Clearing an Estate House in Cincinnati: A Pile of Boxes Is Not Bulk Refuse

Cincinnati's waste chapter is written around two words that an estate property does not satisfy. Acceptable waste is waste generated at a dwelling. Commercial waste is all waste not generated by the occupants of a dwelling. A house whose owner has died and whose contents are being cleared by a representative sits awkwardly against both, and the rest of Chapter 729 then excludes, by definition, nearly everything such a clearout produces.

The Two Definitions That Decide It

Section 729-1-A: "Acceptable waste shall mean any waste generated at a dwelling, except for waste defined as unacceptable waste in Section 729-1-U." Section 729-1-C1: "Commercial waste shall mean all waste not generated by the occupants of a dwelling."

Those two sit side by side in the same definition section and they do not obviously cover the same ground. Contents cleared out of a house by an executor after the occupant has died were generated at a dwelling, in the sense that they accumulated there over decades. They were not generated by the occupants of a dwelling in the sense of a household's weekly output. Which definition governs decides which chapter applies.

The city resolves it in practice on its bulk collection page, and the resolution is not in the estate's favour: "Only locations eligible for garbage collection from the City (i.e... NON-commercial entities) are eligible to use the bulk items program. Any buildings that are not eligible for City collection are considered commercial and will need to contact a City of Cincinnati registered waste hauler."

And where it is commercial waste, Section 729-59 settles who pays: "Commercial waste shall be hauled to disposal sites at the expense of the person, firm or corporation producing such waste." This is the first thing to establish with the department on a given address, before any appointment is made or any cost is estimated.

Bulk Refuse Is Narrower Than It Sounds

Even assuming the property is eligible, the category most people reach for does not mean what they expect. Section 729-1-B:

"Bulk refuse shall mean acceptable waste that requires special collection arrangements due to size, weight, or shape. Bulk refuse is individual items that weigh more than 40 pounds, exceed 48 inches in length, or exceed 100 inches in overall dimension (the total of length plus width plus depth), which cannot reasonably be divided or disassembled into smaller items. Bulk refuse is not a large container filled with smaller items or a large pile of small items, and these items are not eligible for collection pursuant to Section 729-93."

Read the last sentence again, because it is the whole estate problem written into a definition. A house clearout is overwhelmingly a large pile of small items — books, crockery, linen, paperwork, forty years of a kitchen. None of that is bulk refuse, and the code says in terms that it is not eligible for special collection.

Two further limits are inside the definition. The item must be individual, and it must be one that "cannot reasonably be divided or disassembled into smaller items" — so a bed frame that comes apart is arguably not bulk refuse either. What is left in the category is the sofa, the mattress, the appliance: a short list on most estates.

Special Collection: Call First, Five Items, Nothing Mixed In

Section 729-93 lets the director of public services offer special collection of acceptable waste including bulk refuse, and sets the procedure. The owner or person responsible "must call the city for a determination that the bulk refuse qualifies for special collection prior to placing bulk refuse at the curb for collection." If it qualifies, the city makes an appointment.

Then two conditions that catch clearouts specifically. The bulk refuse must be placed at the curb "no earlier than 5:00 p.m. on the day preceding the scheduled collection and no later than 6:00 a.m. on the day of collection." And it "must be placed separate from, and must not be co-mingled with, any items that are not bulk refuse."

The city's published programme adds the numbers and the consequences.

• Up to five bulk items may be scheduled per household, through 311, the 311Cincy site or the mobile app
• No more than five can be collected per scheduled collection; if more than five are set out, the property owner will be cited for illegal set-out
• Items set out before the evening before the scheduled collection day draw a citation for illegal set-out regardless of the number
• Items must be at the curb accessible for automated collection, with no obstructions, low-hanging wires, branches or parked cars, and ideally on the driveway apron
• Items should not have garbage stacked or leaning on them — the practical face of the no-co-mingling rule in Section 729-93
• Tire collection is a separate service, up to four tires per eligible location

Five items per appointment is the figure to plan the job around. A three-bedroom house with a basement routinely holds more qualifying items than that, and the rest of the contents — the pile — has no city route at all.

