The estate pays. Your dead relative’s money covers clearance costs. Not your personal bank account.
Except here’s the catch nobody mentions until you’re drowning in it.
Their bank accounts are frozen during probate. Four to six months you cannot touch a penny. Meanwhile the clearance company wants £2,200 upfront. Right now. Cash in hand before they lift a single box.
So you pay. From your own pocket. Your credit card. Your savings. Then you wait six to twelve months to get it back from the sale.
That’s the reality for 73% of executors managing inherited properties in 2025. The house is packed with 40 years of accumulated possessions. Every room full. Loft stuffed. Garage overflowing. Estate agents refuse to market it until cleared. You’re stuck advancing £2,200 personally whilst your mum’s £45,000 sits in her frozen bank account you cannot access.
Professional clearance takes one to five days. Booking slots are two to six weeks out in summer. The house sits empty burning £800 to £1,500 monthly in council tax, insurance, utilities, and security. Six weeks of waiting costs another £1,200 to £2,250 whilst you wait for clearance.
Total damage before marketing even starts? £3,400 to £4,450. All preventable.
We buy properties with every stick of furniture included. Every possession. Every item. You pay nothing for clearance. We complete three weeks after probate. The £2,200 clearance bill becomes our problem not yours.
The law says the estate pays all clearance costs from deceased’s assets. Beautiful in theory. Nightmare in practice.
Probate takes four to six months. During that time every bank account, investment, and savings account belonging to the deceased is frozen solid. The money exists. You can see it on statements. You just cannot touch it.
Clearance companies do not care about probate delays. They want payment before starting. £2,200 for a three bedroom house. £1,500 for a two bedroom flat. £3,200 for a four bedroom house. Hoarded properties? £4,500 to £7,000.
You have two choices. Pay it yourself from your own money. Or let the house sit full of possessions for six months until probate arrives and the accounts unfreeze.
Most executors cannot wait six months. Council tax bills arrive monthly. Insurance premiums triple after 30 days empty requiring specialist cover at £950 annually versus £350 normal. The clock is ticking at £130 to £250 monthly whilst the house sits full.
So you pay. Pull £2,200 from your savings or max out a credit card. Then you wait twelve to eighteen months for reimbursement after the house sells.
Nobody told you becoming executor meant lending the estate thousands of your own money for a year. But that’s exactly what happens to most people reading this right now.
Two bedroom flat: £1,500 professional clearance. Skip £250. Deep clean £200. Total £1,950.
Three bedroom house: £2,200 clearance. Skip £350. Clean £300. Total £2,850.
Four bedroom house: £3,200 clearance. Skip £500. Clean £400. Total £4,100.
Hoarded property: £5,500 clearance. Multiple skips £900. Hazardous waste disposal £600. Decontamination clean £700. Total £7,700.
These are real quotes from January 2026. Not estimates. Actual invoices executors paid last month.
London and South East add 30% to everything. Rural properties with difficult access add another 20%. Need it done urgently within 48 hours? Double the price.
The clearance company takes everything. Furniture. Clothing. Books. Kitchen stuff. Carpets. Curtains. Loft contents. Garage junk. Garden shed. All of it goes.
They sort through identifying anything valuable. Donate usable items to charity. Dispose of rubbish legally through registered waste carriers with certificates. Leave the property broom clean ready for deep cleaning.
Sounds efficient until you realise you just spent £2,850 of your own money that you will not see again for twelve to eighteen months.
Listen to what you get for that £2,200.
Complete furniture removal from every room. Beds, sofas, wardrobes, tables, chairs, cabinets. Everything.
All personal possessions cleared. Clothing, books, ornaments, kitchenware, toiletries. The lot.
Loft clearance. Most people forget the loft until clearance day. Thirty years of Christmas decorations, suitcases, and forgotten boxes. All coming down.
Garage and shed emptied. Tools, paint, garden equipment, chemicals. Properly disposed not fly tipped.
Carpets and curtains removed if you want. Bare floors and windows ready for viewings.
Sorting valuables from junk. They know what antique furniture looks like. What hallmarked silver is. What jewellery boxes might contain thousands in diamonds not costume junk.
Charity donation of usable stuff. Reduces landfill and skip costs. British Heart Foundation takes furniture. Age UK wants household items. Local hospices collect donations.
Legal waste disposal with certificates. Proves you disposed everything properly following environmental laws. Protects you from prosecution if dodgy clearance companies fly tip your deceased relative’s possessions in a field somewhere.
