Home/Probate and estate clearance
Probate and estate clearance
Clearing a deceased person’s home for executors, families and solicitors. Documents and valuables searched for and returned before anything is cleared.
What makes a probate clearance different
A house clearance is a logistics job. A probate clearance is an accounting job that happens to involve a van.
The contents of the property belong to the estate, and the executor is personally answerable for them. That changes the order of the work. You cannot empty a room and then look for the will. You look first, log what you find, and clear second.
It also changes what "worth money" means. A firm offering free clearance in exchange for the contents is proposing that the estate hands over an unvalued asset to a stranger. For an executor that is not a bargain, it is a risk.
The document and valuables search
Before general clearance starts, we go through the property looking for the things families most fear losing. In our experience they are almost never where anyone expects.
- Wills, codicils and letters of wishes
- Property deeds and Land Registry paperwork
- Share certificates, premium bonds and passbooks
- Insurance policies, pension and annuity documents
- Bank statements and correspondence with HMRC
- Passports, birth, marriage and death certificates
- Cash, jewellery, coins, medals and watches
- Photographs, albums and family papers
Everything found is boxed, labelled and logged, and handed to the executor or sent to the solicitor. On probate instructions this is included in the price. It is not an optional extra, because a clearance that skips it is not a probate clearance.
What it costs
Our pricing is built from three things: the crew, vehicles and licensed disposal it takes to turn up at all; the number of rooms and how full they are; and how far the property is from Barking. Nothing else.
A typical three-bedroom probate property within the M25 comes out between £2,800 and £4,500 including VAT. Distance and contents move that figure, which is why the estimate tool asks about both, and why both appear as separate lines on your quotation rather than being folded into a single number.
Use the estimate tool for a figure in about two minutes, or ask for a free site visit and we will give you a fixed price instead of a guide.
Working with solicitors and estate researchers
We are regularly instructed by probate practitioners, estate agents and heir hunters, and we invoice either the firm or the estate on agreed terms. Quotations are referenced, the invoice matches the quotation line for line, and the completion pack includes waste transfer notes and photographs that go straight onto the file.
More on that on the professionals page.
Things families tell us they were worried about
- A will or a bundle of letters going into a skip. Nothing leaves a room until it has been checked. Papers are boxed, not binned.
- Being sold a "free" clearance that quietly keeps anything valuable. We flag anything we think has resale value to you in writing before it moves.
- Fly-tipped waste traced back to the estate. Waste transfer notes for every load, issued to the estate and kept on file for two years.
- Having to be there while a stranger empties their mother's bedroom. You don't have to attend. We work from keys and send photographs as we go.
- A price that changes once the van is loaded. The quoted figure is the figure. Extras are agreed by email before they happen.
Before and after
A study in a probate property, one working day apart.
Everything on that floor was sorted by hand. The paperwork went into labelled boxes for the executor; the rest was weighed, recorded and tipped under licence.
Drag the handle. A study in a probate property, photographed from the same spot before and after.
Get a figure now, or talk it through first.
Whichever is easier. No obligation either way, and no one will chase you.