Probate house clearance done properly
When a house has to be cleared after a bereavement, the priority is making sure nothing of value or sentimental importance is lost. Coins, jewellery, medals, paintings, silver, stamp collections and bank paperwork all regularly turn up during our clearances, often in places the family would never think to look.
We photograph and list items of interest, give you our honest view of their value, and agree with you what should be sold at auction, donated or returned to the family before we remove anything.
Where the value of the contents offsets the cost of the clearance, we will say so — several of our probate clearances end with money going back to the estate rather than an invoice.
Our probate clearance process
1. Free visit
We view the property, discuss timescales with the executor and note anything that needs valuing.
2. Valuation report
Items of interest are photographed and listed with realistic values for probate purposes.
3. Agreed clearance
Once you have approved the list, we clear the property and set aside everything you want kept.
4. Documents returned
Paperwork, photographs and keepsakes are boxed and handed back, and the house is left clean.
Probate Valuations – Inheritance Tax Act 1984
Our probate valuations are prepared in accordance with Section 160 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984, using open market values as at the date of death, in line with HMRC requirements.
What we look for
Experience matters more than anything else in probate work. These are the items that most often get thrown away by a general clearance firm.
- Coins, sovereigns and banknotes
- Jewellery, watches and gold scrap
- Military medals and militaria
- Paintings, prints and frames
- Silver, porcelain and glassware
- Stamp and postcard collections
- Antique furniture and clocks
- Share certificates and bank paperwork
Working to the estate's timescale
Executors are usually working to a completion date or an insurance requirement that an empty property must be secured. We can clear at short notice, work around estate agents and surveyors, and return for a final tidy after a sale is agreed.
If you live outside Sussex, we can hold keys, meet other trades at the property and send photographs at each stage so you do not need to travel.