Can anyone tell me how you go about dealing with someone's house and contents when they have died

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Is there an order to do things in? Will is v simple and DH is sole inheritor. House is full of stuff. Obv we will go through and take anything sentimental. We will give clothes and things to charity shops. There are some collections of things (can't say what - outing) that we will need to get valued by specialists and a couple of cars that will need to be sold. Then what - do you just get house clearers in? DH would no way be up for a garage sale or anything that involved or that drew attention. Seems sad to send the contents off someone's life to the dump.

Sadly, that's what tends to happen with the last bits and bobs of a persons stuff.
It's horrible, but there comes a point where nobody would want what's left.

Especially if the deceased person was old and had lived through some tough times, there may be jewelry, old coins, cash, and other valuable items tucked away in a lot of odd places.
Sorry for your loss.

Once you've removed the sentimental and significantly valuable bits, some charities do house clearances. British Heart Foundation and Emmaus spring to mind.

But also think of their friends and neighbours. Some people are really touched to receive a momento. We gave my great aunt's neighbours her stash of gin, and said to enjoy a drink on her. And my neighbour took some of my dad's tools, because we knew he would use them and think of Dad. That sort of thing.

Then there are lots of charities that help support people with nothing. Women's shelters, people re-Homing Syrian refugees. Your local recycling centre / tip will also sell on bits.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

But it thoroughly it is sad to go into charity shops and just see people's lives on the shelf. Seems so sad. But just how life is.

Almost everything that is in decent condition will be useful to someone, it's just finding out where these things would be best used.

When we were clearing MIL's house recently, we found a charity that supported people who were starting again to set up a home with very little, and they took almost everything that was left after we'd taken a few sentimental items ourselves, sold a couple of things and also given some of the furniture to relatives.

For example, they took bed linen, towels, lamps, cutlery, kitchen items .. these were all things that were clean and serviceable but had been used for years.

Maybe ask social services locally and also research similar charities. It's a sad task but DH felt a bit better knowing that someone would be helped by getting his mum's stuff.

For anything that could be antique or valuable, you could try an auction house. They will give an estimate as to what you might achieve for each item.

When my parents died I took some things for myself, gave some to other family members, sold stuff at auction, took some to charity shops, and got rid of rubbish at the tip. I included the white goods in the house when it was sold. It was helpful that the auction house collected the furniture to be sold in their own van.

Depends on if you have time and if you need the money.

If yes to both then you can ebay everything- down to clothes.

We gave a lot of stuff like bedding and cookware to the local women's shelter. We freecycled some of the furniture. A lot went to charity shops and the dump.

Old towels can go to pet charity. Old clothes/household items should be able to be donated to charity too? Clean bedding perhaps to hostel/refuge?
Most things are useful to someone.
Unfortunately, there will be things nobody wants/needs, and so either house clearance co., or remove & take to tip yourselves.

We did auction house then charity shop then dump. You can pay for house clearance or use a charity one. It took weeks

Sadly that's what happens. It's one of the reasons I declutter, it would make me feel terrible to throw away my relatives posessions so I don't want to inflict it on others when I die.

Definitely think the way to go is house clearance and then cleaners in. Possibly your DH would want to not see the house empty so you may have to sort it for him.

A lot of charity shops will take furniture as well as clothes, ornaments etc. If he's selling the house the new buyers may keep some of the furniture - we were lucky that our buyer kept a lot of stuff. Don't rush the clearance as he may regret dumping things later on. Go through house room by room and box up items for charity. They may even collect it. Take out anything of value straight away and bring to your own house.

Charities will only take furniture like sofas if it has a fire retardent label. You could see if the new owners of the house want anything? If they are very young they may be grateful for any donations of furniture just to get them started, however unfashionable the furniture may be!!

When my parents cleared my grandma's house, it was so upsetting to realise that the collections that she had built up thinking they would accumulate in value were worth less than she paid for them, just because no-one seems to want collections these days!! I was given a beautiful dinner service and a complete tea set - both packed away in boxes but have no idea what to do with them as I will never use them

Unfortunately if nobody wants it, I think house clearers are the best way to go. We’ve just had to do this for my grandmother - bear in mind that if you’re marketing the property you need a few bits left to dress it though.

Depends where the house is but if I want to get rid of anything I just leave it at the kerbside with a sign saying it's free. Almost everything goes really quickly and I'm on a quiet street.

I can tell you how I did it. Things of real value went to a good auction house, things that were vintage collectibles type things (books, records, nick nacks) went to an auction house which specialised in that kind of thing. A few bits I sold on eBay.

Then three piles, keep, charity and tip. Work through each room methodically, emptying each drawer and cupboard ad you go. Any furniture in decent condition but not a desirable antique or vintage piece collected by a charity.

It’s hard emotionally, but I wanted to do it that way rather than have house clearers in.

Firstly, certainly if there's likely to be an inheritance tax liability, you need to get everything valued for probate. This is quite simple really, they're only interested in things worth over £50 and most personal stuff isn't - though the collections and any valuable art or furniture might be. You do need to pay a reputable valuer (look at antiques dealers locally) to do the valuation. They will give you valuation report which you need to submit as part of your probate application.

Then it all depends how much time you have available to do the job yourselves.

You can always remove paperwork and smaller personal items to sort through at home.

The bigger stuff - furniture, clothes - is the easiest really. Clothes to charity shop. Furniture, except any you want to sell yourselves, to a charity that does whole house clearances, like BHF. Thy will want to come round and assess its usefulness to them. If enough of it is sellable they'll take the whole lot and take the unsellable things to the tip. If not, they will cherry pick the things they want and you'll have to arrange a tip run / skip / freecycle for the rest.

I brought all the paperwork home to sort out, charity shops had clothes etc, Salvation Army had most of the furniture, it all took weeks to do

I found a charity that helped battered wives start their lives again after walking out with nothing. They took all the furniture, electrical items, even cutlery, as some of them literally nothing when they found a new home. The charity was so grateful.

If you are also selling the house I would leave some furniture in there for viewings.
Choose the nicer pieces, avoid a cluttered appearance and put nice clean towels in kitchen and bathrooms.

My kids were given run of their great grandmas house to pick something for themselves. My son picked a little pottery salt and pepper pot set and he treasures it. No value to some means the earth to others.

I am two months into this process. I have given most things away to charity shops and a furniture charity, sold some on local buy and sell fb pages. Neighbours have been given bits and pieces and so have grandchildren. I‘ve carbooted and freecycled.
My brother and I are quite ruthless but my sister wants to hang on to every ornament!
Very little went to the tip.

The British Heart Foundation won't take everything. They come around and do a cherry pick and leave the rest.

When i first bought my first house the donation of a old sofa from the old occupiers helped so much until i could afford the one i wanted i just put blankets on it so ask the new owners they may bite your hand off

I assume you have probate and the legal side all sorted.
I have had this sad task with DM and MiL's houses.
1/ Bag up and sort all clothes- check pockets, we found a surprising amount of money and paperwork doing this. DM's went to age concern, Mil 's to the Salvation Army.
2/ Towels, bed linen etc. I kept a lot that was in good condition (I now have a lifetime supply of tea towels!) gave some away to other family members (fancy quilt type things) and the rest to the dogs trust.
3/ Household and kitchen stuff- some kept, some charity shopped,some given away.
4/ Furniture, pictures, appliances the same.

It's a horrible job, but it has to be done. You have to check everything to make sure you aren't throwing away important papers or family photos.

My Mil hated the idea of house clearers - no strangers going through her stuff Thankyou very much!