Property and the estate
Probate house clearance: what you can remove before the grant, and what it costs
Written and reviewed by our experienced team. Checked against GOV.UK and the sources listed at the end on 15 September 2026. ProbateCheck is an independent service, not a law firm.
You can clear a house before probate is granted, but the contents belong to the estate and the executors are legally responsible for them from the date of death, so inventory and value anything worth money before it leaves. HMRC values household goods at what they would sell for, not insurance value. Clearance firms we checked on 15 September 2026 publish prices from £35 plus VAT for a single item to £399 to £480 including VAT for a full van load; charity clearances start from £400.
There is no rule that a house must stay untouched until the grant arrives. The rules that do exist are about who has authority, what the estate has to declare to HMRC, and not disposing of things that belong to someone else under the will. Checked against the sources listed at the foot of this page on 15 September 2026.
Who is allowed to clear the house, and when
- Executors named in a will have authority from the date of death, because their powers come from the will rather than the grant (Law Society). They can secure the property, remove perishables and start sorting, and they are responsible for the estate's assets from the day of death (GOV.UK).
- Where there is no will, nobody has authority until letters of administration are issued; until then the legal estate is held by the Public Trustee (HM Land Registry practice guide 6). Family can secure the property and protect it, but a full clearance or sale of contents should wait for the grant.
- If you are an executor who may not want to act, be careful: renouncing on form PA15 requires you to declare that you have not "intermeddled" in the estate, which the form defines as having been involved in the deceased's financial affairs since the death. Selling the contents before you decide can close off that option. See renouncing as executor.
- If the person rented, the tenancy and the landlord's notice period set the practical deadline; ask the landlord in writing how long you have before you book anyone.
Before anything leaves the house
Find the will and the paperwork
The original will is needed for the probate application; a photocopy will not do, and GOV.UK says not to destroy copies of earlier wills until probate has been received. Keep bank statements, share certificates, pension letters, deeds, insurance documents, passports and utility bills: all of them are needed to value the estate or close accounts.
Photograph every room and make an inventory
A dated room-by-room list, with photos, is your evidence of what was there. It protects the executor if a beneficiary later asks where something went, and it is the basis of the household-goods figure on the Inheritance Tax forms.
Value anything that would sell
GOV.UK's instruction for household and personal items is to work out how much you would have got if you had sold them, and suggests checking similar items on online marketplaces. Antiques, jewellery, paintings, collections and vehicles are the usual candidates. A clearance firm's probate valuation service (Clearance Solutions publish from £350 plus VAT, with inventories at £50 plus VAT an hour) or an auction house can do this for you.
Set aside specific gifts
If the will leaves named items to named people ("my ring to my niece"), those items are not the executor's to dispose of. Separate and label them before the clearance team arrives.
Then clear, donate or sell
What is left can be sold, donated or removed. Keep the receipts and the sale proceeds record: HMRC's form IHT407 asks for the gross sale proceeds of anything sold, and if something was sold for less than its market value the full open market value still has to be declared.
What the clearance itself costs, checked 15 September 2026
| Firm | Published price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Junk Hunters (London and UK) | 1 cubic yard £96; quarter load (4 yards) £192; half load (7 yards) £264; full 14-yard truck £456; 18-yard 7.5-tonne truck £540. All including VAT (£80, £160, £220, £380 and £450 before VAT). | Fridges £60 and mattresses £35 extra before VAT. Pay after the collection. |
| Cullens House Clearance (London and Surrey) | Single small item from £35 plus VAT; quarter load (250 kg) from £95; half load (500 kg) from £195; three-quarter load from £295; full load (1,000 kg) from £400 plus VAT, all within 5 miles (from £120, £225, £350 and £450 within 10 miles). Heavy waste is priced separately, up to about £515 plus VAT for a full load. | The most detailed published probate price list we found. Regional. |
| Junk Monsters (Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Chippenham, Chepstow) | Minimum load £59; quarter load £169; half load £269; three-quarter load £329; full load £399. | Regional only. VAT position not stated on the page. Mattresses from £30, sofas from £36 extra. |
| House Clearance Heroes (Stockport, Manchester, Cheshire) | Publishes a cost build-up (labour, disposal, van, fuel, insurance, overheads) totalling £844 as the average cost to clear a property, rather than a price list. | Useful as a sanity check on quotes: the firm's own point is that a much cheaper quote may mean fly-tipping, for which the householder can be fined. |
| British Heart Foundation house clearance | From £400, quoted after you send photos and a list. | Weekdays only, paid in advance. Separately, BHF collects saleable furniture and electricals for free; upholstered items need an intact fire label. |
| Clearance Solutions (probate specialist) | Clearance by quote. Published extras before VAT: fridge or freezer £80, mattress £40, TV £10, paint £10 a tin. Probate valuation from £350 plus VAT; inventory £50 plus VAT an hour. | One of the few firms that publish valuation and inventory prices. |
| Just Clear, LoveJunk, AnyJunk, Clearabee | Quotes vary: no current price list is published on their sites. AnyJunk's and LoveJunk's only figures are in blog posts from 2019 and 2020 and are not printed here. | Get a written quote and ask what is excluded (fridges, mattresses, paint, gas bottles are commonly extra). |
A typical two- or three-bedroom family home fills more than one van load, so the realistic range for a full clearance is several hundred pounds to over £1,000 depending on volume and hazardous items; the published full-load prices cluster between £400 and £456 including VAT in London and the South East, £399 in the Bristol area, and one Manchester firm's average for a whole property is £844. Prices copied on 15 September 2026 and will change; check the linked page.
