Moving out of a rental in Los Angeles usually comes down to a hard date: the walk-through with your landlord. This page is a plan for getting the leftover furniture, boxes and odds and ends out before that day, using the free City options where they fit and paying for help only where they don't.
Why the last week gets crowded
A lot of people in the Valley rent, so a lot of people are doing this at once. In ZIP 91601 in North Hollywood, about 83% of occupied homes are renter-occupied,[1] and it's about 70% in Valley Village's 91607[2] and 73% in Van Nuys's 91405.[3] The end and start of the month is when donation trucks, moving companies and haulers all book up.
The fix is simple but easy to skip: decide what's staying behind before you pack, not after. Every item you won't take needs a destination and a date, and some of those destinations need a week or more of lead time.
First, find out who picks up your building's trash
Everything else depends on this.
- City of LA, 1 to 4 units. LA Sanitation (LASAN) picks up bulky items at the curb for free, with no set limit, for the homes it services. Its single-family pages cover buildings of 1 to 4 units that LASAN collects from.[4]
- Larger LA apartment buildings. Ask your manager who collects the building's trash and how bulky items get picked up there. Don't guess and don't leave things by the dumpsters hoping they'll go.
- Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Altadena. These run their own systems, with different notice periods. They're covered near the end of this page.
Most of the Valley is inside the City of LA. North Hollywood, Valley Village, Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Sun Valley, Encino, Tarzana, Reseda, Northridge and the West Valley communities are all on the County's list of communities within the City.[5]
Your week-by-week move-out plan
Count back from your inspection date, not your moving-truck date. You want the unit empty with a day to spare for cleaning.
Four weeks out
- Walk every room, closet, the patio and your parking space. Make a list of what isn't coming with you.
- Split that list into four groups: sell or give away, donate, City pickup, and hazardous or special items.
- Post the sell or give-away items now. Free listings move fast, but pickups get flaky near month's end.
- Find out who collects your building's trash (see above).
Three weeks out
- Book a donation pickup, or plan your drop-off runs, for furniture that's in good shape.
- Collect paint, cleaners, batteries and old electronics in one box for a weekend S.A.F.E. Center run.
- If your mattress is staying behind, decide now: retailer take-back with the new one, Bye Bye Mattress drop-off, City pickup, or a hauler.
Two weeks out
- Book your City bulky pickup for the trash day closest to your move, and name every item.
- If a fridge, washer or other metal appliance that you own is staying behind, add it to the booking.
- Start flattening boxes you've emptied and set up the move-in/move-out cardboard pickup for your last trash day.
Move-out week
- Put booked items out for your trash day, and nothing extra.
- Do the S.A.F.E. Center run on the weekend before you hand back the keys.
- Check the unit, patio, storage cage and parking space one last time for anything you missed.
- If there's still a pile the night before inspection, that's the moment to call a hauler, not to use the alley.
The City of LA's free options, and their catch
LA gives renters in LASAN-serviced homes more free options than most people use. Each has a timing rule, so none of them work as a last-minute plan.
| Option | What it takes | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Bulky item pickup | Furniture, mattresses and box springs, toilets and sinks, rolled and tied carpet, large wood pieces or doors, and TVs and computers[4] | Only on your regular trash day, booked at least one business day before[4] |
| Metal appliance pickup | Fridges, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers, AC units and water heaters[6] | Same one-day notice; fridge and freezer doors must come off[6] |
| Move-In/Move-Out extra pickup | Boxes and bags, and flattened, tied cardboard[7] | Call a business day ahead; each piece 30 lb or less and 2 by 3 feet or smaller[7] |
| Saturday drop-off events | Bulky items you bring yourself[4] | Once a month; the rest of 2026 is Oct 10, Nov 21 and Dec 12[4] |
To book, use the MyLA311 website or app, or call LASAN's Customer Care Center at 1-800-773-2489.[4] You can also dial 311 or (213) 473-3231; the call center takes calls weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.[8]
Be specific when you book. The crew can only take what's on that day's work order,[6] so "couch, two dining chairs, bookcase, box spring" works better than "furniture."
The two Valley drop-off yards for the Saturday events are East Valley at 11050 Pendelton St. in Sun Valley and West Valley at 8840 Vanalden Ave. in Northridge, open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on event days.[4]
What can't go in the bins or out on the curb
A move shakes loose everything from under the sink and the back of the closet. Most of it can't just go in the black bin.
- Paint, solvents, chemicals, auto fluids, medicines, needles and fluorescent tubes are all on LASAN's list of things it won't pick up at the curb.[4]
- Batteries of every kind, including e-bike and scooter packs, stay out of all household bins.[9] California bans all batteries from the trash, recycling and organics carts.[10]
- Dried-out paint still isn't trash in California. PaintCare sites take it.[11]
- TVs, monitors, laptops and phones are banned from the trash statewide.[10] In LA, a large TV can go out with bulky pickup, and e-waste is also taken at S.A.F.E. Centers.[9] Wipe your data first.
