Downsizing Your Home Checklist: Sorting, Council Clean Ups and the Settlement Paperwork

The short answer: start the sort a month out, and know the clocks the sale starts

Measure the new place. Sort the old one room by room. Then clear it, and in Hunters Hill that last step has a firm limit. Every household is entitled to four Clean Up collections per calendar year, each limited to 3 cubic metres, and only one collection can be booked per week.

Our working on that rule:

• Four collections at 3 m³ each comes to 12 m³ in a calendar year at most.
• Because only one can be booked a week, using all four takes at least four separate weeks.
• That is our estimate of the ceiling, not a council figure.

So the sorting starts a month or more before the truck, not the weekend before. The allowance is counted per calendar year, so on our reading a sort that runs across New Year can draw on two years' collections.

The sale starts its own clocks:

• Downsizer contribution. If you're eligible for a downsizer contribution to super, it must be made within 90 days of receiving the sale proceeds (usually at settlement), unless the ATO grants an extension.
• Age Pension reporting. If you're on the Age Pension, changes to real estate assets must be reported within 14 days.
• Assets-test exemption. Money set aside for the next home may be exempt for up to 24 months, with up to 12 more possible.

Our view at Hunters Hill Removals is that the sorting and the paperwork run side by side. Put both on one calendar, starting now.

Measure the new home before you sort the old one

A downsize goes wrong when the keep pile is decided in the old house. Take a tape measure to the new one first:

• every room
• the wall lengths where a sofa or sideboard has to fit
• the doorways
• the built-in storage

Draw a rough floor plan and keep it on the fridge.

Then go room by room, with three piles:

• Keep. It fits a measured wall and you use it.
• Sell or give. Duplicates, spare-room furniture, good clothing, the second dinner set.
• Bin. Broken, stained or past repair.

Start with the rooms you use least: the garage, the spare room, the linen press. They hold the most and ask the fewest hard questions, which builds momentum before the kitchen and the study.

Work backwards from the move date:

1. First: measure, sketch the plan, and book your first Clean Up.
2. Next: the heavy sorting rooms, with sale and donation items moving out as you go.
3. Then: a Clean Up each week for what's left in the bin pile.
4. Last: pack the keep pile and confirm the removalist.

If you'd rather not pack the keep pile yourself, see our packing and house protection page. The keep pile matters for another reason too: it becomes the inventory your removalist quotes from.

Decide who gets the heirlooms before moving day

Sentimental pieces are the slowest part of any sort. Moving day is the worst possible time to decide them. Settle the hard choices weeks earlier:

1. Ask family what they'd like, early and in writing.
2. Photograph anything nobody claims but you can't yet part with, and decide on it last.
3. A coloured sticker per person on each claimed item saves a lot of talking on the day.
4. Let family collect their pieces before the move. That way the truck carries only what's going to the new home.

A piano, a grandfather clock or a fragile antique staying in the family may need more care to move. Our piano, antique and art page and the piano out of a period hallway guide cover that ground. For the slower, emotional side of leaving a long-held home, see Downsizing from a Long-Held Home: The Calm Plan.

Where the discards go in Hunters Hill

Before anything goes to the kerb, note one thing the council says: most Clean Up items go to landfill. It suggests checking more sustainable options for e-waste, bikes and clothing first. So sell and give before you bin.

What a Clean Up takes. The council collects furniture, soft furnishings, mattresses, small appliances and whitegoods. It also takes carpet bundled in rolls under 1.2 m. Bagged items must be under 10 kg per bag.

What it doesn't take. The council won't collect building waste, treated timber and pallets, hazardous waste, TVs and computers, vehicle parts and tyres, or oversized items such as clotheslines and gym equipment.

Where those go instead.

• TVs and computers go to the Northern Sydney CRC at Artarmon.
• Gas cylinders, batteries, chemicals, paints and oils need a separate trip of their own, so set them aside early.

The timing rules.

• Whitegoods and metals must be declared when booking, or they won't be collected.
• Items go out on the kerb the night before the collection date, not earlier.
• General items are collected Monday or Tuesday, and whitegoods on Wednesday.

The money and paperwork around a downsize

This is the part to take to a licensed financial adviser, the ATO or Services Australia. Eligibility is individual. What follows are the rules as each authority states them, not advice.

The downsizer contribution to super.

• If you're aged 55 or older, you may be able to put part of your home sale proceeds into super, up to a cap the ATO sets.
• The home must have been owned by you and/or your spouse for 10 or more years.
• The sale must qualify, fully or partly, for the main residence CGT exemption.
• For couples, each eligible spouse can contribute up to the cap, but the total can't exceed the sale proceeds.
• The Downsizer contribution into super form (NAT 75073) must reach the fund before or at the time of the contribution.

The sale doesn't have to be a full one: the ATO says a part sale also counts, but it uses up your only downsizer contribution.

The ATO also notes that selling and contributing may affect income support payments such as the age pension. It recommends considering independent financial advice.

The Age Pension assets test.

• The principal home is not counted in the assets test.
• Once it's sold, only the part of the proceeds you plan to use for a new home may be exempt.
• For sales from 1 January 2023, that exemption runs up to 24 months, with a further 12 months possible, so 36 months at most.

On the sale itself. Australian residents for tax purposes selling Australian property need a clearance certificate to avoid 15% being withheld from the sale.

Booking the removalist for a smaller move

A smaller home usually means a smaller load. That makes your keep list worth more than ever.

NSW Fair Trading says to get a written, itemised quote. It says the contract should include:

• a household inventory
• the pick-up and delivery addresses
• dates and times
• how payment is made
• any extra costs for storage in the event of delays

That storage line matters in a downsize, where the old home's settlement and the new home's keys don't always line up.

Don't assume the removalist's insurance covers your goods: removalists aren't legally required to insure your property during a move, and most only insure their vehicle. AFRA-accredited removalists carry public liability insurance and can provide transit insurance, and Fair Trading recommends you get your own insurance for the move, so sort cover for valuables and heirlooms before the day. Whatever you book, services must be provided with due care or skill.

For the full side-by-side on accreditation and quotes, see our earlier guide, Comparing Removalists: Accreditation, Insurance and What the Quote Should Say.

Your next step: send us the keep list

Once the sort is done and the keep pile is measured against the new floor plan, you have what a fair quote needs. Request a callback from Hunters Hill Removals through our callback page. Have your inventory, both addresses and your settlement dates to hand.

If the street at either end is narrow or steep, our access notes, street by street are worth a read before we talk.

Sources

• https://www.huntershill.nsw.gov.au/Waste/Household-Clean-Ups
• https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super/growing-and-keeping-track-of-your-super/how-to-save-more-in-your-super/downsizer-super-contributions
• https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/real-estate-assets?context=22526
• https://www.nsw.gov.au/legal-and-justice/consumer-rights-and-protection/be-a-smart-consumer/choosing-a-removalist

Pictures in this guide are illustrations, not photos of our jobs.