Loft and attic clearance cost, what the council will do, and what to check before anyone goes up
A loft or attic clearance with Kruze costs from £24.99 for a few boxes, from £50 for a quarter van, from £100 for a half van and from £200 for a full van. The price covers two people going up, carrying everything down through the hatch, loading it and disposing of it, with a waste transfer note at the end. Most lofts in a Leeds terrace or semi come out as a quarter or a half van. A loft that has taken forty years of storage, or one being emptied ahead of a conversion, is more often a full van. Send photos taken through the hatch and you get a fixed price before anyone arrives.
That is the paid route. If you can get a handful of items down the ladder yourself, Leeds City Council may collect them for nothing, and we would rather you knew that first. The rest of this section sets out what a loft job costs by size, what the council will and will not do, and the three things worth checking in an older loft before anything is moved.
What a loft clearance costs by size
We price by the space the load takes in the van, not by the hour and not by the number of trips up the ladder. These are the same prices as every other Kruze clearance. The loft part, the carrying down, is included.
| What is up there | Typical load | Price |
|---|
| A few boxes, a suitcase or two, a bag of old decorations | Up to 40kg, about six to eight bin bags | From £24.99 |
| A lightly used loft: boxes, bags, a chair, some old toys | Quarter van, around 25 bin bags | From £50 |
| A well filled loft in a two or three bed house | Half van | From £100 |
| A packed loft, a full attic room, or a loft stripped back for a conversion | Full van, up to around 100 bin bags | From £200 |
A few items are priced on their own because they have their own disposal route. If one of these has ended up in the loft, it is added to the load price:
- Mattresses. £45 for a single, £60 for a double and £70 for a king.
- Televisions. £45 each, including the old heavy tube sets that lofts tend to collect.
- Fridges and freezers. From £60, because they have to be degassed.
- Heavy waste. Old slates, tiles, bricks or bags of plaster are priced by weight: £45 for 50kg, £68 for 100kg and £136 for 200kg.
What moves the price is volume and weight. A difficult hatch, a steep ladder or a third floor attic does not add a surcharge, but tell us about it so we send the right crew and kit. The one thing that does change the job is an unboarded loft, covered further down.
What Leeds City Council will and will not collect
The council's unwanted items collection is the cheapest way to get rid of a small number of large items, and for some lofts it is the right answer. It has firm limits though, and the biggest one for a loft is that the crew does not come inside.
| Rule | What Leeds City Council says |
|---|
| How many items | Up to 5 items per collection, and a maximum of 4 collections a year |
| Cost | One free collection per household each financial year, then £30 per collection |
| Who can use it | Private residents only. Landlords and businesses cannot |
| Where items must be | Left outdoors within your boundary before 7am. Nothing is collected from inside a property, including garages and outhouses |
| Dismantling | Furniture must be dismantled, and each part counts as one item. A bed is four items |
| Bags and boxes | General household waste that would normally go in your bin is not collected |
| Also refused | Mirrors, glass items, building material, boilers and radiators, and hazardous materials such as paint, chemicals and asbestos |
Source: Leeds City Council, book an unwanted items collection, checked on 5 October 2026. Our guide to the Leeds council bulky waste collection walks through the booking and the item rules in full.
So the council works when the loft holds a few solid items, you can get them down and outside yourself, and you can wait for a slot. It does not work for the usual loft, which is mostly boxes and bags of mixed household clutter, because that counts as general waste and stays where it is. Bagged clutter can go to a household waste recycling centre for free if you have a car and the time. A collection like ours makes sense when you cannot or should not be on the ladder, when there is more than a car load, when the property is a rental or a probate house, or when it has to be empty by a set date.
