Garage Clearance Cost in Leeds: 2026 Prices

By Sandeep KV, Founder of Kruze

A garage clearance in Leeds costs from £24.99 for a few boxes and bags, from £50 for a quarter van load (a half-full single garage), from £100 for a half load (a full single garage) and from £200 for a full van load (a packed double garage, or twenty years of accumulation). Those are Kruze prices and they include labour, disposal and a waste transfer note.

Three things push a garage clearance above those numbers. Weight, because rubble and paving slabs are priced per kilo rather than per cubic yard. Surcharge items, because fridges, mattresses and sofas each carry their own disposal cost. And hazardous items, because oil, paint, gas bottles, tyres and asbestos cannot legally travel in a normal mixed load at all.

That last one matters more in garages than anywhere else in the house. If your garage was built before 2000 and has a corrugated cement roof, there is a reasonable chance it contains asbestos. White asbestos was not banned in the UK until 24 November 1999, and asbestos cement roofing sheets were one of its most common uses. Read the asbestos section below before you touch it.

Why garages cost more than a spare room of the same size

A spare bedroom holds furniture and clothes. Light, bulky, easy to price by volume.

A garage holds the things you did not want in the house. Half tins of masonry paint from a decorating job in 2011. A jerrycan with something in it. Four tyres off a car you no longer own. Two car batteries. A strimmer with old fuel still in the tank. Then the actual junk on top, which is usually a fridge, a mattress, a broken exercise bike and roughly forty boxes.

So a garage is three jobs stacked in one space. General junk, priced by volume. Heavy waste, priced by weight. Hazardous waste, priced separately or refused outright. A good quote separates those three out. A quote that does not is a quote that will change on the day.

Garage clearance prices in Leeds

The minimum charge covers up to 40kg, which is roughly six to eight black bin bags. Every price above is the price you pay, the lifting, the disposal and your waste transfer note.

Individual items in the load are priced on their own because their disposal cost is their own:

Rubble, slabs and sand are priced by weight, not by space

This surprises people every single time, so here it is plainly. If your garage has half a tonne of broken paving down one wall, it takes up about the same floor space as a sofa and costs several times more to remove. Weight, not volume, because heavy waste is the one thing that fills a van’s legal payload long before it fills the van.

For scale, twenty paving slabs stacked against the wall run to several hundred kilos, and a builder’s bulk bag of sand or ballast is a heavy item in its own right. If you have either in the garage, say so when you book. It is the single most common reason a garage quote moves.

What we cannot legally take in a normal load

None of this is us being awkward. Hazardous waste sits under separate rules and needs separate paperwork and separate disposal routes. Hazardous waste travels under a consignment note that has to stay with the load until it reaches its final destination, which is a different document to the waste transfer note you get for an ordinary van load.

Asbestos. Covered in its own section below. The short version is do not move it, do not break it, and do not put it in a skip.

Liquid paint, thinners, solvents, oil, brake fluid, antifreeze. Chemicals cannot travel in a mixed load. Leeds household waste recycling centres do accept paint, engine oil, and household, DIY and garden chemicals from residents, with a limit of 5 litres per type at sites like Kirkstall. Lists and limits vary by site, so check leeds.gov.uk before you drive over. Fully hardened water-based paint is a different problem to a tin of liquid paint, and we cover that on our paint page.

Gas bottles and canisters. Patio gas, camping gas, old propane, CO2 cylinders, and the aerosols rolling around since 2009. A pressurised cylinder in a van that is being compacted is a genuinely bad afternoon. Leeds recycling centres will not take gas cylinders or fire extinguishers either, so the route is back to whoever supplied the bottle.

Tyres. Whole tyres were banned from landfill in 2003 and shredded tyres in 2006, so they are routed separately and charged separately by everyone, including us. Leeds recycling centres take up to four car or motorcycle tyres per visit.

Car batteries. Lead-acid batteries are hazardous. Garages and scrap metal dealers are the usual route, and Leeds recycling centres take household batteries.

Fuel in tanks. Drain the mower and the strimmer before we arrive.

Tell us about any of the above when you book and we will tell you whether it comes in the load, comes at a separate price, or needs to go somewhere else. What we will not do is turn up, quietly leave the awkward items behind, and still charge you for a full clearance.

Asbestos in garage roofs: the bit nobody mentions

Plenty of older UK garages, especially the prefabricated concrete sectional ones and lean-tos, were built with corrugated cement sheet roofing containing chrysotile asbestos. Asbestos cement roofing sheets were one of the material’s most common uses, and the ban came in two stages. Blue and brown asbestos, crocidolite and amosite, went in 1985. White asbestos, chrysotile, the type in cement sheeting, was not banned until the Asbestos (Prohibitions) (Amendment) Regulations 1999 came into force on 24 November 1999.

What it looks like: a grey, slightly fibrous corrugated sheet, often with a rough underside, weathered and sometimes mossy. It is not asbestos automatically and you cannot tell for certain by eye. That is exactly the point.

The risk is not the sheet sitting there. HSE’s position on asbestos materials is that where they are in good condition and not somewhere they are likely to be damaged, they should be left in place and monitored. The risk is you, with a lump hammer, on a Saturday, making dust. Breaking, drilling, cutting or dropping it releases fibres.

