House clearance is often a difficult job done at a difficult time. Mark Ratcliffe Moving's clearance service in Eastbourne is built on the same family values as our removal business: we treat your home and the possessions inside it with respect, we sort carefully rather than skip-and-bin, and we work patiently with families, executors and solicitors. We are an Environment Agency upper-tier registered waste carrier, so everything we remove is handled legally and traceably.
We start with a free walk-through of the property — taking notes on volume, access, special items and any complications. You then receive a fixed-price written quote with no obligation. For probate clearances we can also identify items of resale value and recommend an auction route where appropriate.
On clearance day, our team works through the property room by room. Items earmarked for family are bagged separately and either delivered or stored. Items in good condition go to our charity partner. Recyclable materials go to the right recycling stream. Items with resale value can be set aside for auction. Only what genuinely cannot be reused is taken to licensed waste — and we provide a transfer note for it.
We are registered with the Environment Agency as an upper-tier waste carrier (registration available on request). Many one-person clearance operations are not — and using an unlicensed carrier can leave the property owner liable if waste is fly-tipped. Always ask for a registration number before booking any clearance company.
For smaller jobs we can sometimes clear within a day or two. Larger probate clearances usually take two to four days depending on size and the time needed to sort sensitively.
Probate is the most common reason families call us. We understand that a clearance after a bereavement is not just an administrative task — it is a moment of letting go. Our team works at the family's pace, with patience and care. We can:
Many of our probate clients come to us through Sussex solicitors we have worked with for decades.
Our default is to maximise donation and recycling and minimise landfill. Typical proportions on a domestic clearance run roughly 30% donate, 40% recycle, 20% reuse-or-auction, 10% landfill — though it varies considerably by property. We work with established Sussex charity partners (Hospice and other registered charities) and we keep the donation paperwork for executors who need it for accounts.
House clearance pricing is based on volume (number of skip-equivalents), access at the property, special items (white goods, paints, chemicals, hazardous waste) and the level of sort required. As a guide, a 2-bedroom flat clearance typically runs £450–£800; a 3-bedroom semi £700–£1,400; a larger 4 or 5-bedroom probate clearance £1,200–£2,500. All quotes are itemised and fixed — no surprises on the day.
Probate clearance is rarely just a logistics job — it is the closing chapter on someone's life. Our crews are trained to handle this work with quiet respect. We work at the family's pace, never rush decisions, and we will pause if items unexpectedly turn out to have sentimental value that nobody anticipated. If a family member wants to come back after the first day for a second look, we will hold items aside without complaint. Many of our probate clients are recommended by Sussex solicitors who know we do this properly.
A two-person crew arrives between 8 and 9 am with a 7.5-tonne lorry and crates. We walk every room with you (or the executor) and confirm what stays, what’s for family, what’s for charity, what’s for sale and what’s for licensed disposal. From there it’s methodical — one room at a time, in the order you prefer, with regular check-ins. A typical 3-bed clearance takes one full day; larger properties or hoarder situations may need two or three days. We provide a written before-and-after photo record of each room so the executor or landlord has clear evidence of the state we found and the state we left.
You receive a copy of our waste-carrier certificate at booking, an itemised inventory of anything we collected for resale (so you know what value to expect at auction), donation receipts from our charity partner for tax purposes if needed, and disposal weight tickets from the licensed waste facility for the residual rubbish. For probate clearances the executor receives the full audit trail in one combined PDF.
Clearance pricing combines a labour figure (crew hours), a vehicle figure (lorry day-rate), and a disposal figure (per-tonne licensed-waste cost minus the resale credits we recover). A typical 2-bed Eastbourne flat clearance runs £500–£850, a 3-bed semi £800–£1,400, a 4-bed with garage and loft £1,200–£2,200. Hoarder properties price separately because the time variable is so much wider. Every quote is itemised; you see exactly what each figure covers, and the auction credit from any resale items goes back to the executor or the estate, never absorbed silently.
Yes. We are registered as an upper-tier waste carrier with the Environment Agency. You can ask for a copy of our registration certificate before booking.
Yes — sensitively. We work directly with executors and solicitors, agree what is to be retained for family, what is to be sold or donated, and what is to be disposed of. We can also arrange a probate valuation.
We sort: items that can be donated go to our charity partner, items that can be recycled go to the appropriate recycling stream, items with resale value can be auctioned, and only what remains goes to licensed waste.
Yes — we have experience of hoarder clearances and we approach them sensitively, without judgement. Allow longer for the sort and clearance. Hazardous biological waste, if present, is handled by a specialist partner.
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