Garage clearance in Hammersmith & Fulham.

Garages are rare here, so get yours back.

Few homes in W6, W12 and W14 came with a garage. The terraces around Brackenbury and Wendell Park were built without them, and a mansion block might have a row of lock-ups round the back if it has anything at all. On streets where a resident’s permit doesn’t promise you a space, a garage full of boxes is a lot of value sitting behind a door that won’t shut.

If you rent a lock-up from a block, a housing association or the council and you’re handing it back, the date is what matters. Tell us when the keys are due and we’ll book around it. Rental garages tend to have a shared lane in front of them, so we’ll ask if the van can stand there while we load, or whether a neighbour needs to get past.

More people here have a shed than a garage. Gardens near Ravenscourt Park and off Askew Road are small and mostly reached through the house, which means the broken mower, the bikes and the paint tins all come back along your hall. We put sheets down and carry it through. Tell us about pale carpet or a tight turn at the bottom of the stairs.

Old tools, bike frames and steel shelving go for metal recycling. Timber and cardboard get pulled out as we load. Paint, oil and solvents are another matter: they count as hazardous, so show us what you’ve got first and we’ll tell you what we can agree to take.

If the contents aren’t yours, say so. A landlord left with a past tenant’s boxes, or a family sorting a parent’s lock-up, should look through it once before the van comes, because nothing comes back once it’s gone.