House clearance or burglary?

[R D S]

Needed to clear out the mother in law's house, she shuffled off her mortal coil and we've sold it.

I said i'd rent a van and empty it and sell some stuff, the missus said I didn't have time, and then there was project fear from her brother who was one of a bunch who'd moved her furniture in, tales of woe of how it took six of them to move the sofa and all the doors had to come off.

So I conceded and she ordered a 'clearance'.

We cajoled her brother into being there to let them in, he knew the brief, they were emptying the gaff cos I haven't got time.

The soppy tart called up later to tell us they hadn't taken the sofa, because it was too heavy, turns out they didn't take any of the pine or flat pack s**te either. They just took the two 6 month old 1500 quid ish beds and the stuff that was made of oak. ####s virtually burgled the place while someone made them a brew.

A cautionary tale. You probably aren't the sort of dipshit who'd be done over in this way, but even if so, make sure you administer it yourself.

So I rented a van......

[Bob Eager]

We had a similar problem. SWMBO organised it all (her mother's house was

120 miles away and she stayed there for a bit).

She decide to get a clearance from the British Heart Foundation. They wanted £250 for a full clearance, and she didn't have a lot of time so said yes.

She wasn't there for the actual clearance, they took the good stuff and left. She managed to get them back days later (another trip for her) and they didn't take the carpets (she had to leave before them, leaving a neighbour to oversee them).

My litigious 21 year old son spent an hour and a half on the phine to them. They finally (one day before our clearance deadline) came back and cleared the carpets.

[Harry Bloomfield]

R D S submitted this idea :

Should have made it clear at the outset - take one. take all. The good and the bad.

[Brian Gaff]

Unfortunately this tale is very common. Even if you use a charity to do it, they are spo picky on what they want sadly. Brian

[Chris Hogg]

When my mother died, we had the local auction house clear her bungalow. It was a service they offered, and as the auctioneer said, at least we give you an account of what things get sold for and what our clearance charges are, unlike charities or house clearance firms. The chaps doing the actual clearance told me in advance what wouldn't sell (a couple of beds with mattresses, and a sixty-five year old and tired three-piece suite), which they took straight to the dump. In total the auction raised about £1200, and the clearance costs, including disposal fees for the beds etc, were about £600, so better than I expected.