When you are clearing a house after a death, the first job is not clearing at all: it is securing the property, finding the paperwork and making a record of what is there, because the contents are part of the estate and may need valuing before anything is sold or given away. The furniture, the wardrobes and the loft can almost always wait a few weeks, and the house is usually easier to clear once probate is under way and the family has agreed who is taking what.
This is practical guidance, not legal advice. If there is no will, the estate is complicated or the family disagree, speak to a solicitor before anything leaves the property.
What to do in the first week, before anything is moved
Lock up and keep track of the keys. A neighbour, a carer and two or three relatives often each have a key, and nobody is quite sure who still does. Write down who holds one, ask for spares back, and keep a short note of who goes in and when. If the house will stand empty for months, change the locks.
Then ring the home insurer. Many policies change or limit cover once a home has been unoccupied for a set number of days, and the number differs from one policy to the next, so ask what applies rather than assume. The insurer may want the heating left on low or someone to visit regularly.
Clear the fridge and any perishable food, empty the bins and take in the post. Those jobs cannot wait and nobody will object to them. Almost everything else can.
Finally, find the will if you can. It says who the executors are, and it may leave particular things to particular people: a clock to a grandson, the jewellery to a niece. You need to know about those gifts before anyone starts picking out keepsakes, or the clock may already be in someone's car.
Do you have to wait for probate before clearing the house?
Not for everything, but for the parts that cost money if you get them wrong, yes. GOV.UK describes probate as the legal right to deal with someone's property, money and possessions, and says you should not make any financial plans or put property on the market until you have it. Before applying, the executor has to work out what the estate is worth, and that includes the contents of the house.
The GOV.UK guide to valuing an estate lists household and personal items such as furniture, electrical goods, antiques, jewellery, paintings and stamp collections. Each is valued at the date the person died, at roughly what it would have sold for. For most homes the contents are worth far less than the property, but one good watch can change the picture.
So the practical order is: make a record first, value anything that might be worth something, and hold back on selling or giving away the rest until the executor is happy. The record need not be formal. Walk through every room with a phone, photograph each wall and every open cupboard, and list anything that looks valuable. That hour of photos settles a lot of later questions about "where did Mum's ring go".
Council Tax, post and the organisations to tell
Once the death has been registered, the registrar can give you a reference number for Tell Us Once. According to GOV.UK's Tell Us Once page, that one service passes the news to HMRC, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Passport Office, the DVLA and the local council, which covers Council Tax, Housing Benefit, Blue Badges and the electoral register. The reference has to be used within 28 days or it expires, so do it early.
Council Tax on an empty house after a death is often less of a worry than people expect. At the time of writing, GOV.UK's Council Tax guidance says that if you are selling a property on behalf of an owner who has died, you do not pay Council Tax until after probate, as long as the house stays empty. After probate there may be a further exemption of up to six months while the home is unoccupied and still in the name of the person who died. The word that catches people out is "empty": if a relative moves in, the exemption can go. Check with the borough, as each council applies the rules itself.
A rented home works differently. If the person rented from a council, a housing association or a private landlord, the deadline usually comes from the tenancy, not from probate, and rent may run until the tenancy is ended and the keys handed back. Ask about the notice period in the first week; it decides how long you have to clear.
Beyond that, note the gas and electricity readings and tell the suppliers, and ask Royal Mail about redirecting the post to the executor, which it offers after a death. The letters that arrive over the next few months are how you find the pension and the savings account nobody knew about. Our change of address checklist lists most of the organisations that hold an address.
Sorting the contents: an order that works
The mistake almost everyone makes is starting with the easiest room. Start with paperwork instead. Bank letters, pension statements, the house deeds, insurance policies, premium bonds, keys to a garage or a safe deposit box: these turn up in kitchen drawers, inside books and in shoe boxes on top of the wardrobe. Put one box by the front door labelled "papers" and drop every document into it, unread if need be. The executor can sort it at a table later.
After the paperwork, the rough order below keeps the decisions that matter ahead of the ones that do not.
| What it is | What to do with it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Food, medicines, rubbish | Clear and dispose of; take unused medicines back to a pharmacy | Straight away |
| Papers, keys, bank cards | Into one labelled box for the executor | First week |
| Jewellery, cash, watches, art, collections | Photograph, list and keep somewhere safe with a written record | First week, valued before probate |
| Items left to someone in the will | Set aside with the person's name on them | Handed over when the executor agrees |
| Things family members want | Agree a shared list, then label | After the record and valuation |
| Furniture and goods to sell or donate | Note likely values, then sell or donate | Usually once probate is in hand |
| Everything nobody wants | Charity, council collection or the tip | Last |
Coloured stickers help more than you would think. One colour per person for things they are taking, one for sale, one for charity, one for the tip. When the removal crew or a friend with a car turns up, nobody has to ask anyone anything.