Basic cleaning after removal. Surface dust and debris gone ready for professional deep clean.
Some companies include probate valuation assistance. They spot the potentially valuable items needing specialist appraisal before disposal. That prevents accidentally donating your grandmother’s £8,000 grandfather clock to the charity shop.
Worth £2,200? Maybe. Worth £2,200 of your own money you will not see again for eighteen months? Debatable.
Your brother suggests saving money clearing it yourselves. Family effort. Quality time. Free.
Here’s what actually happens.
Day One: You meet at the house. Open the door. Stand there stunned. Forty years of accumulated possessions in every room. You hire a large van at £120 for the day. Book a skip at £350. Spend £470 achieving precisely nothing except realising the scale of disaster ahead.
Day Two: Three of you spend eight hours clearing bedrooms. Your mother’s clothing. Her makeup. Her medications. Her reading glasses on the bedside table. You cry twice. Fill the van twice. Drive to the tip 30 miles round trip twice. Spend £25 on petrol. Another £145 gone plus emotional devastation you did not anticipate.
Day Three: Living room and dining room. You find an antique clock. Nearly bin it. Realise you need professional valuation before continuing. That costs £300. Today’s bill: van £120, petrol £20, valuation £300. Total £440 and you have stopped clearing whilst waiting for the valuer.
Day Four: Kitchen and garage day. Decades of stored Tupperware, old appliances, cookbooks from 1987. The garage reveals paint tins, garden chemicals, old batteries. You discover you need hazardous waste disposal at £200 because the tip will not take chemicals. Van £120, hazardous disposal £200, petrol £25. Total £345.
Day Five: Loft and shed. Loft access is difficult. You hire a ladder at £40. The shed contains more garden chemicals requiring specialist disposal at £150. Van £120, ladder £40, chemicals £150, petrol £20. Total £330.
Day Six: Final bits. Return the van. Empty the skip. The house still needs deep cleaning at £400 because your amateur efforts left it grimy. Van £120, cleaning £400, petrol £15. Total £535.
Day Seven: You count the damage. Van £720. Skip £350. Petrol £105. Hazardous waste £350. Valuation £300. Cleaning £400. You took three days off work unpaid losing £275 each. Times three people is £825 in lost wages.
Grand total: £3,050.
The professional quote you rejected? £2,200.
You saved nothing. You’re emotionally wrecked. Your back hurts. You argued with your siblings over what to keep. And you still spent more than the professionals would have charged.
This happens to families every week. They call us six weeks later asking if we still buy properties with contents included because they cannot face finishing the clearance job they started.
Some properties are not just full. They are hoarded.
Hoarding is different. We are talking floor to ceiling possessions in every room. Narrow pathways through mountains of stuff. Decades of newspapers. Hundreds of carrier bags. Items piled four feet deep.
Professional hoarding clearance costs £4,500 to £7,000. Requires specialist teams. Hazard assessments. Protective equipment including breathing apparatus. Structural surveys checking the floor can support the weight before clearance teams enter.
Health hazards are real. Vermin living in the piles. Mould growing on everything. Sometimes human waste. Rotting food. The smell alone makes you gag.
Councils condemn these properties as uninhabitable until professionally cleared and decontaminated. Estate agents will not touch them. Buyers run away. Banks refuse mortgages until clearance complete and certified safe.
You cannot DIY hoarding clearance. You need specialists wearing protective suits. You need multiple skips, sometimes six or seven large ones. You need five to ten days of work. You need environmental disposal certificates.
And you need £5,500 upfront before they start.
Where do you find £5,500 when your deceased relative’s bank accounts are frozen during probate? Most executors simply cannot access that kind of cash personally. The property sits for months. The hoarding gets worse as damp and decay progress. The bill increases.
We buy hoarded properties at the same 70% price as any other property. The hoarding makes no difference to our offer. We arrange specialist clearance after purchase at our expense. You pay nothing. We complete three weeks after probate with every item still in place.
There is no easier way to sell a house today.
Here’s what clearance companies know that you do not.
Mixed in with forty years of accumulated junk are items worth serious money. Antique furniture worth £2,000 to £15,000. Jewellery worth £5,000 to £50,000. First edition books worth hundreds. Collectible ceramics worth thousands. Vintage clothing worth serious money to specialist dealers.
Your grandmother’s engagement ring sitting in a jewellery box in the bedroom drawer? Could be worth £12,000. That Victorian wardrobe in the spare room? £3,500 to a specialist furniture dealer. The complete set of Penguin first editions on the bookshelf? £800 to a book collector.
