Refreshing a probate property: what to do first

An inherited property is often the first property project someone has ever managed, and it arrives at the worst possible moment. It helps to treat it as a sequence rather than a pile.

Before anything: secure and insure

• Tell the insurer the property is unoccupied — standard policies often lapse after 30 days empty
• Change or add locks if keys are unaccounted for
• Keep the heating ticking over in winter to avoid burst pipes
• Redirect post and cancel standing services

1. Clearance, carefully

Nothing else can start until the house is empty. Go room by room and sort into keep, distribute, sell, donate, dispose. Anything that looks personal or potentially valuable gets set aside rather than decided in the moment — jewellery, documents, photographs, war medals, anything hallmarked.

2. Find out what the property actually needs

Long-tenure houses often look far worse than they are. Decades of smoke, sun and heat discolour surfaces without damaging them. Get someone to tell you what's cosmetic and what's structural before you assume a renovation.

3. Decide how far to go

4. Then paint, floors, garden, clean

Same order as any pre-sale refresh: repairs, paint, floors, outside, deep clean, photographs. On a probate property the paint job is usually bigger than expected — ceilings and woodwork often need two coats.

You're not restoring the house. You're removing the reasons a buyer would hesitate.

If you don't live nearby

Most executors we work with are managing this from another county. It works if one company holds the keys and does all of it — clearance, repairs, decorating, cleaning — and sends photographs at each stage. What doesn't work is co-ordinating five trades from two hundred miles away.