How to get rid of old furniture in Ho Chi Minh City: selling, giving away, junk removal and clearing a storeroom before you move

Work through the routes in this order: sell, give away, leave for the landlord where agreed, donate, discard. Selling and giving away depend on someone else coming to collect, so they need the longest lead time, and disposal comes last, once everything else has gone. In a furnished rental, check first that each piece is yours to dispose of.

Bed bugs usually come into homes with luggage and second-hand items, so run a torch along the seams, joints and buttons of any used mattress, sofa or bed frame before you pass it on or accept it.

Separate these from the moment sorting begins, and mention any of them when you ask for a quote. The items in the first four rows are kept apart, sealed and handed over as the waste collector instructs. The rest are outside UpClean's service and need an operator that specialises in them.

Usually the removal has to be registered with building management, go by the service lift and stay within set hours. Many buildings also want the lift padded and the corridors left clean, and many ask residents to register outside staff in advance. UpClean sends the name and photo of each Up specialist, as its identity-verified staff are called, before the visit so that you can register them, and brings materials to protect the lift and corridors.

In a townhouse or villa the route out matters: the specialist checks the passage to the door, the staircase and where a vehicle can stop in front of the house. Wardrobes and beds are dismantled where possible, so that they can be carried down safely. Rules differ between apartment buildings, so ask management:

• How is a removal registered, and how far ahead?
• Which hours and days are allowed for removals?
• Must the service lift be booked, and does it need padding?
• Where is the collection point, and can a vehicle wait there?

Clear first, pack second. Each item that leaves early is one fewer to box and transport, and the next home starts tidier. A workable sequence:

• Go through every room, the storeroom, the balcony and any mezzanine, and mark each item: keep, sell, give away, donate or discard.
• Offer the sale and giveaway items first, with a collection deadline before clear-out day.
• Agree a date with building management within its permitted hours.
• Send photos or a short video of what has to go, or arrange the free survey for a larger volume, and receive a fixed quote in writing.
• Have the storeroom and the unwanted furniture cleared a few days before the move.
• Move what you are keeping, then book the move-out clean for the empty home before you meet the landlord; the move-out cleaning guide has the checklist and prices.

It can, if the decisions are made before you fly. Sorting is the one stage that needs you, because each group of items waits on your yes or no. Once the scope is agreed and every item is marked, packing, carrying out and cleaning can go ahead without you.

Leave the key with family, reception or building management. The assigned specialist alone holds it, with collection and return times logged, and no copy is ever made; for a smart lock, issue a temporary code. The walk-through, the final check of the work with the specialist, can be done by video call. Before you leave:

• Take with you, or lock away, passports, important documents, jewellery, cash and valuables.
• Label what stays and what goes in each room, and photograph the labels for the specialist.
• Settle in writing which pieces the landlord is keeping, and tell everyone in the household what is going.

It deals with spaces that routine cleaning has stopped coping with: a storeroom or mezzanine packed over the years, a spare room, a balcony or roof terrace, a townhouse basement, or a flat about to go back to its owner. With UpClean the job runs from survey and fixed quote, through registration with the building, sorting and packing, to carrying out, hand-over to a permitted waste collector and cleaning of the cleared space. Before work starts you agree how each group of items is to be treated, and anything doubtful is put aside for your decision.

For a landlord taking a home back, the specialist photographs what the tenant left as found, removes only the items you confirm by message, and cleans so the home is ready to let again.

Besides the specialist waste listed above, the service does not:

• Buy second-hand furniture or anything else you are getting rid of.
• Treat, recycle or destroy waste. UpClean's part ends at the hand-over to a permitted collection and transport operator.
• Take apart fixtures built into the house, such as fitted wardrobes, a kitchen or sanitary ware. That is work for a building contractor.
• Remove belongings caught up in a property dispute before all the parties involved have agreed.

Years of storage tend to leave dust, cobwebs, rodent droppings, or traces of cockroaches and termites. Where mould or rodent traces are present, the work is better left to people with protective equipment. If you find droppings, do not sweep or vacuum them dry: the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises soaking them with disinfectant first and wiping them up with disposable cloths.

When UpClean finds signs of insects or rodents during a clear-out, the specialist photographs them and advises on treatment, which UpClean's own pest-control technicians carry out. A damp or mouldy smell can be treated with odour removal in the same visit. To keep the space in order afterwards:

• Use lidded plastic boxes rather than cardboard wherever the room is damp.
• Stand stored items clear of the floor and the walls, so that fresh traces show.
• Get rid of old cartons and spare blankets and pillows, which rodents use as nesting material.
• Label every box on the outside, and go through old belongings once a year.

UpClean does not apply a single standard rate, because no two storerooms are alike in volume or difficulty. For a small job, such as one balcony or a corner of a storeroom, photos or a short video are enough for a quote; for anything larger, the survey at your home is free. The quote is all-inclusive and in writing. It states the scope, how many people will come, the vehicle and the time needed, and changes only if you agree in writing. The deep clean of an empty home after a move is a separate service with a published price per square metre.

Every Up specialist has had their identity verified and is trained to the Up Standard, and you receive each one's name and photo before the visit, ready for building registration. Quotes, confirmations and the Up Report, the record of before-and-after photos, checklist and times sent by WhatsApp or Zalo after every visit, can all be in English. Should you want a specialist who speaks English in the home, mention it when booking; if that cannot be arranged, UpClean tells you beforehand and supports you by phone or message.

To book, send photos or a short video of the space on WhatsApp or Zalo to 0968 726 135, or call the same number between 7:00 AM and 8:00 PM, any day of the week. The booking is confirmed in writing. You pay after the walk-through, by bank transfer or in cash; if a larger job needs a deposit, the quote states it.