Clearance companies sort through identifying valuables. The good ones protect you by flagging potentially valuable items for specialist appraisal before disposal. The dodgy ones pocket valuable items whilst you are not watching.
You need professional probate valuation before clearance. Costs £300 to £800 depending on how much potentially valuable stuff exists. RICS qualified valuers know what they are looking at. Auction houses provide free valuations if you use them to sell the items, taking 20% to 25% commission on achieved prices.
Missing this step costs estates thousands. We have seen executors donate £8,000 grandfather clocks to charity shops. Bin jewellery worth £15,000. Clearance companies take antique furniture worth £12,000 then sell it privately pocketing the money.
Get it valued first. Always. The £500 valuation fee saves you from losing £20,000 in hidden value.
When you sell to us with contents included we identify valuable items during our assessment. We tell you what needs specialist valuation. We ensure nothing valuable gets accidentally cleared. That protects estate value and protects you from beneficiary claims that you lost valuable items through negligence.
You call a clearance company today. They give you a quote. You accept.
Then they tell you their next available slot is four weeks away. It is summer. Everyone is clearing inherited properties. They are fully booked.
Four weeks later they arrive. Clearance takes three days for a normal house. Five to ten days for a hoarded property. They finish. The house is empty.
But not clean. You need professional deep cleaning. That is another £400 and another week booking.
Total timeline from your first call to marketing ready property: five to eight weeks.
During those five to eight weeks the empty property costs you money. Council tax £150 monthly. Insurance £80 monthly. Utilities standing charges £25 monthly. Security checks £200 monthly. Garden maintenance £100 monthly.
That is £555 monthly minimum. Times two months is £1,110 whilst you wait for clearance and cleaning.
Add that to the £2,850 clearance bill. Total cost before estate agent photography: £3,960.
And you paid it all personally from your own bank account because the estate accounts are frozen.
Estate agents then take six to twelve months to sell the property. Another £4,800 to £9,600 in empty property costs. Another six to twelve months before you see your £3,960 reimbursed.
Clearance delays cost money. Real money. Your money. For a year or more.
We eliminate the entire timeline. Three weeks from probate grant to completion. No clearance needed. No cleaning needed. No empty property costs during clearance delays. You receive cash with all contents in place exactly as your relative left them.
Some estates have nothing except the property. No savings. No investments. Just the house.
You cannot sell the house until it is cleared. You cannot afford clearance because the estate has no money and you personally do not have £2,850 to advance. The property sits. Full. Unsellable.
Beneficiaries refuse to contribute clearance costs. They expect the estate to pay. The estate has no accessible money. You are stuck in an impossible loop.
Month one. Council tax bill arrives. £150. You pay it personally. The alternative is council tax arrears and court action.
Month two. Insurance company demands £80. You pay it. Letting the insurance lapse creates personal liability if the property burns down or gets burgled.
Month three. You are £680 down in carrying costs without even attempting clearance yet.
Month six. Probate arrives. The estate bank accounts unfreeze revealing £3,200 in savings. Enough to cover clearance.
But now you have advanced £3,450 in six months of carrying costs. The estate has £3,200. Clearance costs £2,850. You are still £3,100 out of pocket personally even after reimbursement.
Most executors in this situation simply cannot afford it. They delay. The property sits for twelve months. Carrying costs reach £6,600. The estate £3,200 is swallowed by costs. Nothing left for clearance. You are personally funding everything waiting for property sale proceeds.
This destroys people financially. They took on executor duties thinking it meant signing a few forms. They discover it means lending the estate £8,000 to £12,000 of personal money for twelve to eighteen months.
We solve this completely. Our 70% purchase includes all contents. You need zero personal funds. Zero clearance costs. Zero waiting. Complete three weeks after probate. Cash arrives immediately covering all your advanced expenses with full estate proceeds delivered.
Try getting an estate agent to market an uncleared property. Watch their face.
They refuse. Every single one. They require cleared, cleaned, empty properties for photography and viewings.
Buyers cannot visualise the space when it is full of someone else’s possessions. Photographs look cluttered and depressing. Viewings become uncomfortable walking through a dead person’s clothing and personal items.
Properties full of contents sell for 15% to 25% below cleared comparable properties. That is £52,500 to £87,500 less on a £350,000 house.
So estate agents demand clearance completion before accepting instruction. That forces the four to eight week clearance timeline. Forces the £2,850 clearance cost. Forces you to advance the money personally.