So, plainly:

• We do not carry asbestos in the van. It needs a separate disposal route and separate paperwork, so we act as the broker instead and arrange a specialist to take it away properly. You get the consignment note from them.
• Do not put it in a skip. It is on every skip firm’s prohibited list.
• Do not break it up to make it fit in your car.
• Leeds is stricter than most people expect. Household asbestos goes to Kirkstall waste transfer station and nowhere else, by appointment only through asbestos@leeds.gov.uk with at least 48 hours notice. Leeds residents only, no trade waste, everything double wrapped in strong polythene of at least 1000 gauge and taped, or it is refused. It is chargeable, from £72.31 for up to 200kg at the time of writing.
• For a whole roof, get a survey and use a specialist asbestos contractor. It costs money and it is the correct answer. Worth knowing: careful removal of asbestos cement sheeting is non-licensed work under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, so a contractor does not need an HSE asbestos licence to do it. That is not a reason to do it yourself. It is a reason to ask a contractor what training and controls they actually have.

We will happily clear everything inside the garage and leave the roof to the specialists. That is a normal, sensible split, and we do it regularly.

When you should not pay us at all

We tell you when the free route is better, even though it costs us the job.

The tip is free and you have a car. Leeds household waste recycling centres are free to residents for ordinary household waste. If your garage clearance is genuinely three boot loads of sorted stuff and you have a free Saturday morning, drive it over.

Two catches, and they both bite in garages. DIY waste is only free within limits: rubble, hardcore, soil, plasterboard, ceramics and tyres are capped at four visits per month per household, and each visit is either two 50 litre bags or one large item up to 2m by 0.75m. Beyond that you pay at Kirkstall or Seacroft. So the half tonne of broken slabs down the wall is not a free Saturday, it is eight months of trips.

The other catch is the vehicle. Cars, estates, 4x4s without pickups and people carriers get in freely. Short wheelbase vans under 3 tonnes, cars with trailers, campervans, and anything with business signwriting on it need a permit, applied for by post or email in advance, capped at 12 permits a year. Box vans, flatbeds, high roof vans and long wheelbase vans over 3 tonnes are refused outright. Check leeds.gov.uk before you borrow your mate’s van.

The council’s free bulky collection. Every Leeds household gets one free unwanted items collection per financial year, up to five items, with further collections at £30 each. Households on council tax support get up to four a year free. Fridges, mattresses, wardrobes, TVs and washing machines are all on the list. Building material and rubble, gas bottles, hazardous items and general household waste are not. If your garage problem is basically a fridge, a mattress and an old wardrobe, and you can get them to the kerb by 7am and wait for a slot, book that instead of calling us. It is free. We are not.

Tools and bikes have real value. Garages are full of good tools thrown away out of tiredness. A working mower, a decent drill, a rideable bike. Sell them, or give them to a charity or reuse scheme. Every item that leaves that way is volume off your quote.

Where we win is the rest. Mixed loads, heavy items, no vehicle, no time, a fridge and a mattress the council will not take together, rubble that needs weighing, and things you are not sure are legal to move. You point, we lift, and you get paperwork proving where it went.

Check the licence before anyone touches it

If a garage clearance ends with your waste in a layby off the A61, the council traces it back to the household it came from, not to the man who took it. Under the householder duty of care in section 34(2A) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Leeds City Council issues a £200 fixed penalty notice, and it lands on you even though you paid someone in good faith. Councils in England may set that penalty anywhere between £150 and £600, a ceiling raised from £400 on 31 July 2023, so the £600 you see quoted elsewhere is the national maximum rather than the Leeds rate.

Two minutes of protection. Search the Environment Agency’s public register of waste carriers on gov.uk. Kruze’s licence is CBDU597687. Then insist on a waste transfer note when the job is done, from us or anyone else. No licence and no paperwork means no deal, at any price.

More detail on what we clear is on our garage clearance page.

FAQs

How much does a garage clearance cost in Leeds?

From £24.99 for a few bags, from £50 for a quarter van load, from £100 for a half load which is roughly a full single garage, and from £200 for a full van load or packed double garage. Prices include all lifting, disposal and a waste transfer note.

Why is rubble in my garage charged separately?

Because heavy waste is priced by weight, not by the space it fills. Rubble, slabs, sand and ballast reach a van’s legal payload long before they fill it. Kruze charges rubble and hardcore from £45, then by weight, starting at £45 for 50kg and £68 for 100kg.

Can you take the asbestos roof off my garage?

No. We do not remove or carry asbestos. Our registration CBDU597687 covers carrier, broker and dealer, and on asbestos we act as the broker, arranging a licensed specialist who removes it, disposes of it and issues you the hazardous waste consignment note. Do not break it, drill it or skip it. We will clear everything inside the garage and leave the roof to that specialist, which is the normal and correct split.

Will you take paint tins, engine oil and gas bottles?

Not in a normal mixed load. Those are hazardous and need separate routes. Gas bottles usually go back to the supplier. Some Leeds tips accept household chemicals and oil from residents. Tell us what you have when you book and we will tell you exactly where each item needs to go.

Is it cheaper to hire a skip for a garage clearance?

Usually not. A skip means you do all the lifting, you may need a permit if there is no driveway, and mattresses, sofas, fridges and asbestos are banned from skips anyway. Those are exactly the things in most garages. A loaded man and van is normally faster and cheaper.

Can I just leave the old fridge for the council?

Yes, and if it is one of five items you can lift to the kerb and you can wait for a slot, use the free annual bulky collection instead of paying us. It is genuinely the better answer for a small, liftable, listed item. It does not cover loose bags, rubble or general garage junk.

Do I get proof my waste was disposed of properly?

Yes. Every Kruze job comes with a waste transfer note showing who took your waste and when. That document is what protects you under householder duty of care if the waste is ever traced. Check our licence CBDU597687 on the Environment Agency public register before you book.

Ready to get the garage back? Call or WhatsApp Kruze on 07436 120271, or email hello@kruze.co.uk, for a free quote across Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Harrogate and Barnsley.

See our full mattress disposal prices page for current prices and what we take.