What happens to photographs, letters and jewellery?
They are set aside rather than cleared, and somebody tells you what has been found.
Papers, photographs, letters, medals, jewellery, anything in a box at the back of a wardrobe that a family would want to see. It is slower than working through a house room by room with a van backed up to the door, and it is the reason people ring us for this rather than the cheapest firm in the paper.
Nothing gets thrown away because it looked like clutter to us. The job is the same shape as any other bereavement house clearance. The difference is what happens to the things that are not rubbish and are not furniture.
Do I need to sort or bag anything before you come?
No. Please do not sort the clothes out first.
Almost everybody starts there, usually alone, usually in the evening, and it is the hardest part of the whole job. There is no need to do any of it.
A lot of what comes out of a house goes to charity, and sorting that is our job. Clothes, linen, books, kitchen things, the contents of a wardrobe nobody has opened yet. You do not have to bag any of it up, and you do not have to drive anything to a charity shop.
Tell us what you want kept and we will put it to one side. Everything else can stay exactly where it is until we come.
I am the executor. What do you need from me?
A date, a way in, and a list of anything that is to be kept. That is the whole of it.
If you are an executor you have a list of things to get done and a timetable that is not yours. We try to be the easy item on it.
We collect keys from estate agents and solicitors, so you do not have to be at the property and you do not have to drive across two counties to open a door. We drop them back when we are finished.
We invoice the solicitor directly if that is easier. Tell us at the quote stage rather than afterwards and it is no trouble at all.
What if nothing can move until probate comes through?
That is fine. We work to the probate timetable rather than to ours.
If the grant has not come through yet, book the date anyway and we will hold it. Nobody will ring you every week asking whether you are ready.
Do I have to be at the property while you work?
No. Most people clearing a parent's house do not live in the same town, and a lot of them do not live in the same county.
We can be let in by an agent, work to a date rather than to your diary, and send you photographs of anything we are unsure about rather than making the decision ourselves. If you would rather walk round with us first, we will meet you at the property and go through it together.
What paperwork do I get at the end?
A waste transfer note, on every job, saying what was taken away and where it went.
Keep it with the rest of the estate paperwork. It is the document that shows the contents of the house were dealt with properly, which matters more when you are answering to somebody else for what happened to them.
We are an Upper Tier registered waste carrier, and the licence number printed at the bottom of every page on this site opens our own entry on the Environment Agency's public register. You can check us before you book rather than after.
How do you price a probate clearance?
We come out and look at the property, then quote. The visit is free and there is nothing to sign.
If you are at the property yourself and would rather not wait for us, you can send photographs on WhatsApp and we will price it from those. The visit is better, because a photograph of a room does not show us what is in the drawers, and what is in the drawers is often what decides the price.
Where things can be passed on rather than tipped, that brings the price down, and we will always explain where the figure has come from rather than leaving you to wonder.
Can you clean the house once it is empty?
Yes, usually the same day, so it is ready for photographs rather than ready for another trade to visit.
Most probate clearances end with a house that has to go on the market. We can clean it once it is empty as part of the same booking.
That is a separate job at an added cost. Ask at the quote stage and it comes as one price.