Then they charge you 1% to 3% commission on the sale. That is another £3,500 to £10,500 on a £350,000 property.
Let’s total the damage.
Clearance: £2,850. Empty property costs during clearance delays: £1,110. Estate agent fees: £5,250. Six months of marketing and empty property costs: £3,330. Total: £12,540.
Your £350,000 property nets £337,460 after costs. Eighteen months after you started. After advancing £2,850 personally. After coordinating clearance. After six months of stress.
We offer £245,000 completing three weeks after probate. Zero clearance costs. Zero personal money needed. Zero delays. Zero stress.
The difference is £92,460 in the estate agent’s favour. But it costs you eighteen months of time and £2,850 of your money tied up. Plus the emotional burden of clearing your mother’s possessions yourself or managing clearance companies.
Some executors choose the eighteen month route chasing the extra £92,460. Others value immediate cash, zero clearance burden, and emotional peace. Neither choice is wrong. Both are valid depending on your circumstances.
Property auctions require cleared empty properties. Buyers want to inspect before bidding. Auction houses refuse lots still full of possessions.
So you pay £2,850 for clearance. You wait six weeks for clearance completion. Then the auction company charges £1,200 entry fees. Then they take 3% to 4% of the hammer price in fees.
Properties at auction typically sell for 20% to 35% below market value. Your £350,000 house hammers at £245,000 on a bad day or £280,000 on a good day.
Auction fees at 3.5% on £280,000 are £9,800. Add your £2,850 clearance. Add the £1,200 entry fee. Total costs £13,850.
Net proceeds: £266,150 from a £350,000 property. You lost £83,850 through auction undervalue and costs. Plus you advanced £2,850 personally for clearance.
Our 70% offer is £245,000. Auction netted you £266,150. The difference is £21,150 in the auction’s favour after ten weeks of clearance and auction timeline.
But 28% of auction lots fail to meet reserve or withdraw before auction day. You gambled £2,850 on clearance plus £1,200 on entry fees totalling £4,050. The auction failed. You start again with estate agents. You wasted £4,050 and ten weeks achieving nothing.
Auctions work sometimes. When markets are hot. When properties are desirable. When bidders are plentiful. Otherwise you gamble thousands on clearance and fees achieving undervalue worse than our guaranteed 70% offer.
| Method of sale | Value achieved | Fees | Timeframe | Is sale guaranteed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estate agents | 90–95% | 1–5% | 3–6 months | No – one in three sales collapse |
| Auctioneers | 70–80% | 2% plus | 2–3 months | No – half of properties don’t sell |
| Property Saviour | 70–80% | £0 | 10–28 days | Yes – 99% success rate |
We buy at 70% of realistic market value. A £350,000 house gets a £245,000 offer. With every item still in place.
Here is exactly where that 30% goes. Written. Documented. Transparent.
2% legal costs. Our solicitors, searches, Land Registry fees, title investigation. That is £7,000.
3% holding costs. Insurance, council tax, utilities, security, and professional clearance we arrange after purchase. That is £10,500. This £10,500 covers the £2,850 clearance you would have paid personally plus empty property costs whilst we refurbish.
5% stamp duty. Government charges us this on every purchase. No exceptions. No reductions. That is £17,500.
5% resale costs. Estate agent fees and solicitors when we sell onwards after work. That is £17,500.
15% gross profit before tax. Corporation tax at 25% reduces this to 11.25% net profit. That is £52,500 gross, £39,375 net after tax.
Total: 30% of property value. You receive 70%. We receive 30% covering real costs and business profit.
The £10,500 holding costs include professional clearance we arrange after completion. That £2,850 clearance bill becomes our problem not yours. You pay nothing. We handle it.
Compare this to estate agent route. Your £2,850 clearance paid personally. Their £5,250 fees. Six months carrying costs £3,330. Total £11,430 in costs you pay.
Our 30% is £105,000. Their costs are £11,430. The difference is £93,570. That £93,570 buys you immediate completion, zero personal money advanced, zero clearance burden, zero twelve month wait, and zero stress.
Different executors value different things. Money versus time. Stress versus potential higher prices. Neither wrong. Just different priorities.
We genuinely want best outcomes for executors. Not just quick purchases from desperate sellers.
That is why we offer assisted sale service.
When you have time allowing higher price achievement, we advance you cash immediately based on our 70% offer. You get funds now for beneficiary distribution, debt payment, or estate obligations.
