Case Study: I can’t bear packing up my sister’s home.

A lovely lady had inherited her Sister’s house in Westcliff after she sadly passed away – a bungalow with serious damp problems.

The Owner had been a hoarder who had gone into care in the last few months of her life, meaning the property required *lots* of TLC, decluttering and clearing on a large scale.

The inheritee, we’ll call her Lucy, wasn’t local and was having to keep returning to the local area to make checks on the empty property.

Despite it being empty, Lucy was still having to maintain the essential bills on the property such as council tax, buildings insurance, water rates, gas and electricity.

Lucy was grieving. Exhausted from months of making the 1.5-hour round trip to visit her sister on as many days as possible whilst she was alive, she no longer wanted to do the journey to look after the inherited property.

Lucy also couldn’t bear the idea of packing the house up from an emotional perspective, knowing that any of the belongings were good only for the skip, and from a logistcal perspective; she didn’t have the time or resources to pack up her sister’s entire home. 

All in all, Lucy had no desire to get the house ready for sale on the open market, but hated the idea of selling it to someone who would tear through it with no respect for the long life oled there by her sister.

“Bricks are not just bricks, they hold our lives”

– Joanne Dron

Lucy came to me through a personal recommendation from one of my current tenants.

We had a cup of tea in a cafe and Lucy told me all about this property she had inherited. I always discuss all potential options when I meet with a potential seller, so I suggested Lucy would make more money with the house by borrowing some money to get the house ready for sale on the open market. Sadly, Lucy’s credit score meant she wasn’t in a position to take out a loan, which ruled this option out.

After a few meetings, Lucy decided she wanted to sell to me. At this point, I took over all of Lucy’s responsibilities with the house. I cleared all the council take arrears, and took over the payment of all utility bills from that day – Lucy was immediately released of the financial burden of the house, and no longer needed to visit to check in on the place.

However, Lucy did want to go through her sister’s belongings to ensure that anything sentimental was salvaged. She didn’t feel emotionally strong enough to do this, and didn’t have much family around to support her, so we spent the day together going through the home’s belongings.

Lucy left that day with all of the items she wanted from the house, safe in the promise that I would ensure as much of the remaining furniture and belongings as possible would be salvaged from the skip.

We listed any suitable furniture on Facebook marketplace, and dropped all reusable items to charity shops. This is something I would do anyway – I hate to see waste in items that still have life in them, but Lucy was delighted to have my word that her sister’s belongings weren’t going to be unceremoniously binned, I think that meant more to her that being relieved of the financial stress that the house had brought to her.

We purchased the house, fixed the leak and got it all ready for its next tenant.

Lucy asked that I tell her who the house was rented out to when it came to it, so with the permission of the new tenant, I gladly gave her a call to let her know when a retired lady had moved into the house and was very happy there.

Lucy made one final trip to Westcliff to deliver some flowers to the retired lady, she was over the moon to know that after 25 years in her life, this property was once again a cosy home to someone.

I’m Joanne. I’ve lived and breathed property for longer than I care to remember! This blog provides advice and support with problems surrounding property, and life in general.

Previously on the blog…