How to dispose a deceased friend's belongings in her empty flat - family abroad

[advicespls]

A friend of mine passed away last year. Her family is abroad and unable to carry out any disposal activities.

I've been assisting in a few admin things. So they came to me to ask how to dispose her belongings. I don't think there's anything collectable or valuable other than usual household stuff. The family is going through legal procedures and will receive the probate in due course. Then they plan to sell the flat.

I have no idea how to suggest, apart from I don't think they can manage to sell anything without someone taking time to do it (I wouldn't want to get involved.)

Does anyone know how to handle in a situation like this please?

If her family are abroad and can't (or are unwilling to) come to the UK to sort through her belongings, then the only option is really a clearance company. Some may charge depending on the value of the goods, work required etc.; some will remove for free and sell anything worthwhile to recoup their costs. If her furniture etc is very old/worn, then you are probably looking at the former option.

I agree that you shouldn't get involved in trying to sell items, it's time-consuming, you get lots of time wasters, people haggling over £5 with you, and if you don't live in the flat you could spend hours waiting for people to collect items.

They, or you, need to look for House Clearance companies

Some charities offer it
but I’d ask around locally for a small house clearance firm

All will charge, although fees will be reduced if some items are more saleable.

The British heart foundation do house clearances. I believe the way it works is they quote a price, take everything - then see what they can sell, which potentially reduces the amount payable. Some of the sales go to the charity and I’m not sure if the family could potentially end up in profit or if any over the final amount goes to the charity.

There are other companies and charities too if you google house clearances - I'm not necessary recommending BHF just they were the one I am aware of!

https://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-goods/house-clearance?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA84CvBhCaARIsAMkAvkLknoahxXHx92G_SmBHW4Ospp8I0YPGIlvkn1nWyPDzfPJ2munRjmcaAq91EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

@BillStickersWillBeProsocuted Thanks! It would be better to let them rather than purely commercial ones.

The quickest and most efficient solution is a house clearance. They come round to quote and then you arrange a day for the clearance. They can usually get the entire job done in a day. You may then want to arrange a clean before putting the house on the market.

On a similar post someone said BHF quoted £5000 for house clearance Which seems a bit steep.

I would seriously not get involved in this. It could lead to accusations against you by the relatives.

It is their responsibility to arrange /manage the disposal and sale of the flat.

If they can't come themselves they need to pay someone to act on their behalf.

As others say tread very carefully. If it was me I would insist on a family member/ appointed representative coming to look at the flat and picking up any personal items - photos, jewellery etc and any known 'valuable' items. Alternatively maybe arrange a video call and go through all the cupboards etc with them so that they cant accuse you of taking anything inappropriately. Then get them to agree to a clearance company coming in and clearing the cupboards and most of the furniture - they may want to leave some furniture there as it will help the sale.

We did it for a relative's 2 bed flat recently and it cost I think around £500; the clearance company were then able to auction one or two pieces of furnture so we got about £300 back. We could have probably arranged the auction ourself and got more but it was worth it in terms of lack of hassle. In the scheme of things a few hundred pounds wont matter when compared to the total proceeds of the sale.