We start with a visit to the property or storage unit to understand the overall scope of the clearance, what needs to be done, your priorities, access requirements and timeframe.

This gives us a clear picture of the work involved and an opportunity to discuss any
particular requirements or concerns with you.

Following our visit, we provide a detailed fixed-price quote based on the agreed scope of work.

You know what is included and what the clearance will cost before deciding whether to proceed.

Once the quote has been approved, we begin the detailed assessment and sorting of the contents.

Rather than simply removing everything, we work through the property carefully and identify the most appropriate pathway for different items.

This includes:

• Items with genuine resale potential
• Items suitable for donation or rehoming
• Items that can be reused or recycled
• Personal, sensitive or potentially important items that may need to be set aside
• Items that ultimately require disposal

Where we identify items with genuine resale potential, we determine the sales channel or combination of channels that makes the most practical sense.

That may include:

• Auction houses
• Specialist resale channels
• Online marketplaces
• Other appropriate sales avenues
• The Collective's own audience of more than 18,000 followers

Our approach to selling is designed to give your items the opportunity to achieve what the market is prepared to pay.

Rather than offering you a low lump-sum price for the entire contents and then reselling individual items for our own profit, we assess which items are worth selling and choose the most appropriate sales channel for them.

This provides a more transparent process and means any value realised from the contents is returned to you.

The Collective does not purchase your house lot and then retain the resale profit.

Where items are sold on your behalf, the sale proceeds belong to you.

If The Collective sells items privately on your behalf, the proceeds received are credited against your final clearance invoice, reducing the balance you have to pay.

Where items are sent to an auction house, the auction house will generally pay the net sale proceeds directly into your nominated account once the items have sold, after deducting any applicable auction fees or commissions.

Items that do not sell at auction will generally be relisted a further one or two times, depending on the auction house.

If they remain unsold, we arrange for them to be donated or otherwise rehomed where practical.

For belongings that aren't worthwhile selling, we draw on our wider Collective family of charities, community organisations, reuse partners and zero-waste organisations.

Where practical:

Donate → Rehome / Reuse → Recycle → Dispose only where necessary

Disposal is our last option.

The Collective manages the practical work required to clear the property or storage unit and get it ready for its next stage.

This may include sorting, packing, coordinating sales and auction items, arranging donations and recycling, transporting contents, managing disposal and completing a final light clean of the cleared areas.

You have one point of contact, with The Collective managing the process from beginning to end.

Once the clearance is complete, you receive a completion report together with a comprehensive series of photographs showing the finished property or storage unit.

Where items have been sent to auction or sold privately, we also provide the relevant inventory and available sale or consignment information.