Landlord Turnover Cleanout in New York City

Price the vacancy, not just the cleanout

Work out what one day of that unit is worth and the whole calculation changes shape. Against a month's rent on a Brooklyn two-bedroom, the difference between a job booked the day the keys come back and one booked ten days later is usually larger than the removal itself.

So the order of operations for a landlord is the reverse of a tenant's. Book the slot first, against the date the lease ends, and adjust the scope afterwards. We price on what actually leaves, so an apartment that turns out cleaner than expected reprices down. An apartment you have not booked at all does not get cleared any faster because you were being careful.

What a turnover usually contains

Turnovers are remarkably consistent. What departing tenants leave behind is the furniture that was not worth moving and the contents of the closets.

Bagged material prices as a block: 10 bags of debris is $178, 15 is $264, 20 is $348 and 25 is $525. A small junk pile is $110, a medium is $174 and a large is $280.

Worked example: an abandoned studio

The tenant left the furniture and most of the closets. Nothing is salvageable.

The list totals $170 + $139 + $124 + $264 = $697. As a truck share the same load is roughly five-eighths, which is $690, so the job bills at $690. We calculate both and charge the lower one, without you having to ask.

For a one-bedroom left fully furnished, expect the three-quarter rate of $790 or a full truck at $985. For a two-bedroom, expect a full truck plus a second load.

Abandoned property: get the process right first

The awkward category is a tenant who has gone but left possessions that look like possessions rather than trash. There is a proper process for that in New York, it involves notice, and it is not something a hauler can or should advise on. Take it to your attorney or your managing agent and follow what they give you.

What you can do in the meantime is document. Photograph every room before anything is touched, with the date on the file, and keep the itemized removal receipt afterwards rather than a lump-sum one. A list of what left, at what price, on what date is the version of the record that stands up if a deposit deduction is later disputed.

Deposit deductions that survive a challenge

A deduction backed by an itemized invoice from a company with published prices is a materially stronger position than a deduction backed by a round number and an assertion. The tenant can look up the price of a queen mattress removal; if it says $139 and the published list says $139, there is not much argument to have.

Ask us for the itemized receipt at booking. It names each piece and its price, and it carries the date of collection. Pair it with before-and-after photographs of the same rooms from the same angles and the file is complete.

Small brownstones, walk-ups and the physical reality

A large share of New York's small-landlord housing is walk-up: three to six units over a brownstone or a tenement stair, garden apartments below street level, a cellar that has quietly accumulated three tenancies of abandoned mattresses.

None of that changes the price. There is no stair charge and no walk-up fee in our pricing, so a sofa is $170 out of a fourth-floor rear unit and $170 out of the parlor floor. Garden apartments are the reverse problem — everything comes up a short flight and out through a gate that was not designed for a sectional — and they price the same.

The cellar is worth addressing on its own rather than letting it grow. Two abandoned mattresses and a box spring is $139 + $139 + $124 = $402, while a cellar full of five tenancies' leavings is a truck-share job at $580 for a half or $790 for three-quarters.

Managed buildings: COIs and freight windows

If the unit is in a building with a managing agent, the crew needs a certificate of insurance naming the correct parties before it reaches the service entrance, and the freight elevator has to be reserved. Both are quick to arrange and both are slow to fix on the morning of.

Request the exact COI wording once and keep it on file — if you turn several units a year in the same building, it does not change. We issue certificates and can name more than one holder on a single one, which covers the common case where the building entity and the managing agent both have to appear.

Timing the day itself

On residential blocks, alternate-side rules determine when a truck can legally stand near your door, which is why turnover jobs are booked with an arrival window. If you are turning a unit in the last days of a month, book earlier than you think: end-of-month and the start of September are the two points in the New York calendar when every crew in the city is already committed.

Send photographs of each room from the doorway and we will quote both ways — item list and truck share — before anyone is dispatched. Disposal is inside the figure and nothing is added at the door.

Frequently asked questions