Bereavement house clearance

When there is a clock, and when there is not

Two things impose a deadline. A rented property costs the estate rent every week until it is empty and the keys are back, and a council tenancy gives you four weeks from the notice. Home insurance is the other: most policies restrict cover once a property has been unoccupied for thirty or sixty days, so check the policy and tell the insurer.

An owned house with the insurer informed has no clock. People rush these clearances because the house is painful to visit, and regret it because the clearance was rushed. If you can afford to leave it a month, leave it a month.

Five visits, in this order

Each one is shorter and easier than the last, because each one removes the things that are hardest to decide about.

1. 1

   Paperwork and valuables

   Before anyone else is in the house. Documents, jewellery, cash, anything with a serial number. This is also the executor's valuation evidence, so photograph it.

2. 2

   Keepsakes

   The things nobody would sell and nobody would throw away. Small, and easy to lose in a clearance. One box per person, labelled.

3. 3

   Family

   One visit, everyone at once, with a rule agreed beforehand for who gets what. Serial visits over months are where the disputes start.

4. 4

   Charity

   What they will take, which is less than you expect. Book the collection for the week before the clearance, not the same day.

5. 5

   Clearance

   Everything left. By now it is contents, not belongings, and a team can do in a day what would have taken you a month.

What a good firm does

“Bereavement specialist” is a phrase on a website, not a qualification. The clearance itself is the same job. What you are paying for, if the phrase means anything, is this.

• They ask what you are keeping before they quote, and they put it in writing.
• They will set aside photographs, letters and documents they find rather than bagging them, and tell you so unprompted.
• They do not need you there for the whole day, but they do want you there for the walk-through.
• They offer a date without pressing for one. A firm that pushes for this week is filling a van, not helping.
• They are licensed waste carriers and say so before you ask.

What happens on the day is the same for every clearance.

Common questions

How soon after a death can you clear a house?

Legally, as soon as the person with authority over the estate has recorded what the contents were worth on the date of death — that is HMRC's requirement and it is a record, not a delay. Practically, the only hard clocks are a rented property, where rent runs until the keys go back, and home insurance, which often restricts cover once a property has been empty for thirty or sixty days. If neither applies, there is no reason to do it before you are ready.

Can I clear a house before probate is granted?

An executor named in a will has authority from the date of death and can deal with contents before the grant, provided the valuation has been recorded first. Where there is no will, the administrator's authority starts at the grant, so be more careful about disposing of anything of value before then. Selling the property itself always needs the grant.

What do bereavement clearance firms do differently?

Nothing in the van. The difference is in the walk-through, the handling of what they find, and the absence of pressure. A firm that sets aside letters and photographs unprompted and gives you a date without pushing for it is doing the job properly. The service is the same clearance at the same price; you are choosing the people.

What if the family cannot agree?

Agree the rule before the visit, not the items. Everyone at once, one visit, anything unclaimed goes in the clearance. The estate pays for the clearance, not whoever booked it, and the executor decides.