Probate house clearance checklist

Who this checklist is for

This guide is for executors, administrators and families dealing with a Cornish house after a death. It is also for solicitors and relatives who are helping from elsewhere in the UK or from overseas.

It is a practical list for the building and its contents. It is not legal advice. Nothing here tells you when to apply for probate, how to value an estate for tax, or how to divide property between beneficiaries. Those questions depend on the will, the intestacy rules if there is no will, and the estate itself. Official starting points are applying for probate and inheritance tax on GOV.UK. For a specific estate, speak to a solicitor or licensed probate practitioner.

The service page for probate house clearance explains how we approach this work. Clearing an inherited property covers the wider family decisions. This page is the longer checklist.

Valuation is not the same as clearance

Two jobs are routinely mixed up. Mixing them up is how estates lose both time and objects.

Valuation of potentially valuable contents is about whether jewellery, watches, silver, artwork, antique furniture, collections or other objects need a professional opinion. That opinion may be for tax, for a fair split between beneficiaries, or simply so that something of value is not treated as waste. Age is not a reliable guide. A large Victorian wardrobe can be hard to sell; a small box of jewellery can matter more to the estate.

Clearing unwanted contents is the physical removal of what remains once those decisions have been made: furniture nobody is keeping, ordinary household goods, residual waste, and — if you ask for them — lofts, garages and gardens.

Do the first job, or at least a careful search, before you instruct the second. We can look out for categories that commonly deserve a second look. We do not replace a specialist valuer. See identifying items that may have resale value.

If the family is still deciding room by room, a bereavement clearance may be a better description of the pace than a single empty-the-house date.

Confirm authority before you book

Before anyone is instructed to empty a house, be clear about who is allowed to give that instruction. Executors named in a will, administrators appointed where there is no will, and people acting through a solicitor are the usual positions. Beneficiaries who are not executors often have strong views; they do not automatically have authority to dispose of the estate’s goods.

This is one of the points where professional legal advice is worth taking if there is any doubt. A clearance company should not be asked to referee a family dispute.

Write down:

• who is instructing the clearance
• who holds keys
• who will answer questions on the day
• how other family members will be told what is happening

Documents to find first

Search the house before a clearance date is set. Typical hiding places are desks, bedside drawers, tins, loft boxes, files under the stairs and envelopes in books.

Look for:

• the will, any codicil, and any list of specific gifts
• letters of wishes
• passports, driving licences and other identity documents
• title deeds, leases and property correspondence
• birth, marriage and death certificates
• bank, building society, pension and investment paperwork
• tax records and National Insurance details
• insurance policies, including any contents or jewellery schedules
• funeral papers and invoices already paid
• address books, solicitor’s details and accountant’s details
• keys, including those for sheds, garages, padlocks and neighbours’ houses

Keep this material together and off the clearance list. You do not need to understand every document on the first pass. You do need it out of the path of a van.

Personal possessions, photographs and jewellery

These are the items families most often regret losing, and they are the items most often in drawers rather than on display.

• Photographs, albums, slides, loose prints and digital media (USBs, old phones, cameras)
• Jewellery, watches, cufflinks and objects that look like costume jewellery (do not assume they are)
• Spectacles, hearing aids and dentures, which relatives sometimes want
• Medals, certificates and service records
• Letters, diaries and personal papers
• Religious items
• Clothing that has been specifically asked for

Medication should be taken out of the house and disposed of through a pharmacy, not left for a clearance. Personal data — paper files, computers, phones — should be identified before they leave. See what to keep before a house clearance.

Collectables, antiques and furniture

Walk the house looking for categories, not for a price in your head:

• silver, plate, coins, stamps and ceramics
• paintings, prints and sculpture
• musical instruments
• clocks
• tools and workshop contents that may have a market
• furniture that is antique, designer, or simply wanted by a beneficiary
• garden sculpture and architectural pieces

Then ask a separate question: has anyone asked to keep this? A dining table with no sale value can still be a gift someone is waiting for.

Named gifts in a will should be physically separated or labelled. Items beneficiaries have asked for should be treated the same way, even if the will does not mention them. If two people want the same object, that is an estate decision, not a clearance decision. Set the object aside.

Reuse and residual waste

Once documents, personal possessions, gifts and potentially valuable items are out of the way, the remaining household contents can be considered for reuse, then recycling, then disposal. That order is explained in what happens to house clearance items and on the reuse and recycling page.

Do not treat the leftover furniture as worthless by default. Do not assume that everything left is going to a new home either. Residual waste is a normal part of a probate house. We do not describe this as zero waste.

Hazardous materials

Executors inherit the shed as well as the sitting room. Look for asbestos-suspect materials, gas cylinders, oils, solvents, pesticides, clinical waste and old batteries. Mention them before anyone quotes. Some of these need specialist handling. Do not break up material you suspect contains asbestos.

Access, photographs and the property itself

Cornwall probate houses are often empty, damp and a long way from the executor. Photograph:

• every room you want cleared
• the loft hatch and what you can see inside
• garages, sheds and the garden
• the lane, drive or parking

Note stairs, parking, a long carry, and whether the house has been unoccupied. If you cannot visit, use the sequence on house clearance when you live outside Cornwall. We do not assume keys can be collected from an agent or a key safe unless that arrangement exists and has been agreed.

Utilities, insurance and security of a vacant house are the executor’s responsibility, not part of a clearance quote. Get advice if you are unsure what cover remains after a death.

The checklist in order

Use this as a working list. Tick what applies.

1. Confirm who has authority to instruct a clearance.
2. Locate the will and any list of specific gifts.
3. Take professional legal or tax advice if the estate needs it — including whether contents must be valued.
4. Search for documents, keys, identity papers and financial records.
5. Remove medication and identify devices that hold personal data.
6. Set aside photographs, jewellery and clearly personal objects.
7. Ask beneficiaries what they want retained, and write it down.
8. Separate named gifts and requested pieces from the general contents.
9. Decide whether jewellery, silver, artwork, collections or furniture need a professional valuation.
10. Note hazardous materials.
11. Photograph rooms, loft, garage, garden and the approach.
12. Describe access: parking, stairs, lanes, distance to a vehicle.
13. Decide which rooms and outbuildings are included.
14. Only then arrange removal of what is unwanted.

The shorter preparation list on prepare for house clearance covers the same ground for any clearance, not only probate.

Timing

There is no single correct week to empty a house. Clearing too early can remove items that still need identifying. Clearing too late can leave a vacant property accumulating damp, post and security problems. Timing for sale, for a grant of probate, and for tax is an estate question. Official guidance on probate and inheritance tax is the place to start; an adviser can apply it to the estate you are dealing with.

If the house will be sold after it is emptied, read house clearance before selling before you book agent photographs. Clearance empties rooms. It does not by itself increase the sale price.

When you are ready

Send the postcode, photographs and a written list of what must stay. That is enough to discuss a probate house clearance through get a quote. You do not need every cupboard emptied before you write. You do need the irreversible searches done first.