Office Clearance: What You Need to Know

Whether you're vacating a lease, downsizing, or just clearing out years of accumulated furniture and equipment — office clearance is a task most businesses face at some point. This guide covers what's involved, what it typically costs, and how to make sure it's done properly.

What Is Office Clearance?

Office clearance is the professional removal of furniture, equipment, files and general waste from a commercial premises. Unlike a skip hire, a proper clearance service will:

• Sort items for reuse, recycling and responsible disposal
• Provide Duty of Care waste transfer notes (legally required in the UK)
• Handle confidential waste (paper shredding, hard drive destruction)
• Remove everything — down to the fixtures if needed
• Leave the premises broom-clean or ready for the next tenant

In our experience, most office clearances involve a mix of items: some worth selling or donating, some recyclable, and some that genuinely needs to go to waste. A good clearance company will maximise diversion from landfill and give you a full report of where everything ended up. See how our office clearance service works, or explore furniture removal if you just need the furniture handled.

What Happens to the Items?

The typical breakdown for a UK office clearance looks something like this:

• Reuse / resale (30–50%) — quality desks, chairs and storage units that still have years of life. These get resold through trade channels or donated to charities
• Recycling (30–40%) — metals, plastics, wood, cardboard. Broken or low-value items that can be processed
• Responsible disposal (10–20%) — items that can't be reused or recycled go to licensed waste facilities
• Confidential destruction — paper is cross-cut shredded, hard drives are physically destroyed, with certificates of destruction

If you care about your environmental impact (and increasingly, clients expect you to), ask for an ESG impact report showing exactly what was diverted from landfill and the associated carbon savings.

How Much Does It Cost?

Office clearance costs vary widely depending on volume, access, and location. As a rough guide for UK clearances:

Factors that push costs up: multiple floors with no lift, restricted access hours, hazardous waste (e.g. fluorescent tubes, batteries), tight deadlines, and London/SE England pricing.

Factors that bring costs down: quality furniture the clearance company can resell (some will offset this against your bill), good access, flexible timing, and items already sorted and labelled.

Choosing a Clearance Company

Not all clearance companies are created equal. Here's what to look for:

• Waste carrier licence — legally required. Check on the Environment Agency's public register
• Insurance — public liability (minimum £5m) and goods in transit
• Waste transfer notes — they should provide these automatically, not just when asked
• Clear pricing — a site visit and written quote, not a phone estimate. Avoid "from" pricing
• Diversion reporting — what percentage goes to landfill? A good company will tell you upfront
• References — ask for recent case studies or client references
• Data destruction — if you have IT equipment, ask about their process and certifications

Red flags: verbal-only quotes, no waste carrier licence number on their paperwork, no mention of recycling or diversion rates, and any company that seems unable to explain where your waste actually goes.

Legal Requirements

In England and Wales, businesses have a Duty of Care for their commercial waste under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This means:

• You must use a licensed waste carrier (Environment Agency registered)
• You must have a waste transfer note for every load removed
• Notes must be kept for at least 2 years (we recommend 6)
• Hazardous waste has additional requirements (consignment notes, separate handling)

The penalties for non-compliance are serious — unlimited fines and potential imprisonment for directors. It's not something to cut corners on.

Coming in 2026: The UK's new Digital Waste Tracking (DWT) system will require electronic tracking of all commercial waste from point of origin to final destination. This will make it even more important to work with companies that have proper systems in place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I sell my office furniture instead of clearing it?

Yes — quality furniture (Herman Miller, Steelcase, Knoll, etc.) holds good resale value. Many clearance companies will buy furniture from you, or offset the resale value against your clearance bill. We do both — get a furniture valuation.

What about donating to charity?

Donating usable furniture is excellent for your ESG credentials and often tax-efficient. We partner with UK charities and social enterprises to rehome furniture that still has life in it. Items in good condition that aren't suitable for resale are ideal candidates.

Do I need to sort everything before the clearance team arrives?

It helps, but it's not essential. A professional clearance team will sort items on-site. However, if you can label items as "keep", "sell", "donate" or "clear" in advance, it speeds up the process and can reduce costs.

What about IT equipment?

IT equipment (computers, servers, phones) needs careful handling for data security. Ask your clearance company about their data destruction process. You should receive certificates of destruction for any storage media. Some items (batteries, screens, toner cartridges) are classified as WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and must be disposed of through approved channels.