Cleaning up after tenants

As they get older, most people would like to retain an element of independence. They would prefer to live on their own and often in the house that they have occupied for years, rather than moving into a care home of some kind. If you've just said a sad farewell to an elderly relative who maintained their home until their dying day, then you've now got quite a task on your hands. This home may be full of their possessions and the job may be even bigger than normal, as they did love to hoard things for no reason. How should you approach this challenge?

Rolling Up The Sleeves

Now that your relative has passed on, you will need to re-purpose the house so that it can either be sold as part of the estate or be occupied by another member of the family. Either way, you will almost always want to clean everything out and begin again and this can represent a major undertaking.

Beneficiaries First

Firstly, you'll need to ensure that any individual item named in the will is identified and passed over to the appropriate beneficiary. This may take care of a number of larger items but sometimes, the documentation will not make reference to anything else. In this case, each member of the family should engage and take whatever items are of interest. All of this should be handled before moving on to any clear out.

Charitable Donation

Get in touch with a favourite charity and ask them whether they are interested in any items that are left. They may be able to send a representative and even a truck to have a look round and remove such items for their benefit. After this, you should start posting some of the larger items online but make it clear that they must be picked up and cannot be delivered. Set a strict timeline here otherwise, the whole job could drag on forever.

Throwing Out

If you cannot give away or sell any items then, unfortunately, they may need to be recycled or simply thrown away. You will undoubtedly need a large skip bin and should figure out where you're going to place it before ordering.

Bringing In The Cleaners

At this stage, you may find it advantageous to bring in professional cleaners. Some organisations specialise in this particular task and they will be able to complete it far more efficiently than you may be able to. This may also be a great way to remove some of the emotional challenge associated with such a major task, as well.

For more information, contact a deceased estate cleaning specialist.