Jackie H asked 5 years ago
A few months ago I received a phone call to say that my aunt had been found dead in her home, her body had been situated on her sofa for three days before anyone found her.
My aunt had avoided letting me and my family into her home for over five years. We now have to arrange to have her three bedroom house in Tower Hamlets cleared.
Once we visited her home to begin the clearance we realised that she had clearly been a compulsive hoarder for many years.
My aunt used to go to work as normal, and she always looked presentable, I can’t actually believe that she has been living in squalor.
I am looking for a reputable house clearance company who specialise in clearing hoarded houses, the house has three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room and a large kitchen.
My aunt had clearly lived in the living room for the remainder of her life, my brother and I have already removed the decaying sofa in which she passed away on.
There is a huge amount of rubbish throughout the living room and a large amount of furniture, all the carpets throughout my aunts house are to be removed as they are heavily stained.
The dining room is very cluttered with stacks of CD’s, DVD’s, newspapers and bags full of clothing, there is a large glass fronted sideboard containing cutlery, bric-a-brac, linens etc, there is a four seated extendable dining able and four chairs, a corner cabinet and a large buffet trolley.
In the kitchen there is a rusted American style fridge freezer, a washing machine and a dryer, there is old food packaging stacked to knee height and decaying food covered dishes covering the work tops, inside the cupboards is mountains of unopened food, crockery etc.
The upstairs hallway is covered to ankle height with bags containing new clothing, shoes, books etc, the carpet can not be seen.
My aunts main bedroom is the worst of the three bedrooms, her bed or carpet can not be seen due to the mountains of clutter covering them.
My aunt inherited a large amount of jewellery from her gran and some war medals from her granddad, we need these to be found for us amongst the clutter somewhere in one of the bedrooms.
The two spare bedrooms are filled with bags full of clothing, children toys, books and some rubbish, there are wardrobes, chests of drawers and beds in each room too.
As well as having the house cleared we also want it cleaned afterwards, is this a service a house clearance company can offer or do we have to hire a seperate company?
Thank you, Jackie
Gerald answered 5 years ago
Good Afternoon Jackie, Last December I hired a house clearance company to clear my uncles hoarded three bedroom bungalow in Tower Hamlets.
My uncle who sadly passed away in his home had been a compulsive hoarder most of his adult life, my family and I tried to offer him as much help as we could but in the end we gave up, he kept pushing us further away and would not allow us access into his home.
His home consisted of three bedrooms, a lounge, a dining room, a conservatory, a bathroom and an open-plan kitchen.
The Living room had been piled near to the ceiling with stacks of old magazines and bags of rubbish, the carpets were no longer visible throughout his house due to the amount of rubbish covering them.
The front door would barely open due to the amount of mail that had stacked up over the years.
The dining room had a large amount of broken furniture and appliances stuffed into it, as well as bags of rubbish and shredded paperwork.
The kitchen appliances had become so filthy that they were no longer white, the bench tops were piled with rusted tools and decaying food waste, there were stacked boxes piled to the ceiling containing crockery and cookbooks.
The conservatory had drawers stacked on top of each other filled with bric-a-brac and paperwork, there was a large sideboard filled with ornaments too.
My uncles bedroom had been untouched for many years, the mattress had decayed over time with piles of food packaging and dirty laundry covering it, the wardrobes could not be accessed due to rubbish piled in front of them.
The two spare bedrooms had been used as storage rooms, these were filled with off cut carpets, bags of rubbish, old toys, bedding etc.
All the carpets were to be cleared throughout the bungalow and a cleaning service to be carried out afterwards.
The company I used are called The Cluttered House Clearance Company, I liaised with a woman called Tiffany who arranged the whole clearance and clean for me.
The hoarded house clearance specialists met me at the bungalow at 9am, I showed them around and headed off to work, the team kept me updated throughout the day.
Surprisingly it only took two days to completely clear and clean my uncles bungalow.
On the first day, the team cleared the lounge, kitchen, dining room and conservatory, they managed to donate a small amount of crockery and bric-a-brac to a local charity, all the furniture had woodworm and unfortunately had to be recycled.
On the second day, the team cleared the three bedrooms and cleaned the bungalow afterwards.
Whilst clearing my uncles master bedroom, the team found his wedding band, a Rolex watch and £200, we had no idea these existed.
The company as a whole were very professional, the team gave an outstanding service and worked very hard, I can highly recommend them to clear a hoarded and cluttered house.
You can contact Tiffany on 07731383671.
Gerald.
AFTA Staff answered 5 years ago
Hiya Jackie, hopefully I can add further assistance.
We have a member that is fully licensed with the UK Environment Agency and also fully insured to undertake the clearance of hoarded and cluttered houses.
They cover all UK areas and list costs and prices on their website.
Check our members page here The Cluttered & Hoarded House Clearance Company
Hoarded house before and after pics | Hoarded house clearance how much? | Hoarded house clearance FAQs
Hope this helps Andy (AFTA Staff)