Guide
Clearing a rental between tenants in Bryan–College Station
A turnover sequence for landlords and property managers, built around what the cities will and won't pick up.
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Why turnovers stack up here
Bryan–College Station is a renters' market. About 64.6% of occupied homes in College Station are rented, and about 49.1% in Bryan, according to the Census Bureau. Add a university calendar, and a lot of leases end in the same few weeks.
That means the same units turn over every year, often on tight windows. A clear routine for what happens between move-out and move-in keeps the schedule from slipping.
A turnover sequence that holds the schedule
Here's the order most well-run turnovers follow.
- Move-out inspection with photos of every room, the moment you have the keys back.
- Document anything the tenant left behind (see the next section) before it's touched.
- Clear the unit: furniture, trash, appliances that aren't yours, and anything in the garage, patio or storage closet.
- Repairs and paint once the rooms are empty.
- Cleaning last, so dust from the work doesn't need a second pass.
- Final walk with photos, then hand off to leasing.
When a tenant leaves things behind
Before you throw anything away, take photos. Shoot every room, every closet, and anything left in the yard or garage. Date them and keep them with the lease file. If there's ever a question about what was left and what happened to it, those photos are your record.
Texas law doesn't treat every case the same. The Texas State Law Library notes that the law doesn't say how a landlord should handle property after a tenant moves out voluntarily, and that the lease may cover it. After an eviction, there's a court process, and a law officer removes the tenant's things under a writ of possession. Separately, the Property Code limits when a landlord can sell or dispose of property seized for unpaid rent unless the written lease allows it.
We're haulers, not lawyers. Check the lease and Texas law, or ask your attorney, before disposing of a tenant's belongings. Once you're clear to proceed, we'll take it from there.
Why the curb rarely works for a turnover
City bulk pickup is built for homeowners clearing a few things, not for emptying a unit on a deadline.
In Bryan, brush and bulky pickup is weekly, items can't go out more than 48 hours early, and piles must sit five feet from fences, cars and meters. There's a cap of 22 cubic yards per residence per week. A full unit can blow past that, and a pile that sits for days on a rental's curb doesn't help the next showing.
In College Station, items need to be at the curb by 8 a.m., and apartments aren't on the city route at all. The city sends apartments and businesses to private haulers. For an apartment turnover, someone has to haul it either way. More local detail is on our College Station and Bryan pages.
Appliances and the refrigerant question
A dead fridge or window unit is common in a turnover, and it's the item most likely to get left at the curb. College Station won't take a freon appliance unless a certified tech has removed the refrigerant and tagged it. Bryan charges to pick one up so the city can remove and certify the refrigerant. Under EPA rules, the last stop in the disposal chain has to make sure the refrigerant was recovered.
If it's a landlord-owned appliance being replaced, plan its removal with the swap. Our appliance removal page explains how we handle it; disposal requirements may add cost, and you'll know before we load.
Scheduling around move-in dates
The clear-out sets the pace for everything after it. Paint and flooring can't start until the rooms are empty, and cleaning can't finish until the work is done. Book the haul-off as soon as you know the move-out date, then build the rest of the calendar from there.
If your maintenance tech is already walking the unit, have them stage what's going in the garage or by the door. That's ME3 Express: you stage it, we haul it. If the unit is full and nobody has time to move anything, ME3 Full Service or White Glove covers the lifting from inside, stairs included.
For a portfolio, it helps to group units that turn over in the same week. One trip that clears three units is easier on everyone than three separate visits.
What usually gets left behind
Every turnover is different, but the same things show up again and again.
- Couches, mattresses and bed frames that were too hard to move.
- Dead appliances, mini fridges and window units.
- Grills, patio furniture, kids' toys and bikes in the yard or garage.
- Boxes in the storage closet or attic that the tenant forgot.
- Partly used paint, cleaners and pool chemicals, which belong at BVSWMA's household hazardous waste collection rather than in the haul-off. Our Brazos Valley disposal guide covers where those go.
Getting a hauler set up as a vendor
If you manage more than a couple of doors, get your hauler onboarded before the busy season, not during it. ME3 Junk Solutions is fully insured, and a W-9 and Certificate of Insurance are available for vendor onboarding.
Send the unit address, gate or lockbox details, and photos of what's there. Small jobs can usually be priced from photos. Large or heavy ones get a walkthrough. Either way you get one firm price before anything is loaded, and the same scope keeps the same price.
Documented completion
When the unit is clear, you need to know it's clear without driving over. Ask for before-and-after photos, and we'll send them. That gives you a record for the owner and a clean start for the make-ready crew.
For ongoing turnover work, see turnover support for property managers, or move-out cleanouts for a single unit.
Want it handled instead?
ME3 Junk Solutions does the lifting, loading and hauling, with one firm price before anything is loaded.