Pay for company to clear property?

martindow

Ebay is the best place to look for values but only if you log in and search for sold prices for things that have found buyers. You won't then see items from deluded sellers asking £200 for something worth 10.

Mutton_Geoff

When I cleared my mum's house, I used a firm that does house clearances & auctions. Everything went into the auction, the smaller stuff in assorted item trays.


What didn't sell after two auctions went into the skip.


Then I got the settlement. It was sale price of everything minus commission (15% plus VAT). Then their fees, cataloguing, listing, collection fees, storage fees etc.


They sent a cheque for a relatively small amount of money for a three bed house full of someones life belongings.


Everything was cleared from the house so all I had to do was clean and decorate but I wouldn't rely on raising much money doing it this way but for me, it was a painless way (in more ways that one) to clear her possessions.

Guest101

There are typically 4 options, but it's hard to advise which and all have been mentioned, so to summarise:


1: you pay them to clear the house, they take legal ownership of the goods and charge a relatively low rate. Approx £30-50 per room (area dependant).
2: auction house / house clearers - they clear the house and sell the goods on your behalf. The fees a higher per room, but you recoup some of the money from the auction. This typically works out 'free' but only if the items are of any value. Unsold items are returned to you, but the cost of removals is still due
3: companies that simply buy the goods, you pay nothing, but you only get 25-30% of the resale value. This is rarer and only typically useful on property with some value. As otherwise they will simply not quote, or quote as option 1 or 2.
4: charities, especially hospices, will clear houses typically for free, as part of their fundraising.

A housemates mum used to do house clearances, it was great for cheap furniture for us

enthusiasticsaver

Thank you all very much for your replies and a selection of suggestions there, some of which we will be doing. If I had more time and we actually lived at the property I would be doing gumtree or freecycle as we have done in the past. BHF will also take furniture but are limited on the days they will collect and have let us down in the past.

So the option we have gone for is to spend today over there with my OH and daughter and son in law. We are back again tomorrow. A house clearance company viewed the property today and have booked us in for a day before completion and the deal is no money up front. They will auction the furniture and contents but as we expected they warned us modern furniture sometimes does not attract high prices but as it is good quality they are going to try. They will charge £40 an hour for clearing it and any proceeds from the auction will be offset across that figure. If we box as much as possible and help them clear it, it will be cheaper still.

Books are going to charity shops as apparently they do not fetch anything at auction and linen is going to recycling centre.

enthusiasticsaver

glentoran99 wrote: »

Can you not put whatever you don't want on the fixtures and fittings list and leave it?

We offered any of the contents to the new owner after offer accepted but he does not want any. My understanding is he is having a lot of work done before he moves in. He is also moving from a large 4 bed to a 3 bed flat so I guess he has his own junk to get rid of