Elderly relative - house clearance - how?!

[Labyrinthian]

Posting for traffic. Elderly relative, lives alone in London W6 in his own house, but he has no immediate family - he is a difficult man, and has no friends, isolated and has been hoarding. We are in a different country but want to help, he has expressed a want to clean the house. Has anyone used a house clearance company? I think it's probably the best thing to try - would they sell anything he wants to sell/ dispose of the rest/ and do a full clean. We would like to buy him new carpet, bed, any bits he needs but I've never organised anything like this before and I can't be on site to manage it, but one family member will go over. What kind of things have people experienced trying this? Any reputable companies - I'm looking on Google and then checking the companies on trusted trader and trusted sites but not sure what else I need to think about. Any advice very welcome.

I've no experience of this, but I was looking for a declutterer recently and noticed one of the companies specialised in hoarding and at least one of their staff was a therapist (so I imagine would approach it sensitively, involving the client). But it's NW.

Anyway, I was looking on this website: www.apdo.co.uk/

I work for an auction house that uses a house clearance firm - unfortunately not based in London or I would happily recommend! This chap goes in with a van and clears EVERYTHING including garage/garden items and then puts them through our auction. A lot of the stuff sells for peanuts, but you get it cleared and make some money back too so win/win.

Any reputable company will do the same, but its worth asking how they are disposing of the stuff. If they are doing as we do and putting it through an auction, you know when, where and how it is being sold. If it's going to a shop then you could wait months for a monetary return.

I doubt very much that a house clearance firm will do a clean, you might have to get a specialist company in for that once the place is cleared.

I'm no expert (so you should quite possibly discount my reply!) but I'm not sure a house clearance firm would be best. Perhaps more of a small family clearance company. Or recommended odd jobs/man with van. Plus then cleaners, carpet fitters etc after. I think house clearance is normally for vacant properties. But, coming full circle, if you found a sensitive firm perhaps they would be best...

Fanny - it does depend on the firm. "House clearance" is a generic description - yes they love to blitz a vacant property but certainly our chap is happy to go to an occupied property and clear half a dozen bits and pieces that the home owners wouldn't otherwise be able to shift easily.

Definitely worth a few email enquiries.

This is so helpful, I really appreciate the posts so far. I don't believe he's a compulsive hoarder (physiological hoarding) he grew up poor and throws nothing away, hoards anything he percieves of value (for example his wife died 15 years ago and he's still got her things like medical equipment, not for sentiment, but he thinks they might be worth something so won't let go). Cullen's House Clearance is one of the ones I've looked at - they will go with a van, depending on load size, and they do end of tenancy cleans so perhaps I could ask for both.

It sounds very like hoarding to me. He might, despite assurances, still find it very difficult to let stuff go.

I have a relative who is a hoarder, and I have cleared his flat three times. The first two times I chucked the rubbish outside and then had it removed, so not quite what you are looking for. The last time he was in hospital, his flat was deemed unsuitable for human habitation, and he could not return until it was cleared. I got in a clearing and cleaning company who did a wonderful job, but I have never heard the end of it because they threw away 'valuable' things like broken electrical equipment, soiled books and smashed cd cases. Hoarders are impossible to deal with, and really need specialised help. They just can't let go.

That's what I'm afraid of, he isn't a particularly nice man, he can be rude and abrupt and is very paranoid about others, neighbours etc. I'm worried how he will treat the company we find, but he needs help (we are exploring if he will move to live with us, not ideal for us, and we don't want to force him to lose his independence either). Not an easy situation but first of all his house really needs sorting short term