How to keep the cost down, and stay on the right side of the rules
- Check the firm is a registered waste carrier on the Environment Agency's public register (Natural Resources Wales keeps the Welsh register). Waste that is fly-tipped can be traced back to the household it came from.
- Sell or donate the saleable furniture first (charity collections such as BHF's are free for items with fire labels), so the paid clearance is only what nobody wants.
- Separate the priced extras: fridges, freezers, mattresses, TVs, paint and gas bottles are charged on top by every firm that publishes a list.
- Get two quotes with the same photos and the same list, and ask each whether VAT and disposal are included.
- Do not pay for a valuation you do not need: for an estate well under the Inheritance Tax threshold, GOV.UK asks for a realistic estimate of selling prices, not a professional report.
Do you actually need to be dealing with this?
If you are not the executor and are not sure who is, or whether probate has already been granted to someone else, search the probate records before you clear anything. If a grant exists, the named executor or administrator is the person responsible for the contents.
Frequently asked questions
Can I clear a house before probate is granted?+
Yes, if you are an executor named in the will: your authority comes from the will and you are responsible for the estate's assets from the date of death. If there is no will, wait for letters of administration before clearing or selling contents, because nobody has authority before the grant. Either way, inventory and value the contents first.
What should I remove from the house first?+
The original will, any earlier wills, financial paperwork, deeds, share certificates, passports, jewellery and anything valuable or specifically gifted in the will. Perishables and anything that creates a risk (food, medicines, gas bottles) can go straight away.
How are household goods valued for probate?+
At what they would have sold for on the date of death. GOV.UK says to work out how much you would have got if you had sold them and to check similar items on online marketplaces. Insurance replacement values are not used. Anything actually sold must be declared at its gross sale proceeds, or at full market value if it was sold for less.
Can I sell items from the house before probate?+
Executors can, but keep a record. HMRC's form IHT407 asks for the sale proceeds of anything sold, and if an item was sold below market value the full open market value still counts. Do not sell items the will gives to a named person.
How much does a probate house clearance cost?+
Firms that publish prices charge by volume: on 15 September 2026 Junk Hunters listed £96 for one cubic yard up to £456 for a full 14-yard truck including VAT, Cullens (London and Surrey) from £35 plus VAT for a single item to £400 plus VAT for a full load, Junk Monsters (Bristol area) £59 to £399 per load, and the British Heart Foundation's clearance service starts from £400. One Manchester firm publishes £844 as its average for a whole property. Many firms quote only. A full family home is usually more than one load.
Who pays for the clearance?+
It is an expense of administering the estate, so the personal representatives arrange it and it is paid from the estate's funds. Keep the invoice with the estate accounts.
Can a family member take things before the will is read?+
There is no formal reading of the will, and until the grant the contents belong to the estate, not to any relative. Removing items without the executor's agreement can cause disputes and, if the item was gifted to someone else in the will, the executor has to recover it. Ask the executor first.
Sources checked for this guide
- GOV.UK: Dealing with the estate of someone who's died (responsible for the assets from the date of death) (read 15 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Estimate the estate's value (household items valued at what you would have got if you had sold them) (read 15 September 2026)
- HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual IHTM21011: form IHT407, household and personal goods (sale proceeds; full open market value if sold for less) (read 15 September 2026)
- GOV.UK: Applying for probate if there's a will (original will required; do not destroy earlier wills until probate is received) (read 15 September 2026)
- Law Society practice advice: executor's powers arise from the will, not the grant (read 15 September 2026)
- HM Land Registry practice guide 6 (on intestacy the legal estate vests in the Public Trustee until a grant) (read 15 September 2026)
- Form PA15 renunciation (declaration of not having intermeddled) (read 15 September 2026)
- Junk Hunters: how much it costs (read 15 September 2026)
- Junk Monsters: prices (read 15 September 2026)
- British Heart Foundation: house clearance (read 15 September 2026)
- British Heart Foundation: free furniture collection (read 15 September 2026)
- Clearance Solutions: clearance prices (read 15 September 2026)
- Cullens House Clearance: probate house clearance price list (read 15 September 2026)
- House Clearance Heroes: probate clearance services (£844 average cost build-up) (read 15 September 2026)
- Environment Agency: public registers, including registered waste carriers, brokers and dealers (read 15 September 2026)