Clearing an Estate House in Little Rock: Charged Without Exception

Little Rock's solid waste chapter contains a phrase that no other city in this series uses, and it lands squarely on estates: the monthly collection fee is charged "without exception". A house standing empty through an administration keeps being billed for a service that the rest of the chapter then makes largely unusable for the job of clearing it.

Charged Without Exception

Section 28-28(a): "Each dwelling unit will be charged without exception a monthly fee as listed in the schedule to this section... Fees shall be collected monthly and may be billed on the statement for water for said premises, or some other similar system approved by the city manager and shall be the debt and obligation of the person, firm or corporation in whose name the water meter is listed or the dwellings unit's responsible party."

Two features of that matter to a representative. The first is the absence of a vacancy provision: the fee is a per-dwelling-unit charge, not a per-use one, and "without exception" is the code's own phrase. An administration that runs eighteen months accrues the charge for eighteen months.

The second is the alternative obligor. The debt falls on whoever the water meter is listed to, "or the dwellings unit's responsible party." On an estate property the meter is frequently still in the decedent's name, so the charge continues against an account nobody is reconciling — and the code has already named a second person to pursue.

The Broadest Definition of Who Is Answerable

Section 28-1 defines responsible party as "An owner, operator, occupant, resident, lessor, manager, licensee or other person having control over a structure or parcel of land."

Owner, operator, occupant, resident, lessor, manager, licensee, or other person having control. That is the widest formulation in this series — wider than Houston's "current record owner or occupant", wider than Cleveland's "owner of a parcel" — and it is plainly satisfied by a personal representative who holds the keys and directs what happens at the property. Section 28-3 then makes the responsible party "responsible for the sanitary condition of said premises and for the proper storage, containment and placement for collection of all wastes as defined in this chapter."

Four Collections, Then the Meter Starts

Section 28-28(b) sets the bulky allowance: "The city will provide four (4) bulky item collections per year to city residential customers, additional collections of bulky items will be charged at a minimum rate of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per collection for up to two (2) cubic yards and an additional ten dollars ($10.00) per cubic yard for debris in excess of the two (2) cubic yard minimum."

Subsection (c) applies the same rate to "Oversize yard waste and uncontained solid waste" — so material that is simply loose, rather than merely bulky, is chargeable on the same scale. Subsection (d) adds a $50.00 fee for contamination of a recycling container, or forfeiture of curbside recycling service and removal of the container for a minimum of one year.

Four free collections a year and twenty-five dollars for two cubic yards thereafter is, by the standards of the other nine cities, cheap. The constraint in Little Rock is not price. It is what the city declines to take at all.

What Will Not Be Collected

Section 28-16 is where the clearout runs into walls, and two of its subsections are absolute.

Subsection (d): "Construction and demolition waste resulting from the construction, reconstruction, demolition, remodeling or repair of premises will not be collected by the city. All such materials shall not be placed with other solid waste. Such debris and solid waste is the responsibility of the dwelling units' responsible party for removal and proper disposal."

Subsection (e): "Wood waste, tires and vehicle parts will not be collected by the city. Such materials shall not be placed with other solid waste and is the responsibility of the dwelling units' responsible party for removal and proper disposal."

Both subsections do the same three things: exclude the material, forbid mixing it with anything else, and name the responsible party as the person who must arrange removal and proper disposal. On a property being emptied and then prepared for sale, that means the make-ready stream has to be separated from the clearing stream at the house, not at the kerb.

• Section 28-16(i) - no bulk waste shall be placed in solid waste containers
• Section 28-16(j) - no yard waste shall be placed in city-provided supercarts
• Section 28-16(a) - putrescible solid waste must be in securely tied bags before going into a city supercart
• Section 28-16(b) - loose yard waste must be in an approved container other than a supercart, with container and contents not exceeding sixty pounds, or bagged and securely tied
• Section 28-16(h) - all boxes and large pieces of cardboard must be broken down or cut up before placement in containers

Continuously Free and Clear

Section 28-16(g) states an ongoing duty rather than a collection-day one: "It is the container users' and responsible parties' responsibility to keep the area around the solid waste container continuously free and clear of all debris. If the property has alley collection service, then the term area includes that portion of the alley adjacent to the property. This alley clearance requirement shall be in addition to any other responsibilities the property owner has with respect to alleys."

Continuously. On an occupied house that is a weekly habit. On an estate property it is a visit schedule, and it is the provision most likely to be breached by simply doing nothing between appointments. Violations of the chapter carry the penalties in section 1-9 under section 28-31, in addition to any civil penalties authorised by law.

A Note on How Material Leaves

Section 28-4 regulates hauling itself. Anyone in the business of collecting, transporting or disposing of solid waste must contain it so that it cannot fall, leak, blow, drop or spill from the vehicle, and material that could depart must be transported enclosed or completely covered. Subsection (b) requires care in loading so that none is left on private property or in the streets, and permits emergency unloading only where everything is recollected within two hours and the area is left litter free.

That is worth knowing when comparing quotes. A clearing contractor working in Little Rock is operating under the chapter too, and an open trailer shedding material on the way to the landfill is a violation attached to the work the estate commissioned.

The Arkansas Position

Arkansas is the outlier among the seven states this series covers. Under A.C.A. § 28-49-101, real property does not automatically come into the personal representative's hands on appointment the way it does in Pennsylvania or Oklahoma, and the repair and maintenance powers are framed permissively rather than as a duty — which changes the first question on an Arkansas estate from how to clear the house to whether the representative is in a position to deal with it at all.

The provision is set out in full, with the other six states alongside it, in a personal representative's duty to preserve property in Arkansas. Confirm the current text in the Arkansas Code before relying on it; the state publishes the Code through a commercial provider whose site requires interactive access.

Planning the Job Backwards

• Account for the monthly fee for the whole administration; it is charged without exception and does not pause because the house is empty
• Find out whose name the water meter is in, because that is the first obligor named in 28-28(a) and the estate is the second
• Separate the make-ready stream from the clearing stream inside the house: construction and demolition waste, wood waste, tires and vehicle parts are excluded and must not be placed with other solid waste
• Use the four included bulky collections deliberately rather than discovering the fifth is chargeable
• Keep nothing loose - uncontained solid waste is charged on the same scale as an extra bulky collection
• Schedule visits to satisfy the continuous clearance duty in 28-16(g), including the adjacent alley where the property has alley service
• Settle the Arkansas possession question with counsel before committing the estate to the work

For the clearing work itself see what a trash-out is, and for the eviction version, the eviction property cleanout process. The same job runs on different rules in Birmingham, where the city asks for no further preparation but Alabama's probate code decides what may be abandoned; New Orleans, where the cap is measured in gallons; San Antonio, which refuses anything over eight cubic yards; Dallas, where the overage is billed to the water account; Houston, where the record owner is presumptively liable; Cleveland, where staging is itself the offence; Columbus, where bulk needs an occupant; Cincinnati, where a pile of small items is not bulk refuse; Pittsburgh, which bills hourly; and Philadelphia, where a street dumpster is unlicensable across much of Center City. The statutory duties by state are collected at estates, probate and fiduciary.