How to choose a trauma or hoarding cleaning firm

Most of these checks are about being able to show what you agreed and where the waste went. We found no published figures on how often these jobs go wrong, so the checklist is not a way of assuming the worst of any firm. It is a record you can keep.

Your duty of care for waste (England and Wales)

Whoever occupies a home must take all reasonable measures to make sure household waste from it goes only to an authorised person, such as a registered waste carrier (Environmental Protection Act 1990, section 34(2A)). Checking the carrier’s registration is one of those measures.

In England, a council can give a fixed penalty of up to £600 for breaking this duty, as an alternative to prosecution, and fines in court are not capped at that amount. This is not an automatic fine whenever waste turns up fly-tipped: the question is whether reasonable measures were taken.

Firms have wider duties of their own as waste holders, including describing the waste properly and passing it only to people authorised to take it.

Hazardous waste

Infectious waste, sharps, and waste contaminated with chemicals or medicines are classified separately from ordinary household waste, by what they are and where they came from. Hazardous waste generally needs a consignment note before it is moved. There is an exception for household hazardous waste (other than asbestos) taken from an occupied home to a first collection point. The Environment Agency’s guidance describes occupied homes, so do not assume the exception covers the home of someone who has died (England).

Scotland and Northern Ireland

SEPA in Scotland and NIEA in Northern Ireland keep their own registers, linked in the checklist above. We have not summarised their duty-of-care rules here, so check with the regulator if the home is there.

We found no compulsory UK licence for trauma, biohazard or hoarding cleaning, and no legally required qualification. What does exist is a set of separate things: waste carrier registration, health and safety duties on employers, training schemes and voluntary memberships. When a firm says it is licensed or accredited, ask which of these it means.

A waste carrier registration is not a training record. It shows the firm is registered to carry waste. It says nothing about whether its staff are trained to clean blood, body fluids or a hoarded home.

These are training bodies and credentials that firms name, and what we could verify about each:

These are the nine checks from the checklist, plus three practical questions. A firm that answers clearly in writing is easier to hold to what it said.

1. What is the company's full legal name and address? If it is a limited company, what is its company number?
2. What is your waste carrier registration number, which nation's register is it on, and what type of registration is it?
3. Can you send me your public liability insurance certificate?
4. Will you put in writing what is included and what is not: sorting, waste removal, cleaning, odour treatment, pest treatment, taking up carpets or flooring, and any repairs?
5. What record will you give me of the waste you take away, and where it goes?
6. How do you handle belongings? What will you set aside, and will anything be thrown away without my agreement?
7. Will your own staff do the work, or will you pass the job to another firm? If so, which one?
8. What training do the people doing the work have, from which organisation, and can I see the certificates?
9. Can you give me the total price in writing, say whether VAT is included, and list anything charged on top (disposal, materials, extra visits)?
10. Can you come and assess the home before giving a price, and is the assessment visit free?
11. If I am claiming on insurance, will you wait until the insurer agrees, and take photographs before anything is removed?
12. When could you start, and how many days will it take?

If you are claiming on home insurance, speak to the insurer before any work starts. The Association of British Insurers advises contacting the insurer promptly and taking photographs before anything is thrown away. Ask the insurer what it needs, rather than going into a contaminated room to take photographs yourself.

Each of these makes a firm hard to check or hard to hold to what it agreed. None of them proves a firm is dishonest, but each is worth a direct question, and a clear answer in writing.

• No waste carrier registration number, or a number that is not on any of the four UK registers under the firm’s name. You then cannot show that the waste went to an authorised person.
• A claim to hold a government trauma or hoarding cleaning licence. We found no such licence. Ask which document the firm means.
• No written quote, or a quote with nothing listed as excluded. You have nothing to compare and no record of the agreement.
• Cash only, with no invoice. You would have no record of which firm did the work or what you paid for.
• No clear answer about who does the work, when the job may be passed to another firm.
• No agreement about belongings before the work starts, or a firm that says everything must go.
• A training body you cannot find, or one given only as initials, with no full name.

Firms’ published prices for similar jobs vary widely, partly because they include different things. Before comparing totals, check what each quote covers:

• VAT. Some firms publish prices without VAT, some with it, and many do not say.
• Disposal and materials. Some prices add these on top. Sheffield City Council’s rate for clearing and disinfecting a filthy or verminous home, for example, is £94 an hour plus materials, tipping (disposal) charges and VAT.
• Removal and replacement. Taking out a contaminated carpet, floor or plaster is a different job from replacing it. An assessment of what needs restoring does not price the repairs.
• Odour treatment. Some packages include it; some firms price fogging or ozone treatment separately (one firm in the North East lists £150 to £300 for one room, without saying whether VAT is included). Check you are not paying for it twice.
• Sorting. Help sorting belongings may be an extra. One firm’s published hoarding guide lists sorting at £450 to £1,800, without saying whether VAT is included.
• Access. The same guide adds 10 to 15% for stairs and 15 to 25% for narrow access. These are that firm’s figures, not a standard.
• Waste volume. Firms count waste in van loads or skips, and often do not say what size. Ask how many loads the price assumes, and the cost of each extra one.
• Pests. Treatment for rats, mice, fleas or other pests may be a separate job, by the firm or by the council.
• The assessment. Firms that publish prices say the final price depends on an assessment and the scope of the job. After a death, contamination can spread under floors and into gaps, so a price given before anyone has looked may change.

Compare like with like: ask the cheaper firm whether it includes what the dearer one does. A higher price is not proof of better work, and a lower price is not proof of worse. Our hoarder cleaning cost and trauma cleaning cost pages show what UK firms publish, with each source.