House clearance
Full or partial clearance of houses, flats and outbuildings, including furniture, appliances and everyday household contents.
The work has to be careful enough that photographs, documents and saleable pieces are not lost in a rush to get the house empty.
This is not a legal service. We do not administer estates, advise on inheritance tax, or tell you whether a grant of probate is required. Those questions belong with a solicitor or other qualified adviser. What we do is the practical work: helping you sort, identify what may need valuing, and then clear the property when you are ready.
Clearance is not the same as a formal valuation
House clearance is the physical removal of contents. A probate or house contents valuation is a separate exercise: looking at items, noting them, and giving you a basis for decisions. Some families have already taken anything of meaning and only need the house emptied. Others need a pause so that antiques, jewellery or collections are not treated as residual waste.
If you have been told you need a formal probate valuation for tax or legal reasons, check what standard of report is required before you instruct anyone. We will not claim that a walk-through satisfies HMRC or the Probate Registry. Where a qualified specialist is needed, that should be said plainly.
Working with executors and families
The person who instructs us is often tired, travelling, or trying to coordinate siblings who do not agree. We work from a written scope: which rooms, what stays, what goes, and who holds the keys. If two people need to sign off the plan, we wait for that. It is slower than filling a skip and better than an argument after the van has left.
Family members sometimes want to do the first sort themselves. That is often the right order. Keep the personal things. Leave the furniture and the bulk. Then ask us to take the rest. If nobody can face the first sort, we can work room by room and set aside anything that looks personal or potentially valuable.
When the executor is not local
Plenty of estates in Evesham are administered by someone who lives in another county, or abroad. In those cases we can work from photographs, a video call walkthrough, and a room-by-room list. Access is arranged with a keyholder, neighbour, estate agent or solicitor if you authorise it.
Remote instructions need extra clarity. “Clear the house” is not enough if a bedroom is meant to stay intact for a relative who has not yet visited. Name the rooms. Photograph the pieces that must remain. We would rather ask an extra question than remove the wrong thing.
Sorting belongings and spotting value
A deceased estate is where indiscriminate clearance does the most damage. A brooch in a biscuit tin, a watch in a bedside drawer, a small painting that has hung in the same place for thirty years — those are the items that disappear into mixed loads. We look as we work. Anything that appears to need a second opinion is set aside.
That is not a promise that every house contains valuables. Many do not. It is a method: identify, then decide, then remove. Read what happens to valuable items found during a clearance if that is the worry that brought you here.
Documentation
We can keep a simple record of what was found and what was done with it when that helps an executor. It is not a legal inventory unless we have agreed a valuation with that purpose. Official estate paperwork remains your responsibility, or your solicitor’s.
Preparing the property for sale
Once probate is far enough along, many executors need the house empty for an estate agent. An empty property is easier to photograph and easier to hand over. If sale dates are already in the diary, tell us. Clearance can be booked around that, provided the contents decisions have been made.
There is a longer, calmer walkthrough in how probate house clearance works and a practical list in the executor’s clearance checklist.
Respect, without ceremony
We treat the house as someone’s home because that is what it was. We do not narrate that back to you. The useful things are punctuality, a clear plan, and not treating the contents as rubble. Recycling and reuse still apply — landfill remains the last option — but they are not the first conversation on a bereavement job.
Common questions
What is probate house clearance?
It is the clearance of a property that formed part of a deceased person’s estate. The work is practical — emptying rooms and handling contents — but it sits alongside decisions the executor still has to make about what is kept, valued or sold.
Can you work if the executor lives elsewhere?
Yes. Many executors are not local to Evesham. We can work from photographs, a video walkthrough and a written list of rooms, and arrange access with a keyholder, solicitor or estate agent if you authorise it.
Is a clearance the same as a probate valuation?
No. Clearance is the physical removal of contents. A valuation is a separate exercise: identifying and documenting items that may have value. Some estates need both; some only need a clearance after the family has already sorted the property.
Will you throw away things that might be valuable?
Not if we have agreed a process for spotting them. Indiscriminate skip-filling is how jewellery, documents and saleable furniture disappear. We pause on items that look as though they need a second look.
Do you give legal advice about probate?
No. Executors should take advice from a solicitor or other qualified professional about probate, tax and their duties. We can explain the practical side of clearing and valuing contents.
Related services
House contents valuations
Help identifying and documenting items that may need a closer look before a property is cleared or prepared for sale.
Eco-friendly clearance
A clearance that looks for reuse, resale, donation and recycling before anything is sent for disposal.
Discuss a probate clearance
If you are administering an estate, tell us where the property is, who holds the keys, and how far the family has already gone with sorting.
Discuss a probate clearance