Leave photographs, letters and the boxes of children's drawings until near the end, and do not try to sort them in the house at all. Box them up whole and go through them slowly somewhere warm. They are the boxes that stop a clearing day dead.
When the family want different things
Most rows are not about money. They are about a teapot, a chair, or a painting that hung in the hall for forty years. Two habits stop most of them. First, make the shared list before anyone takes anything: put the photos in one place everyone can see, and give each person a week to say what they would like. Second, agree beforehand that the executor decides when two people want the same thing.
If there is any sign of a real dispute, or someone believes something valuable has gone missing, stop. Keep the house secure, keep the photographs, and let the executor take advice before clearing goes any further. A few weeks of an empty house costs far less than an argument over what was in it.
Sorting a lifetime of belongings while the person is still there to have a say is a different conversation, covered in our guide to moving an elderly parent.
How long does clearing a house take?
Longer than the physical work suggests. Carrying out a three-bedroom house takes a removal crew a day or so. Deciding what goes where is the slow part, and it comes in bursts with weeks between them.
A pattern that works for a lot of families looks like this. One day for paperwork and photographs in the first fortnight. A family weekend a few weeks later to agree the shared list. Then, once probate is in hand, one removal day for everything going to family homes and storage, followed by one or two van runs for donations and the tip. Spread over two or three months, that is far easier than doing it all the weekend after the funeral.
If there is a loft, a garage or a shed, add a day for each. Lofts fill up over decades, and they always hold more than you think.
Getting everything out: family homes, storage, sale and the tip
To family homes. If several people are taking furniture to different addresses, one van making a round of drops is usually cheaper and quicker than each person hiring their own. For a larger house, our house removals team does a free video or in-person survey first, so the price is fixed against what is really there, loft included.
Into storage while the house is sold. This is often the most sensible route when the house has to go on the market but nobody has room for the dining table yet. Our secure storage is charged by the week with no minimum contract, and collection and redelivery to an address of your choosing are included in the weekly rate, so the family can decide in their own time. Our guide to decluttering before a move has more on what is worth storing and what is not.
To sale or charity. Charity shops and furniture charities are often glad of good furniture, but most will only take upholstered pieces such as sofas and armchairs if the fire safety label is still attached. Check before booking; collection waiting lists can run to weeks.
To the tip. Every London borough runs its own bulky waste collection, booked on the council's website, with its own limits and charges. For the last mixed load, a man and van can do small clearances and tip runs as an extra; within London it is charged by the hour with a two-hour minimum, which suits a final afternoon of odds and ends.
In short
In the first week, secure the house, tell the insurer, clear the food and find the will. Photograph every room and gather the papers before anything else leaves. The contents are part of the estate, so hold off selling or giving things away until the executor is ready. Use Tell Us Once, check Council Tax with the borough, and if the home was rented, ask the landlord how long you have. Then clear in stages: family items first, storage for anything undecided, charity and the tip last.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take things from the house before probate is granted?
You can take items to keep them safe, and you can clear perishables and rubbish. Selling or giving away belongings before the estate has been valued and the executor has agreed is where problems start, especially if the estate owes tax or debts, or someone challenges the will. If you move valuables, write down what you took and tell the rest of the family.
Who pays for clearing the house?
Normally the estate. Removal, storage and clearance costs are usually paid by the executor out of the estate before the money is shared out, so keep every invoice. If a family member pays up front, agree in writing with the executor that it will be repaid.
What if we live too far away to do it ourselves?
You can do most of the planning remotely. A video survey works with a neighbour or friend walking a phone round the house, the labelled list can be agreed by email, and the packing and removal can be booked for one day. Our packing service can pack the things going to each address so you only need to be there for the parts that matter.
Should the removal crew know the circumstances?
Yes, if you are comfortable telling them. It does not change the price, but a crew that knows can work quietly around the family, leave a room until someone is ready, and keep labelled items apart from the general load.
When you are ready, tell us roughly what is in the house, where each load needs to go and whether anything is waiting on probate, and we will give you a fixed price and fit the dates around the family rather than the other way round.