Advice please on selling DF's house

I'd fix the damp ceiling patch because you don't want it to deteriorate further & cause more damage which would be expensive to fix. Plus, the buyers can use it to push for a much larger reduction in price than you're prepared to accept.

https://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-goods/house-clearance

Clear the house first & do any repairs and then get an valuation from 3 estate agents.

Choose the middle of the three valuations and put it up for sale in the open market. This gives you room to drop the price later if required.

The house should be marketed as a doer upper and shouldn't phase people wanting to put their own mark on a house. I'd rather buy a reno project than pay premium for someone else's taste which might not work for me.

I'm buying a similar property which was previously owned by a lady for 35 years. It requires updating but this doesn't phase ne at all.

I also bought (eBay secondhand/seconds good quality) White Company bedding, and folded bright throws and quilts on the bed ends to make it look more contemporary, and stashed some empty White Company/Jo Malone handwash in the bathrooms, along with white towels bought in White Company sale.

Plus some white silk hydrangeas (so wouldn’t die as I live 75 miles away) bought from Etsy for £15.

None of this cost much and I will use some of the bedding and towels myself later.
But it seemed to lift the place.

We still have some hardy plants there as well and the Christmas cactus did its thing over the season.

Clear the old carpets it will look more spacious and clean

I recently sold my late sister's north London, two bed garden flat as executor. She'd lived there for nearly 30 years and done nothing to it, so it was sold as a do-er upper. Loads of potential.
The advice from the estate agent was similar to @Abra1t - clear the personal clutter, but leave enough furniture to show what the rooms could accommodate.

We were told not to clear out all the furniture from my mother’s house but to cut it by about a third in each room and declutter and remove personal objects. Viewers like to see how the rooms could be used and beds are useful for showing size.

I tried to make it look less ‘elderly’ by removing ornaments and displaying more age-neutral glassware and pieces of pottery.

House clearance to get it cleared. Don't try and sort it yourself. You can ask them to keep back anything like paperwork or photographs to go through yourself. The one we used would sell anything valuable at auction, take commission, then hand the rest over, plus recycle/charity shop what they could. But they're experts, do it really fast and aren't emotionally connected to it.

Better to sell as is, don't try and hide any problems but price sensibly, bearing in mind that renovation work is expensive at the moment. I've bought a house like this in the past and it was a fantastic opportunity to make it just as we wanted it, turning it back into the lovely family home it had been once.

Good luck!

Not crossed that bridge yet. Maybe a house clearance and flick the hoover round. PILs house will be bought by a builder/ have a go hero developer so there’s no point decorating and getting new carpet.

Probably leave the carpets in though - give them a good vacuum.

Probably get it cleared - a house clearance man with van will make short work of it.
I’d try the market before auction - is it in a desirable area?