Leases run out, people go home for the summer or move on to new jobs, and the last week turns up a pile nobody planned for. Usually it's some mix of:
- mattresses you bought because the landlord's one was grim
- flat-pack bed frames, desks, bookcases and a wobbly chest of drawers
- kitchen stuff: pots, mismatched plates, a toaster, half a cupboard of food
- bikes, some working, some long past it
- clothes rails, lamps, a fan heater, a broken hoover and a few bags of rubbish
- the cardboard from everything anyone bought in the past year
None of it is worth much, most of it won't fit in the bins, and the landlord's check is on Friday. That's where we come in. We clear end-of-lease flats across Dublin and Leinster for students, young professionals and anyone else sharing, with one fixed price for the lot. Our main apartment clearance page covers flats of every kind; this one is about the end of a lease.
It isn't only students. Young professionals in house shares hit the same wall when a lease ends: one person is moving in with a partner, another is relocating for work, and the third is going travelling for a year. Nobody wants the shared sofa, and the double bed bought for the box room won't fit anywhere new. The process is the same whoever you are.
One price, split between flatmates
The simplest way to clear a shared flat is for one person to organise it and everyone to chip in.
- One person sends the photos. Every bedroom, the kitchen, the living room, the hall and any balcony or bike store, plus the floor and whether there's a lift.
- We send one fixed price. It covers everything in the photos and is agreed before anyone books.
- You split it however you like. Evenly, or by who's leaving the most behind. A payment app makes it painless.
- Everyone labels their stuff. Anything staying, or flying home with someone, goes in one room or gets a sticker.
- One person is there on the day, or leaves us a key.
If a flatmate has already gone home, get a message from them saying their things can go, so nobody comes back in September looking for a bike that's gone.
spotless.ieGive away what you can first
A clear-out is for what's left once the useful things have found a home. In the fortnight before you go:
- ask the incoming tenants whether they want the desk, the shelves or the microwave, and get the landlord's OK if it's staying in the flat
- post the decent things in your college, class or work group chats, where someone is always setting up a new place
- offer working bikes to friends staying on for the summer
- don't bother selling cheap flat-pack or used pillows; nobody collects them in the last week
Anything that hasn't gone by the day before goes with us. That way the clear-out is smaller, and so is the price.
Yours or the landlord's?
Before anything goes, check the inventory or the photos from when you moved in. In a furnished let, the beds, sofa, table and appliances usually belong to the landlord and stay. Clear the landlord's mattress by mistake and it could come out of the deposit, so mark anything that's staying.
The opposite catches people out too. A desk or an extra wardrobe you bought and left behind "for the next tenants" may count as rubbish to the landlord, and the cost of clearing it can be deducted from your deposit. Unless the landlord has said in writing that they want it, take it out with everything else.
Summer turnover: book early
The end of May, June and late August are when most leases near the colleges end, as the academic year finishes and new tenants are lined up for September. Around Rathmines and Ranelagh, Glasnevin and Drumcondra near DCU, Phibsborough near the TU Dublin campus at Grangegorman, the roads around UCD, and Maynooth in Kildare, half the street can be moving out in the same week.
If you know your end date, send photos a couple of weeks ahead and book the day. Leaving it to the last weekend of the lease is the surest way to end up paying the landlord to clear it for you instead.
Lease ending soon? One of you sends photos of every room and the move-out date. We'll reply with a fixed price for the whole flat, ready to split.
Getting the deposit back
The clear-out is step one. For the deposit check, work through this list once we've gone:
- Fridge and freezer empty, defrosted and wiped, with the door left ajar if it's being switched off
- Presses and drawers checked, including the awkward one above the cooker hood
- Under the beds and on top of the wardrobes, where old shoes and suitcases hide
- Bathroom cleared of toiletries, razors and the shower caddy
- Bike store, balcony and hall cleared of anything that's yours
- Walls free of sticky tack and hooks, removed carefully
- Photos of every room with the date, plus the meter readings
- Keys and fobs back with the landlord or agent
If the carpets need attention, we also do carpet cleaning, and our guide to end-of-tenancy carpet cleaning explains what landlords usually look for.
What happens to it all
As we load, everything is sorted. Decent desks, chairs, lamps and working bikes are set aside for reuse where possible. Metal bed frames, broken bikes, electricals and that mountain of cardboard go for recycling. Mattresses are handled separately, because they can't go in a household bin. Whatever's left goes to licensed facilities. Spotless is an authorised waste carrier (NWCPO-25-13287-01) and fully insured, so none of it ends up dumped in a lane with your old address on an envelope.
If it's only a couple of big pieces, furniture removal is priced for small loads, and for bags of rubbish rather than furniture, see junk removal. Moving out of a converted period house with steep stairs and a shared hall? Our page on flat clear-outs in Dublin covers that side of things.