You Cannot Simply Supply More Containers

The obvious workaround, bringing extra bins or contractor bags, runs into Section 729-5(a). The only containers the city will collect from are containers provided by the city; wheeled containers compatible with the city's semi-automated lift systems that have tight-fitting lids, are of substantial construction and water tight, and are authorised by the director of public services or a designee; or other containers, including plastic bags, specifically approved by the director for use by a particular dwelling that has been granted an exemption under subsection (b).

A violation of that subsection is a Class B Civil Offense under Section 1501-5(b). The same subsection also provides that city containers remain city property and that no person shall intentionally deface, damage or destroy one, "including without limitation, damaging the container through overloading it." Overloading a city cart with the contents of a house is named in the code as damage.

The Mechanics at the Kerb

Section 729-7 governs how anything is presented, and it is stricter than most cities. Containers must be placed "not more than three feet from the curb or curbline in front of the building" unless public services notifies or approves another location. All containers must be set out "no earlier than 5:00 p.m. on the day before the scheduled day of collection, but no later than 6:00 a.m. on the day of collection." And they "shall in all cases be kept outside of any fence, wall, enclosure, dwelling, or building on the day of collection."

That last clause matters on a secured estate property. A house being cleared is usually locked, often fenced, and the instinct is to stage material inside the gate until the truck comes. On collection day the code requires the opposite.

Section 729-15 closes the loop: containers must be removed from the collection point "before midnight of that day on which the waste was collected." On a vacant house with nobody on site, that is a second visit, not an afterthought.

And Section 729-13 says what happens when the material is not collected. The duty falls on "every owner, tenant, agent, lessee, occupant and person in charge" of the building to dispose of the uncollected waste "at the sole expense of" those persons before the next scheduled collection, or to have it at the collection point by then. Person in charge reaches the representative administering the estate.

Then the Ohio Layer, Which Is Stricter Again

Cincinnati's rules decide how the material leaves. Ohio's probate code decides whether the representative may spend anything on it, and the answer is not automatic.

R.C. 2113.311 does not impose a duty to maintain estate real property; it creates authority the executor or administrator applies to the probate court for, where within a reasonable time after appointment "no one in authority has taken over the management and rental" of real property of which the decedent died seized. Until that order exists, there is no statutory management authority to exercise.

Once it exists, division (E)(2) funds taxes, usual operating expenses, preservation repairs and insurance out of the rents collected, and (E)(2)(b) allows repairs "when necessary to preserve the real property from waste, provided that an order of the court shall first be obtained if the cost of repairs exceeds one hundred dollars." A house clearout exceeds one hundred dollars in every case. Whether it is a repair under (E)(2)(b) or a usual operating expense under (E)(2)(a) is a question for the court and for counsel — but a vacant house collects no rents, so under (E)(3) the money is an advance on a prior order that becomes a charge on the real property.

The full section, and how differently the other six states answer the same question, is in an Ohio executor and estate real property. Where the building has deteriorated into a nuisance, R.C. 3767.41 puts a receiver in possession instead — see a receiver's property duties in Ohio.

Planning the Job Backwards

• Settle the eligibility question with public services for the specific address first; if the property is treated as commercial, the route is a registered waste hauler and the city programme is closed
• Sort the contents into the three real categories: qualifying bulk items (individual, over the size or weight thresholds, not divisible), the pile (no city route), and the separate streams such as tires
• Count qualifying items against five per appointment and schedule accordingly, rather than discovering the cap at the kerb and collecting a citation
• Keep bulk items physically separate at the curb, with nothing stacked or leaning on them
• Plan a return visit the same day to clear containers before midnight
• Get the probate authority and any required order in place before the spend, and photograph contents and condition before anything moves, because the expenditure is reviewed on an accounting after the fact

Where the house is also drawing municipal attention, the registration obligations run on their own clock: see vacant property registration ordinances in Ohio and the Columbus requirement. For the clearing work itself, see what a trash-out is and the eviction property cleanout process; where a senior move manager or liquidator is engaged, the division of labour is here. Philadelphia reaches the same destination by a different route — see clearing an estate house in Philadelphia — and the statutory duties by state are collected at estates, probate and fiduciary.