Probate House Clearance, handled with care
Clearing the home of someone who has died is not a rubbish job, and we do not treat it as one. We work at your pace and to your list. We set aside papers, photographs and anything of value, and nothing leaves the house without your say-so. Fixed prices across west London and South Bucks.
Single rooms from £195 • full houses from £850 • keys from your solicitor or agent • waste paperwork on request
Get a fixed price for your clearance
Three quick steps. Discreet, insured and fully cleared.
Would rather talk? Call 07400 640002 or send a photo on WhatsApp.
The short version
- Nothing leaves without your say-so. You give us a keep list, we walk through it with you, and we set aside anything that looks personal, important or valuable as we go.
- Fixed price before we start, from photos, a video call or a visit: a single room from £195, a full house from £850. Labour, transport and disposal are included.
- You do not need to be there. We can collect keys from a solicitor, estate agent or neighbour and report back when the house is clear.
- Reuse and recycling first. Usable items go to reuse or charity where suitable, materials go to licensed recycling sites, and waste transfer paperwork is available for the estate’s records.
How a probate clearance works with us
Every estate is different, but most of our probate clearances follow the same six steps. You can stop, pause or change the plan at any point.
- A first conversation. Call, WhatsApp or send the form. Tell us the address, roughly how full the property is, and who is handling the estate. There is no obligation and no pressure to book.
- A walk-through. In person, on a video call or from photos of each room, loft, garage and shed. This is when you show us what stays: furniture going to family, boxes for the solicitor, items waiting for a valuer.
- A fixed, written price. One all-in figure covering labour, the van, transport and disposal. If you later find more than we priced for, you hear the new price before anything goes in the van, never afterwards.
- Access arranged around you. We can collect keys from a solicitor, estate agent or neighbour, work weekends, and split a large house over more than one visit.
- A careful clearance, room by room. Keep-list items are set aside and never loaded. We look out for papers, photographs, cash in books and jewellery in drawers, and put anything like that aside for you.
- Handed back empty and swept, ready for an agent’s photos, a valuation or a sale. Waste transfer paperwork for the load is available on request.
When to clear: timing around probate
Executors often ask whether they are allowed to clear the house yet. The honest answer is that it depends on the estate, and your solicitor or the person administering the estate should make that call. These general points from GOV.UK help with planning:
| Stage | What usually happens | Where a clearance fits |
|---|---|---|
| Straight after the death | Secure the property, find the will, tell the insurer and utilities | Too early for most families. Remove only perishables and anything that must not be left |
| Valuing the estate | GOV.UK says the estate, including household contents, must be valued before applying for probate. This can take several months | Have valuables assessed first. A partial clearance of obvious rubbish is often fine |
| Applying for probate | GOV.UK says you will usually get the grant within 12 weeks of applying, longer if more information is needed | Many executors book the main clearance now, with the contents already valued |
| After the grant | The executor can deal with the estate: pay debts, sell the house, distribute items | The usual time for a full clearance before marketing or sale |
Two clocks worth knowing about
If Inheritance Tax is due, GOV.UK says it must be paid by the end of the sixth month after the death to avoid interest, often before probate is granted. Separately, a home left empty after a death is usually exempt from Council Tax until probate is granted, and for up to six months afterwards while it stays empty and unsold. Check the current rules with the council, and check the home insurance too: many policies change their terms once a property has been empty for a set period.
Working with executors, solicitors and estate agents
A lot of our probate work comes through the person handling the estate rather than the family directly, and we are set up for that:
- One point of contact. We take instructions from the executor or administrator, or someone they name, and nobody else.
- Remote jobs. We collect keys from your solicitor, estate agent or neighbour and return them afterwards, so you do not have to travel.
- A written scope. The keep list and the price are agreed in writing before the clearance day, so everyone involved can see what was agreed.
- Paperwork for the file. Waste transfer paperwork for the load is available on request, so the estate can show its waste went through a legitimate route. We are a registered waste carrier with the Environment Agency. Ask us for the registration details for your collection and check them on the public register before we load.
- Sale-ready timing. We can time the clearance around an agent’s photos, a valuation or a completion date.
What happens to the contents
This is the question families ask most, and it deserves a straight answer. Everything in the house ends up in one of these routes:
| What it is | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Your keep list: family furniture, photographs, papers, keepsakes | Set aside in a room you choose and never loaded. We can deliver it to a family member or to storage in the same trip if you need |
| Possibly valuable: antiques, jewellery, art, collections | Keep it out of the clearance and have it valued first. We do not buy, value or sell contents |
| Usable furniture and household goods | Reuse or charity where suitable |
| Metal, wood, cardboard, textiles, electricals | Separated at licensed recycling centres and transfer stations |
| Sofas, armchairs and other upholstered seating | By law these must be kept separate and incinerated, because of persistent organic pollutants. That is why they carry their own disposal fee |
| Hazardous items: paint, chemicals, gas bottles, asbestos | We cannot carry these in a general load, and we will tell you the right route |
We do not publish a recycling percentage, because the final sorting happens at the transfer station after our van has left, and we will not claim a figure we cannot evidence. What we can tell you is the route each type of item takes, and give you the paperwork for it.
