Once probate is under way, someone often has to clear the house - sorting what's kept, given away, sold or thrown away. This page covers what to check before you clear, and how to find a legitimate clearance company.
Get valuable items looked at before you clear
Before anything is cleared, it's worth knowing that for Inheritance Tax purposes, anything worth over £1,500 - such as jewellery, paintings or antiques - should have a proper valuation, not a guess. Everyday household goods can usually just be estimated. See our guide to valuing a house for probate for how this fits into the wider estate valuation.
In practice, this means it's worth having anything that might be valuable looked at - by an auction house, valuer or the clearance company itself - before it's cleared away, sold on, or given away, rather than after.
Keep every task and important detail in one place
Our 19-page When Someone Dies Organiser includes ordered checklists, a contact tracker, adaptable letters and a funeral budget planner.
View the organiser — £9.99Choosing a clearance company
A house clearance service is a private waste collection business, and by law you (or whoever's arranging the clearance) must check they're properly registered before you use them. GOV.UK is specific about this: for a company like a house clearance service, check they're on the Environment Agency's register of waste carriers under the upper tier (charities collecting items only need to be registered lower tier).
You can check any company for free on the Environment Agency's public register. If you use a company that isn't registered and their waste ends up fly-tipped, you could get a fixed penalty notice yourself, even though you didn't dump it - so this check is worth doing, and worth keeping a record of (the company name, and ideally a receipt or waste transfer note).
What a "quick valuation" usually means
Many house clearance firms - and auction houses - offer a free, quick look at the contents before anything is agreed, to flag anything that might be worth selling separately rather than clearing as a job lot. This isn't a formal valuation for Inheritance Tax purposes (see above), but it can stop something valuable being cleared away by mistake, and it often affects the price you're quoted for the clearance itself.
How costs usually work
Clearance costs vary by volume and by whether the contents have any resale value. Some firms will clear a house for free, or at a reduced cost, in exchange for keeping and reselling anything of value themselves; others charge based on how much needs to be taken away (often priced by the van or skip load). It's worth getting more than one quote, and asking upfront whether the quote includes disposal, or whether that's charged separately.
Anything usable but not valuable enough to sell can often be donated to charity rather than cleared as waste - many charities will collect reusable furniture and household goods directly. See our page on charitable giving.
Common questions
Do I have to check the clearance company myself?
Yes - it's a legal duty on whoever is arranging for the waste to be taken away, not just something nice to do. The Environment Agency's register is free to search and takes a couple of minutes.
What happens if I use an unregistered company?
You could be given a fixed penalty notice by your council, or face prosecution, particularly if the waste is later found fly-tipped and traced back to your address.
Should I get things valued before the clearance company comes?
For anything that might be worth over £1,500 - antiques, jewellery, paintings - yes, ideally before it's cleared, since this matters for the Inheritance Tax valuation of the estate as well as for getting a fair price if it's sold.
Is a "free house clearance" really free?
Often it means the firm is taking the contents in lieu of a fee, because they expect to resell some of it. That can be a fair trade for a full house with little of individual value, but it's worth asking what they expect to find before agreeing.
Can I donate items instead of having them cleared?
Yes. Many charities collect reusable furniture and household goods for free - worth doing for anything usable that isn't part of the valuable items above.