Probate and inherited properties: clearing a garden nobody's touched

As an executor you can usually arrange garden clearance at an inherited property before the grant of probate comes through, because keeping the estate's property safe and insured is part of the job, and a garden that has gone wild is a safety and insurance matter as much as an appearance one. What generally does wait for the grant is selling or transferring the house. The three things worth settling before you book anyone are whether your co-executors agree, what the insurer requires of an empty property, and whether the estate or you personally is paying. This page is written for people doing this at a difficult time, so it is arranged as practical steps rather than a list of rules.

Before anything is cut

Go to the property with someone else if you can, and do these four things first.

Secure it. Change or check the locks, check every window and outside door, make sure gates and side access can be shut, and take note of anything of value that is visible from outside. An empty house with an overgrown garden advertises itself, and side access screened by growth is exactly how properties get entered.

Photograph everything. Walk the whole plot and take dated photographs from every corner, plus close shots of the shed, the garage, any oil tank, the fences and the boundaries. You will need these for the insurer, potentially for the estate accounts, for your own record of what was there before you touched it, and to get an accurate clearance quote without the crew having to visit.

Read the insurance policy. This is the step people skip. Most standard home insurance restricts or withdraws cover once a property has been unoccupied for a set period, commonly around 30 to 45 days depending on the insurer, and cover then needs to be replaced with an unoccupied or probate policy. Those policies carry conditions: regular inspections, often weekly or fortnightly, sometimes a minimum winter temperature, sometimes specific requirements about securing the property and about overgrown grounds. Tell the insurer the property is unoccupied as soon as you know, in writing, and ask directly whether any work you are planning affects cover.

Agree it with the other executors. Where there is more than one executor, they act together. Get written agreement, even if it is only an email, before spending estate money on a clearance. It takes a minute and prevents a difficult conversation later, particularly where beneficiaries have different feelings about the property.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. If the will is contested, the estate is insolvent or the executors do not agree, take advice from the estate's solicitor before spending anything.

What tends to be found in a long-neglected garden

Gardens that have not been touched for several years, sometimes because someone was ill for a long time before they died, hold things that a normal clearance does not. It is better to know before a crew arrives.

• Asbestos-containing materials. Corrugated cement sheet on shed and garage roofs, old garage panels, downpipes and flue pipes. This is common on outbuildings up to the early 1990s. It is not dangerous while intact and undisturbed, and it must not be broken up, sawn or thrown in a skip. Our guide on asbestos in old sheds covers what to look for and who deals with it.
• Heating oil tanks and fuel. Steel or plastic tanks, sometimes with oil still in them, sometimes leaking into the ground. A tank with contents needs specialist removal, and a spill needs reporting.
• Chemicals. Old garden sheds routinely contain weedkillers and pesticides that have been off sale for decades, paint, solvents, creosote, gas bottles and car batteries. None of it goes in a normal load, and none of it should be poured away. Bag nothing and move nothing you cannot identify.
• Japanese knotweed and other invasives. A garden left alone for years is where knotweed establishes quietly. It must not be cut, strimmed or composted, and it matters for a later sale. See Japanese knotweed and garden clearance.
• Collapsed or unsafe structures. Rotten sheds, greenhouses with broken glass, failing retaining walls, concrete paths lifted by roots, old ponds and cess covers hidden under growth, and decking that will not take weight.
• Unstable trees. Years without pruning, plus ash dieback across the West Midlands, mean dead limbs and unsafe trees are common. Do not let a general clearance crew take on a tree that needs a qualified tree surgeon. See ten signs a tree needs attention and ash dieback.
• Sharps and rubbish. Needles, glass, wire, and sometimes fly-tipped waste dumped over the back fence by other people once the property looked empty.

Tell whoever quotes about anything on this list up front. It changes the price, and more importantly it changes how the job is planned.

Empty property conditions worth asking about

When you speak to the insurer, ask specifically:

• how often the property must be inspected, and what counts as an inspection
• whether the grounds have to be kept in any particular condition
• whether cover is affected by contractors working on site, and whether the insurer wants to see their public liability cover
• whether there is a minimum internal temperature requirement over winter
• whether removing a structure such as a shed or a garage needs to be notified

Keep the insurer's answers in writing with the estate papers.

House clearance and garden clearance are different jobs

A house clearance firm empties the inside: furniture, carpets, personal effects, loft and garage contents. A garden clearance crew deals with the outside: growth, brambles, hedges, trees, sheds, greenhouses, fencing and green waste. Some firms do both, many do not, and the pricing works differently because inside contents may have resale value and garden waste never does.

The order usually matters less than people think, with one exception. If the inside clearance needs a van at the door and a clear route, do the access route outside first. If the garden crew needs to bring a chipper or a mini digger down the side of the house, clear that passage first too.

We handle the outside. For the inside, look for a member of a recognised trade body and check them on the Environment Agency waste carrier register in exactly the same way.

Records the estate will need

Executors have to account for what they spent. Keep, for each contractor:

• a written quotation and then an invoice, with the business name, address and, for anyone removing waste, their waste carrier registration number
• a waste transfer note for each load, where the work is done for the estate as a business transaction. Businesses must keep transfer notes for two years, and having your copy makes the duty of care question straightforward if it is ever asked
• your dated note or screenshot of the Environment Agency public register check
• before and after photographs
• any specialist paperwork: asbestos consignment notes, oil tank removal certificates, knotweed treatment plans, tree work consents

Put the whole set in the estate file alongside the accounts. It protects you as executor, it answers a buyer's solicitor later, and it removes any argument about whether a beneficiary was charged fairly.

Waste from a property is governed by the duty of care in section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Whoever takes it away must be registered, and our fly-tipping guide shows how to check in about two minutes.

Phasing the work

You rarely need to do everything at once, and money spent before the grant comes through often has to come out of someone's pocket first. A sensible order:

1. Make it safe and visible. Cut back growth from paths, doors, windows and the drive. Clear side access. Remove anything that could fall. This is often a light clearance at £220–£320 and it satisfies most insurers and neighbours.
2. Deal with hazards. Unsafe trees, collapsed structures, chemicals and anything asbestos-related. These need the right specialist rather than the cheapest quote.
3. Clear the bulk. The full cut-back, bramble clearance, hedges, shed and greenhouse removal. Time this for when you know whether the house is being sold or kept.
4. Present it. If the property is going on the market, time the tidy-up so the garden is done before the photographs. Our guide on selling a house with an overgrown garden covers what buyers and surveyors look for.

One timing point worth knowing: a property left empty after a death is normally exempt from council tax until probate is granted, and for six months after that, provided it stays unoccupied and has not been sold or transferred. Councils apply the rules themselves, so check with the relevant council, but that six months is often the practical window in which people aim to get a property cleared and sold.

What it costs

From our price card, with waste removal included:

Mixed waste, meaning rubble, old fencing, general rubbish and structures, adds about 20 per cent. Access through the house, or more than 20 metres from the van, adds about 15 per cent. Anything above £1,200 or a genuinely abandoned garden goes to a free survey, which is the usual route for probate properties. Full ranges are in the garden clearance cost guide.

Getting help

We are an introducer. We pass your enquiry to one local specialist for the area, who confirms a fixed price. For a probate property, tell us in the notes that it is an empty or inherited property, because it usually means a survey visit rather than a quote from photographs alone.

• Garden clearance and overgrown garden clearance
• Shed removal for sheds, greenhouses and old structures
• Green waste removal
• Tree surgery and tree removal where a tree has become unsafe