Value of House Contents

BooJewels

@MalMonroe  Valuations for Probate and inheritance tax are a world away from what you need to insure your possessions for - because insurance is intended to replace them.  For example, my knickers and bras would cost about £300-£400 to replace, but worth zero for probate.

Probate is only interested in the monetary value of the deceased estate in case there's tax to pay on it.

comeandgo

Mal Monroe you are totally wrong.  I’ve been through trying to get deceased house items valued and sold.  As well as just wanting to clear a house you are usually under time constraints so you can’t even hold on and wait until a better price comes in.  Insurance valuation is nothing to do with house clearing.

BrainDrained

I did pay for a proper professional valuation for some of my mother's jewellery and was horrified at the low values he put on the items. He had virtually identical rings on sale, second hand, for about 5 times the amount.  (I know that includes VAT and also his profit, but still...)  In the interests of transparency this company suggests an insurance valuation,  which generally exceeds the retail price. This is becoming commonplace.   Sounds to me rather more like justifying their own prices and is probably one of the reasons insurance for "valuables" is getting expensive. What would it cost me to replace a 50 year old unremarkable and fairly small diamond solitaire (should I choose to try to find an identical one, given that its not a style that is currently in fashion)  vs what could I sell it for privately...  

At the end of the day something is worth precisely what someone else is willing to pay for it.  Good quality second hand clothes, including bras,  may have some value but generally even charity shops won't take underwear even if its expensive designer items. 

gwynlas

Insurance valuations are higher as you are expected to be buying like for like at current prices not shopping around and waiting. Auction estimates are to encourage people to bid but even so some goods go unsold as it depends on demand on the day. I receive notifications of auctions from one of the bidding platforms and am often amazed at low rices achieved meaning that i could furnish a house with attractive antiques much cheaper than the cheapest flat packs.Probate values are nominal and if you over estimate are rarely achievable even more so if you have to pay for house clearance which makes them a minus figure.

tightauldgit

Honestly, typical second hand stuff is going to cost as much to clear as you will make selling it so I'd be tempted to put £0 as the realistic valuation but that probably would trigger someone somewhere so as others have suggested stick a number of £500 on it provided it's not going to take you over the IHT threshold and move on with your life. 

sheramber

I would not be putting any more than £500 and that is probably generous but it won't make any difference.

When my mother died the solicitor put £50 and explained you just put a nominal value down. Although that was a few years ago she always bought quality  and looked after it.  

handful

BooJewels said:

I think most people here put a fairly nominal amount to cover everything - nothing like £10k, unless you know there are valuables or antiques.

With my parents' home, we put £4k on the Probate form as we thought there were some nice pieces of antique furniture and they had collections of stuff like Swarovski crystal, thousands of books and my Dad had a LOT of vintage photographic gear.  In the end, we had to pay someone to take the 'antiques' as there was no interest in buying it at all.  We sold the camera gear to a specialist shop and had a garage sale where the old junk in there we thought was worthless made a few hundred pounds.  We sold everything for about £3,500 and paid £600 to have the house cleared.  Even things that appeared to have potential value - like a first edition Lewis Caroll book - were in such poor condition that they ended up unsaleable.  I took a car full of the more interesting stuff to an auction house and ended up, after fees and costs and a year later, with about £70.  It wasn't even worth the effort.

With my aunts house that I'm just doing, I put down £400 - as nothing appears saleable (not for enough to be worth the effort that is) and we've given everything to neighbours or charity shops and will again pay several hundred pounds to have everything else cleared.

I had similar experiences selling the contents of my mum and dads house once we had taken the things we wanted (nothing of great monetary value but sentimental) Vintage photography stuff is very hard to shift, as is Swarovski, especially with minor damage etc! I also did a house clearance for my cousin when she moved into a home and that was the same. The charity shops did very well! The benefit of that one is that she recently passed away and there was no house sale or clearance to do and only a few personal chattels that she had in her home with her. Made me wonder why we all spend a lifetime accumulating stuff!

DullGreyGuy

BooJewels said:

 For example, my knickers and bras would cost about £300-£400 to replace, but worth zero for probate.

That depends on how you market them... there is technically a market for used (and unwashed) undergarments (disturbingly).

tightauldgit said:

Honestly, typical second hand stuff is going to cost as much to clear as you will make selling it 

I thought you were supposed to be listing the value of the content not the net profit from selling/clearing it?


Fully agree its going to be secondhand value and massively lower than replacement value for insurance but a total home being £500 does sound exceptionally low for a 3 bed house. My gran just had a one bed flat when she died and the TV and cooker got more than that alone. 

Nearlyold

I can see that £500 may be on the low side but would also say that to get more than £500 for just a second hand telly and cooker unless they were near top of the range and in virtually as new condition seems quite unusual.

Mothman

For my Mum's estate we detailed three individual paintings totalling £230 and put £270 for the rest of the contents which was accepted without query. Not sure how much a house clearance company would have charged but a builders skip cost £300 to dispose of all the stuff that couldn't go to charity shops or be sold on Gumtree or Facebook