Three things to check in an older loft before anything is moved
1. Possible asbestos. Asbestos was not fully banned in Great Britain until 1999, and the Health and Safety Executive says only buildings constructed after 2000 are unlikely to contain it. In a loft, the usual suspects are an old cement water tank, cement flue pipes, and in a small number of homes a loose, fluffy grey or blue insulation between the joists. Left alone and undamaged, the risk is very low. The risk comes from breaking, drilling or sweeping it. If you think something in your loft could be asbestos, do not move it, and tell us before we quote. We do not remove asbestos ourselves. We clear around it, or we arrange for a licensed specialist to deal with it first. Leeds householders can also book wrapped asbestos into the council's Kirkstall site by appointment, which is explained in our Leeds asbestos disposal guide.
2. Bats. Lofts are a common roost. All bat species and their roosts are protected by law in England, and GOV.UK guidance from Natural England lists damaging a roost or disturbing bats in it as offences that can bring an unlimited fine and up to six months in prison. Carrying boxes out of a loft is not the same as reroofing it, but if you have seen bats or small dry droppings that crumble to dust, stop and ring the National Bat Helpline on 0345 1300 228 before the loft is cleared. The advice is free. If our crew finds signs of a roost on the day, we stop and tell you.
3. Whether the loft is boarded. In an unboarded loft you can only stand on the joists. The plasterboard between them is the ceiling of the room below and will not take a person or a heavy box. We can clear an unboarded loft by working from the joists, but it is slower and we need to know in advance. A photo through the hatch usually tells us all we need.
Old insulation and water tanks
Old mineral wool insulation is light but very bulky. It is bagged before it comes down so the fibres and dust do not travel through the house, and it is priced by van space like the rest of the load. A whole loft of insulation can fill a good part of a van on its own, so say if you want it out as well as the clutter. We do not fit new insulation.
A redundant cold water tank can come out as part of the clearance. Galvanised steel and plastic tanks are straightforward, and steel goes for metal recycling. Two conditions apply. The tank has to be drained and disconnected first, by you or your plumber, because we do not do plumbing work. And an old cement tank is treated as possible asbestos, as above, and stays put until a specialist has looked at it. Some large steel tanks were built into the loft before the hatch was finished and will only come out cut up, which we will tell you from the photo. Our boiler and water tank removal page covers cylinders, boilers and radiators.
How to get a fixed price in five minutes
Send these on WhatsApp to 07436 120271 and we can usually price the job without a visit:
- Two or three photos from the hatch, one in each direction, with a torch or the light on.
- Whether the loft is boarded, part boarded or bare joists.
- Whether there is a fitted loft ladder, and roughly how big the hatch is.
- Anything heavy or awkward: a tank, a chest of drawers, a mattress, a box of slates.
- Anything you want kept. We bring keepers down and set them aside in a room you choose.
The price we give is the price you pay, as long as the loft matches the photos. If there is a garage or a spare room to empty at the same visit, it all goes on one load and one price. See garage clearance and house clearance for how those are priced.
Loft clearance questions people ask us
How much does it cost to clear a loft in Leeds?
From £24.99 for a few boxes up to 40kg, from £50 for a quarter van, from £100 for a half van and from £200 for a full van. Carrying everything down from the loft, loading and disposal are included. Mattresses, televisions and fridges are priced per item on top.
Will the council clear my loft?
No. Leeds City Council collects up to five large items left outside your property and does not collect from inside, so the loft has to be emptied first. It also does not take boxes and bags of general household clutter on that service. For a few pieces of old furniture that you can carry down yourself, the council collection is cheaper than we are and the first one each year is free.
How long does a loft clearance take?
Most lofts are cleared in a single morning visit by two people. Unboarded lofts and lofts with old insulation to bag take longer, and we will say so when we quote.
Can you take old loft insulation away?
Yes, mineral wool and similar roll insulation is bagged in the loft and taken with the load, priced by van space. Loose fill insulation in an older house needs checking for asbestos before anyone disturbs it, and we do not remove asbestos.
Do I need to sort the loft before you come?
No. Leave it as it is. If there are things you want to keep, point them out or mark the boxes, and we bring those down and put them to one side. If you are not sure what is in a box, we can bring it down for you to look through before it goes on the van.
