What junk removal covers, and when a property manager needs it
Junk removal is the clearing of a property's contents, the separation of what may lawfully go to a landfill from what may not, and the haul of each stream to a facility that takes it. Timing is set by the notice the manager serves, not by the truck: nothing leaves a vacated unit until the claim-by date has run. What may never go in the load at all is fixed by CalRecycle's list of wastes banned from the trash, which covers paint, batteries, lamps, aerosols, tires and electronics.
A property manager needs it when a tenant is locked out under a writ and the unit is still full, when a unit is surrendered mid-lease and the notice of belief of abandonment has run, when bulky items and dumped loads build up at an HOA enclosure, when a retail tenant closes and leaves fixtures, stock and signage, when an office suite is handed back with desks, monitors and files in it, or when a warehouse lease ends with racking and pallets behind. Each of those is covered here, in any of the 32 cities served.
The work is carried out by a licensed and insured contractor assigned to the request. Every cleanout produces the same file: before and after photographs, a disposal or weight ticket from each facility used, the list of streams, and any tire manifest.
Junk removal sub-services available across the Central Valley
Why junk removal is needed in Central Valley buildings
A cleanout has a date, and the notice sets it. Civil Code section 1983 requires written notice to the former tenant describing the property and giving a claim-by date not less than 15 days after personal delivery or 18 days after mailing. The manager serves that notice and decides; the crew works to the date on it.
A sheriff lockout does not hand back an empty unit. Code of Civil Procedure section 715.010 requires the writ to state that property left behind, a mobilehome excepted, will be sold or disposed of unless the owner pays reasonable storage and takes possession within 15 days of the judgment creditor taking possession. Until then it is stored in a place of safekeeping.
Half a cleanout cannot legally travel in the same load. DTSC's universal waste rules cover batteries, electronic waste, cathode ray tubes and their glass, lamps, mercury wastes, non-empty aerosol cans and photovoltaic modules, and none of them may be discarded in household trash or disposed of in landfills. A video display larger than four inches diagonally is a covered electronic device.
Dumped material on a lot or at an enclosure is the owner's to clear. Penal Code section 374.3 reaches waste matter dumped on private property without the owner's consent, and counts each day it remains as a separate violation. HOA boards and managers clear it and keep the ticket that shows where it went, because the statute also reaches causing waste to be dumped.
A commercial suite is cleared under a different chapter from an apartment. Civil Code sections 1993 to 1993.09 govern property left in commercial real property, with the same 15 day and 18 day claim dates, and a threshold of two thousand five hundred dollars or one month's rent, whichever is greater. Self-storage units are excluded from that chapter altogether.
How junk removal is delivered
The request names the city, the property type, the access and an estimate of what is in the unit, and it is acknowledged with a reference number. A crew is assigned and the date is agreed with the manager before the truck travels.
The unit is walked before anything moves. Is it vacated, and has the claim-by date passed? Is any of it lost property, or records? Is it a mobilehome, where that chapter does not apply and the manager checks the correct procedure? The manager confirms in writing.
Sorting happens in the unit, not at the gate: general waste, scrap metal and appliances, mattresses, screens, lamps and batteries, paint and chemicals, tires, and anything the manager is holding.
Loads are covered or tarped before leaving. Vehicle Code section 23114 requires a vehicle to be loaded so nothing drops, leaks, blows or spills onto the highway.
The load goes to the landfill or transfer station that serves the city the property is in, in Stanislaus, San Joaquin or Merced County. The weight or disposal ticket from that gate goes into the file under the address it came from.
Appliances travel with a completed DTSC 1430 form to an appliance recycling site. Mattresses go to a mattress recycling site, screens, lamps and batteries to a universal waste site, tires to a tire facility.
The file closes with before and after photographs, a disposal or weight ticket from every gate used, the list of streams and where each went, and a manifest for any tires. It goes to the client area and can be forwarded to an owner or board unedited.
What you receive after every cleanout
The file exists so an owner, a board or a manager can see what left the property, when it left and which facility took each stream.
Junk removal by city
Each city page sets out the buildings junk removal is called to there, the disposal site the load goes to and the sub-services most requested. Modesto is the hub, and its page runs area by area.
Junk removal questions from Central Valley property owners
Civil Code section 1983 sets the date, not a rule of thumb. The written notice describes the property, says where it may be claimed and gives a claim-by date not less than 15 days after the notice is personally delivered, or not less than 18 days after it is deposited in the mail. Until that date passes the property stays on the premises or in a place of safekeeping.
After a writ of possession, Code of Civil Procedure section 1174 keeps the property in a place of safekeeping until it is released or disposed of under Civil Code section 1988. Where the landlord reasonably believes the total resale value of what was not released is under seven hundred dollars, section 1988 allows it to be kept or disposed of in any manner. Above that, it is sold at public sale.
The manager does. Where the Civil Code procedure applies, the owner or the manager serves the notice, sets the claim-by date and confirms in writing that the date has passed before a cleanout is booked. The crew works to that written instruction, holds back whatever is marked for claim and records what leaves.
Not into the landfill load. CalRecycle's banned list covers solvent-based, latex and oil-based paint, all batteries, fluorescent lamps and tubes, non-empty aerosol cans, solvents, pesticides, antifreeze, motor oil and tires. DTSC adds that it is illegal to put household hazardous waste in the trash, down the drain or out by abandonment, and that household hazardous waste does not include waste generated while running a business.
No, and both are usually needed on the same unit. A hoarding cleanout is this trade's side: the volume of belongings, the sorting of what is kept or noticed, and the haul. Sharps, human and animal waste, rodent droppings and soiled porous items are the sanitation side, and they are cleared first under hoarding cleanup.
Yes, as a separate stream. A refrigerator, freezer or air conditioner is a major appliance holding materials that must be removed before it is processed for scrap, so it travels to an appliance recycling site with a completed DTSC 1430 form rather than into the general load, and the form travels with the unit to the gate.
The statute is what it is, and it is stated here rather than advised on: causing waste matter to be dumped is covered by Penal Code section 374.3 alongside dumping it. That is the reason a cleanout produces a disposal or weight ticket from every gate the load passed through, with the date and the facility on it, rather than a single line saying the property was cleared.
Related services around a cleanout
Guides for managers
Service area from the Modesto base
Typical time from the Modesto base to a property in each city, by road, when a site visit is booked. Fog in December and January and harvest truck traffic on Highway 99 and Highway 132 can add 15 to 30 minutes.
Windows are planning figures from the fulfilling contractor's dispatch records and are confirmed with a time when the request is acknowledged. [CLIENT to confirm]