Probate clearance prices
A probate clearance is priced like any house clearance: by the size of the property, how full it is, and how easy it is to get things out. There is no extra charge for the job being an estate.
| Property | Guide price | What is included |
|---|---|---|
| Single room | from £195 | One bedroom, box room or lounge cleared |
| One-bed flat | from £395 | Whole flat cleared and swept |
| Two-bed home | from £595 | A typical two-bedroom house or larger flat |
| Full house | from £850 | A complete three-bed-plus home, priced from a walk-through |
What moves the price: how full the rooms are, lofts, garages and sheds, stairs with no lift, and the number of sofas and mattresses, which carry their own published disposal fee (an armchair from £65, a mattress from £75). What lowers it: taking out anything valuable or wanted before the day, and letting us send usable items to reuse rather than treating everything as waste. Our house clearance cost guide explains the full breakdown.
Your options as an executor, compared
| Option | Good for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Family clear it themselves | Small flats, when people live nearby | Weeks of weekends, a van, and the tip’s permit and DIY rules |
| Council bulky collection | A handful of large items | Kerbside only, limited items per booking, not a whole house |
| Skip on the drive or road | Renovation waste after the clearance | Someone still has to carry everything out. A road permit costs up to £189.63 locally |
| Probate clearance (us) | Most estates: one visit, one fixed price, nothing to lift | We do not value or buy contents, so get valuables assessed first |
If you are in the Gerrards Cross area, our Gerrards Cross probate clearance guide covers the local side, from Buckinghamshire’s tips to the questions executors there ask most.
House clearance prices
You only pay for the space your items take up in the van, plus labour and disposal. Send a photo on WhatsApp for a fixed price before we arrive.
One bedroom, box room or a cleared-out lounge.
A full one-bedroom flat cleared and swept.
A typical two-bedroom house or larger flat.
A complete family home — priced from a quick survey.
Guide prices based on our man and van rate from £89/hr. Final price confirmed on the day or from your photos — no hidden fees.
A probate clearance in four steps
Talk it through
No obligation. Tell us about the property and who is handling the estate.
Walk-through and keep list
In person, on video or from photos. You decide what stays.
Fixed written price
One all-in figure. Any change is agreed before loading, never after.
Cleared and handed back
Room by room, keep-list items set aside, swept and ready.
Probate house clearance: your questions answered
Can you clear a house before probate is granted?
Often, yes, but it is the executor’s decision and it is worth taking advice first. GOV.UK says the estate has to be valued before you apply for probate, so many executors have the contents valued, remove anything valuable or left to someone in the will, and then clear the rest. We work to whatever stage you are at and take instructions only from the person handling the estate.
How much does a probate house clearance cost?
It is priced by the size of the property and how full it is, just like any clearance. As a guide, a single room starts from £195, a one-bed flat from £395, a two-bed home from £595 and a full house from £850. You get a fixed price from photos, a video call or a visit before anything is booked, and labour, transport and disposal are included.
Do you need someone to be at the property?
Not necessarily. Many executors live some distance away. We can collect keys from a solicitor, estate agent or neighbour and work from a written list of what stays and what goes. Most families like to walk through the house with us first, either in person or on a video call.
What happens to the furniture and belongings?
Anything on your keep list is set aside and never loaded. Usable furniture and household items can go to reuse or charity where suitable. Metal, wood, cardboard, textiles and electricals are taken to licensed recycling centres and transfer stations. Upholstered seating has to be incinerated by law. We can provide waste transfer paperwork on request so the estate’s duty of care is documented.
Will you find documents and valuables?
We keep watch for the things that are easy to miss in a lifetime’s belongings: paperwork, photographs, cash tucked into books, jewellery in drawers and documents behind furniture. Anything like that is put aside for you, not thrown away. We would still suggest the family or executor does a first pass for wills, bank papers and items of sentimental value.
Do you buy or value contents?
No. We are a clearance crew, not valuers or dealers, so we do not offset the price against items we take. If you think something may be valuable, such as antiques, jewellery, art or collections, have it valued by an auction house or valuer first and keep it out of the clearance.
How quickly can you clear a house for an estate?