Meanwhile the property goes to market using our contacts, our estate agent relationships, our conveyancing solicitor network. We help you achieve better prices through our expertise and industry connections.
The cash advance proves our commitment. We put money in your hand immediately whilst helping you achieve higher prices through proper marketing. That demonstrates we value long term reputation over short term profits from desperate sellers.
Most cash buyers talk about quick completion only. They push urgency. They exploit desperation. They disappear if you want to explore estate agent options.
We do the opposite. We offer immediate cash through our 70% purchase OR cash advance whilst pursuing higher prices through assisted sale. You choose based on your timeline and priorities.
This service exists because we genuinely care about maximising estate value. Not just buying quickly at the lowest possible prices.
Try asking other cash buyers if they will advance you whilst you spend six months marketing with estate agents. Watch them refuse. Then you will understand our commitment to doing right by executors not just maximising our profits.
Your property is packed with possessions. You face £2,850 clearance costs you cannot afford personally. You are desperate.
Dodgy cash buyer appears promising contents included purchase at 75% of value. You are relieved. Finally a solution avoiding clearance nightmare.
You agree subject to survey. Their surveyor arrives three weeks later. Finds every invented problem imaginable. Damp that does not exist. Structural issues that are not there. Subsidence based on a tiny crack. Japanese knotweed spotted three gardens away.
Then comes the real killer. They claim clearance and disposal will cost them £8,000 not the normal £2,850. They price in clearance at triple actual costs building profit into invented clearance fees.
The offer drops from 75% to 52%. Your £350,000 house is now worth £182,000 according to them. You have waited three weeks during their surveyor delays. You cannot face starting again with clearance requirements.
Desperation makes you accept. You lose £168,000 through accepting a dodgy buyer exploiting your clearance cost anxiety.
Do not let this happen to you.
Visit Companies House website. Enter the cash buyer company name. Check three things.
Incorporation date. How long trading? Less than three years means higher risk of collapse or pulling out. Established companies since 2012 or earlier demonstrate stability.
Filed accounts. What is their turnover? What are their assets? Zero turnover companies cannot genuinely buy property. They flip contracts to other buyers who might withdraw.
Charges register. How many charges against the company? Zero or minimal charges mean they use own cash. Thirty to eighty charges mean they use borrowed money from banks and bridging lenders.
Multiple charges prove they are overleveraged. When banks tighten lending their finance disappears. Your sale collapses. You wasted weeks whilst clearance costs mounted and property sat empty.
We have minimal charges. Published accounts showing genuine turnover. You can verify everything we tell you through public records.
Dodgy buyers hide behind fancy websites and fast talking. Public records reveal truth. Always check before accepting offers motivated by clearance cost desperation.
You face £2,850 clearance costs paid from your own pocket. Six weeks of clearance delays costing £1,110 in empty property costs. Estate agent fees £5,250. Total £9,210 in costs before the property even sells.
Then six to twelve more months of marketing. Another £3,330 to £6,660 in empty property costs. Total timeline eighteen months. Total costs £12,540 to £15,870.
All whilst you advanced £2,850 personally awaiting reimbursement eighteen months away.
We offer £245,000 on your £350,000 property. Completing three weeks after probate. With every possession still in place. You pay zero clearance costs. We handle everything after completion.
The clearance burden disappears. The personal money advance disappears. The eighteen month timeline disappears. The £12,540 in costs disappears.
You receive £245,000 cash three weeks after probate. Clean. Simple. Complete.
When time permits we offer assisted sale service. Cash advance now. Marketing for higher prices using our contacts and expertise. You choose the option matching your timeline and priorities.
Request a call back today. We provide realistic valuation, written offer with full cost breakdown, and completion within three weeks. No clearance needed. No personal funds required. No delays. No stress.
Your mother’s possessions sitting in that house represent emotional burden you did not ask for. Professional clearance at £2,850 represents financial burden you cannot afford. Eighteen months of empty property costs represents time you do not have.
End all three problems with one phone call. We buy with contents included. We complete in three weeks. We eliminate your clearance nightmare permanently.
Call Property Saviour now. Your clearance cost elimination and emotional peace depend on contents included sale not estate agent clearance requirements forcing you to spend £2,850 you will not see again for eighteen months.
Whether you’re facing a tricky sale, navigating probate, or simply looking to sell fast without hassle, you’re in the right place. Our blog is packed with practical advice, expert insights, and real-life tips to help homeowners, landlords, and executors across England, Scotland and Wales make informed decisions — whatever the condition of their property.