For the chemical box, the closest S.A.F.E. Centers are East Valley at 11025 Randall Street in Sun Valley[12] and North Valley at 10241 N. Balboa Boulevard in Northridge,[13] both open Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They're free for City and County residents.[12] Each trip is capped at 15 gallons or 125 pounds, and staff will ask where the waste came from.[9]
Don't leave it for the alley or the landlord
It's tempting, on the last night, to put the leftovers by the dumpster or in the alley and hope. That's illegal dumping. California law makes it unlawful to dump waste on public or private roads, public property, or someone's private property without their consent.[14] A first conviction carries a mandatory fine of $250 to $1,000, and each day the waste stays there is a separate violation.[14] Bye Bye Mattress points out that an old mattress left in an alley or park counts too.[15]
"Free" signs don't change this. A couch on the sidewalk with a note on it is still waste left on a public street if nobody takes it. Book it, donate it, or have it hauled.
Neighbors can and do report it. LA takes illegal dumping reports through MyLA311 or at 800-773-2489.[16]
Leaving things inside the unit isn't a clean way out either. Whatever you leave becomes something your landlord has to deal with, usually right around the time your deposit is being settled. Read your lease and your move-out instructions, and if something is unclear, ask the manager in writing before the walk-through.
Donate early, not on the last day
Donation is the best outcome for furniture in good shape, but it's also the slowest. Charities set their own rules and their own pickup calendars.
- Free pickup: The Salvation Army books pickups by ZIP code online or at 1-800-728-7825.[17] St. Vincent de Paul of Los Angeles also picks up for free (1-800-974-3571)[18], but items must be outside at street level and labeled, and crews don't come inside.[18] That matters if you're on the third floor.
- Minimums: Out of the Closet's free large-item pickup needs at least two large furniture pieces or ten large bags or boxes.[19]
- Small stuff only: Pickup Please collects for the Vietnam Veterans of America, but only items one person can easily carry,[20] so no couches, mattresses or big appliances.[20]
- Drop-off near North Hollywood: Goodwill at 5855 Lankershim Blvd.,[21] Out of the Closet at 6241 Laurel Canyon Blvd.,[22] and Hope the Mission at 10955 Magnolia Blvd.[23]
The mattress is the usual problem. Goodwill Southern California doesn't take mattresses or box springs,[24] and neither do Habitat LA ReStores.[25] In California, you can drop off a mattress or box spring at a participating Bye Bye Mattress site regardless of its condition.[26] If you're buying a new one for the new place, the retailer has to offer to take the old one back at no extra cost when it delivers.[15] Timing matters, though: that only helps if the old mattress is at the address where the new one lands.
Moving out of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena or Altadena
These are separate systems with longer or stricter notice rules.
| Where | How far ahead | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Burbank | Two business days online (photo required) or one business day by phone[27] | Mattresses and appliances carry a per-item fee of $12.14, and only the BWP account holder can book them[27] |
| Glendale | Three business days, for 1 to 4 unit homes[28] | Mattresses must be bagged or wrapped;[29] 5+ unit buildings book through their private hauler[30] |
| Pasadena | Two weeks before trash day[31] | Two free pickups a year for City customers;[31] apartment residents with a private hauler ask that hauler[32] |
| Altadena | 24 hours[33] | Bulky pickup at move-in or move-out is free[33] |
In Burbank, the fee point is easy to miss if you rent: the BWP account holder may be you, or it may be your landlord. Check before you book.
In Pasadena, overnight street parking is banned from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.[34]
When to call a hauler
The City options work best with time, a ground-floor unit and a short list. A paid hauler makes more sense when:
- your inspection is in a day or two and the next trash day is too late;
- you're upstairs with no elevator, or the pieces are too heavy to get to the curb yourself;
- the leftovers are a mix: furniture, boxes, a mattress, a broken bike and bags of clothes;
- your building's trash service doesn't include a bulky option that fits your timing;
- a donation pickup fell through at the last minute.
We're a family-run crew based on Victory Blvd in North Hollywood, which is close to most Valley move-outs. Same-day service most days when you reach us by early afternoon; next-morning slots are common. Send a few photos of what's left and we'll text you a price.
Legacy Junk Removal came the same day I called. I was moving out my house for the past week and had a bunch of junk furniture on the driveway just sitting there. 1-800-Junk would not send somebody to pick it up until next Friday. I called Legacy Junk Removal and they showed up within an hour and got the driveway looking pretty for the new owner. I will be using their services again in the future.