Many clearances can be booked within a few days and are completed in one visit. A larger or fuller house can be split across days, or timed around a valuation, a family visit or an estate agent’s photos.
Which areas do you cover for probate clearances?
We are based in Uxbridge and clear homes across Hillingdon, west London and South Buckinghamshire: Uxbridge, Ruislip, Northwood, Hayes, West Drayton, Ickenham, Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield, the Chalfonts, Denham, Iver, Slough, Ealing, Harrow and nearby areas.
Where we carry out probate clearances
Probate and bereavement clearances across Hillingdon, west London and South Buckinghamshire from our Uxbridge (UB8) base.
What the price includes — and what it doesn't
The most common complaint about clearance companies is a price that grows once the van is loaded. So here is the whole of ours, before you book, including the parts that cost extra.
Included in the price we quote
No line of this is billed separately afterwards.
- Labour — the crew, the carrying and the loading.
- The van, the fuel, ULEZ and the congestion charge — London charges are ours, not yours.
- Disposal and recycling of the load — the tipping cost is inside the price.
- Access from anywhere on the property — any room, up or down stairs, or out of the garden.
- VAT — the price you are shown is the price you pay.
- Waste transfer paperwork for your load, on request — so your duty of care is documented.
Priced separately, or not carried at all
Told to you up front, never discovered on the invoice.
- Upholstered seating and mattresses carry their own disposal fee, because the law forces them down a more expensive route than the rest of your load. The amount is on our pricing page before you book.
- Hazardous items — paint, chemicals, asbestos, tyres and gas bottles cannot travel in a general load and need a specialist route. We will tell you which one.
- Fridges, freezers and electricals have a separate WEEE route — flag them when you book so we arrive with the right van.
- Anything flammable, explosive, illegal, or alive — we cannot carry it, and we will say so before the day.
If there turns out to be more than we quoted for, you hear the new price before anything goes in the van — not once it is loaded, and not on the invoice. The same goes for access: tell us when you book if your street is permit-only or on a red route, or if the job is above the third floor with no lift, and we plan for it instead of pricing round it on the day.
What happens to your waste after we drive away
Most clearance companies stop this story at the word "recycled". Here is the actual route your load takes, including the part of it that nobody advertises.
It goes in by hand
Everything is carried out and loaded by the crew — from the room, the garden or the kerbside. What is in the load matters, because what is in it decides where it is legally allowed to go.
Sorted, not buried
The load goes to a licensed transfer station or recycling centre, where it is separated by material. It is not tipped straight into a hole in the ground.
Recovered by material
Metal, wood, cardboard, textiles and electricals are pulled out for recycling or recovery. Green waste is composted.
The bit nobody advertises
Upholstered furniture cannot be recycled at all. Since January 2023 the Environment Agency presumes every domestic sofa, armchair and padded dining chair contains persistent organic pollutants, so it must be kept apart from other waste and incinerated — never landfilled, never shredded for reuse. That law, not a markup, is why soft seating carries its own fee. Whatever is genuinely left after sorting goes to energy recovery.
- Metal
- Wood
- Cardboard & paper
- Textiles
- Electricals (WEEE)
- Green waste
We do not publish a recycling percentage. You will see "90% diverted from landfill" on a lot of clearance websites. The sorting happens at the transfer station, after our van has left, and we are not going to take credit for a figure we cannot evidence. What we can give you is the route your load takes and the paperwork for it — and if you want to check who handles it, ask us to identify the registered carrier for your collection and verify them on the Environment Agency public register before we load.
Proof, not adjectives
Anyone can type "trusted" and "reliable" onto a website. These are the things about us you can actually check.
We are a small London crew, not a national booking platform, and we are not going to pretend otherwise: we have 27 five-star reviews on Google and 3 on Yell. That is all of them. Every one is public, unedited and one tap away — which is worth rather more than a five-figure review count you have no way of reading.
Harlesden NW10Kerbside clearance, done the same dayBagged household waste, flattened cardboard and moulded packaging cleared off the pavement outside a terraced property — no skip, no permit, no waiting.Read the job →
Ealing W5A garden full of tree cuttingsPalm and cordyline cuttings and branches stacked along the pavement, loaded by hand and taken away for composting and recycling.Read the job →Related services
Rubbish Removal
One-off household and garden rubbish loads.
Waste Removal
Household, commercial and trade waste by the load.
Sofa & Mattress Disposal
Single bulky furniture and mattress removals.
Garden Waste Removal
Green waste and garden clear-outs.
Man and Van
Move belongings on the same visit, from £89/hr.
Storage Solutions
Store what you keep while you clear the rest.
Talk to us about a probate clearance
Call or send a few photos on WhatsApp. We will talk you through it and give you a fixed price, with no obligation and no pressure.