House Clearances & Probate Clearances

Expert House Clearance & Valuations in Devon & Cornwall

Drake’s Auctions: Your Trusted Partner for House Clearance & Valuations in Devon & Cornwall.

Navigating the process of clearing a property, whether after a bereavement, during downsizing, or simply decluttering, can feel overwhelming.

At Drake’s Auctions, we understand the emotional and practical challenges involved. Based in Tavistock and proudly serving all of Devon and Cornwall, our professional and experienced team is here to make the entire process far easier and quicker than you might expect.

We combine decades of auction expertise with a compassionate, client-focused approach, ensuring a seamless experience from start to finish.

Why Choose Drake’s Auctions?

Expert Valuation & Hidden Gems: Our experienced valuers meticulously examine every item, from attics to outbuildings, ensuring nothing valuable is overlooked. We regularly uncover significant items that might be missed by less experienced teams, sometimes even covering the entire cost of the clearance. For instance, we once found a 1952 Gold Rolex in a drawer during an estate clearance, which later sold for £2,400 at auction.

Unmatched Transparency & Accountability: All valuable items are sold at our public auction house, providing a full inventory from property to sale. This means you receive a clear audit trail, knowing exactly what your items sold for and when. This transparency is particularly crucial for probate and inheritance tax valuations.

Efficiency & Speed: Our dedicated team routinely clears large 4-5 bedroom houses in a single day, making us the perfect choice for tight completion deadlines or urgent situations. We pride ourselves on our swift, respectful, and accountable service.

Financial Advantage – Often, We Pay You: Unlike many clearance services, we aim to generate value from your property’s contents. We take everything, clear your property, sell your items, and then deduct waste recycling fees. In 9 out of 10 cases, the value of items sold at auction means we pay you for clearing your house. There’s often nothing to pay upfront.

Responsible & Legal Disposal: Drake’s Auctions is fully registered with the Environment Agency to handle and dispose of household waste. We are committed to ethical and environmentally conscious practices, ensuring unwanted items are responsibly recycled or disposed of, minimising landfill contributions.

Global Reach & Maximised Returns: Your items will be offered on multiple online sales platforms, reaching millions of potential bidders worldwide. Combined with seamless in-house and third-party postage options, as well as in-person viewings in our modern saleroom, we ensure you receive the best possible return for your estate contents.

1952 Gold Rolex. Found in a drawer during an estate clearance. Sold for £2400.

House Clearance Auctions

Professional services, how it works…

Firstly we would book a no-obligation appointment to view your property.

This will allow us to give you an estimate of clearance fees, including an idea of the value of the sellable items in the property.

Your appointment is completely free and allows us to assess your situation and discuss your needs for the clearance.

From here there are 3 types of clearances we offer…

Sellable goods clearance

We identify, value & arrange transport your sellable items to our sale room. This is carried out as cost-effectively as possible, with the cost of the haulage is taken off what your items make at auction.

Nothing upfront to pay.

Vacant property clearance

Perfect for an end of tenancy or those moving house.

This is where we clear & dispose of unwanted & surplus furniture.

Full property clearance

Our speciality. We value the contents & disposal costs, send in a clearance & valuation team and completely clear your property. Then the sellable goods are sent to our auction house, waste is legally disposed of at a local commercial waste facility. Every care is taken during the clearance to salvage family ephemera or items that may have sentimental value, as well as identify items of value to be sent to our auction house. You can be assured nothing of value will be lost, as we take great pride in getting the maximum value out of the contents of your property.

What our customers think…

Thank you so much to Pete and the team, you turned what was a stressful & complicated experience (clearing mums house) into an easy experience, and we even made quite a bit at auction too! So thank you again. Mrs W – May 2021

Just wanted to drop a quick thank you for all your hard working clearing Dads place. We were really impressed with some of the prices the stuff went for! Thank you so much. Mr P – April 2021

Professional Probate House Clearance

At Drake’s Auctions, we specialise in professional probate house clearance services across Devon and Cornwall, offering compassionate support during bereavement and estate administration.

Unlike standard clearances, our service is designed to assist families, executors, and solicitors by selling contents through public auction—generating open market values accepted by HMRC for probate.

Each item is catalogued and sold transparently, creating a full audit trail of sale prices which can be submitted as evidence for inheritance tax valuation. This approach ensures no guesswork or inflated valuations—just fair, verifiable figures that meet legal requirements.

We’re regularly entrusted by legal professionals to manage probate clearances swiftly, respectfully, and with complete accountability.

The probate process can be emotionally challenging and legally complex. Our service alleviates this burden by providing:

Meticulous Assessment & Inventory: We conduct a thorough assessment of all possessions, identifying valuable, sentimental, and legally significant items.

Expert Valuations: Our team provides professional valuations for antiques, fine art, jewellery, and other valuable items for inheritance tax purposes and fair distribution among beneficiaries.

Maximising Estate Value: We guide you on the most effective ways to sell valuable items through our established auction channels, ensuring the estate receives the best possible returns.

Sensitive Handling: We approach every clearance with the utmost respect and compassion, understanding the emotional significance of personal belongings.

House Clearance in Devon & Cornwall

The cost of your clearance and how much money you make back depends entirely on the contents of your property.

While we strive for accuracy in our initial estimation, predicting exact auction sale prices can be tricky. We will help with setting reserves on more valuable items and grouping smaller items together to create sellable lots.

It’s important to have realistic expectations about the value of general household items, such as old crockery or outdated clothing, which typically have “virtually no value” and will incur disposal costs.

However, our expertise lies in identifying those hidden gems that can significantly offset or even cover the entire cost of the clearance. We advise clients to check for obvious valuables like jewellery or cash themselves before a clearance.

Below, we have listed some basic costs to give you an idea of our charges for the sake of transparency

General Mixed Waste: £265 per tonne inc. VAT

There are additional items which incur a charge when we take them to a local commercial waste facility. These are:

PC Monitors, PC terminals & TV’s: £25 each

Mattresses: £36 each

Printers, scanners etc.: £20

Microwaves, phones: £12

Gas bottles: £30

Fridges/Freezers: £72 – £96

Cookers, Washing machines: £30

Desktop phones: £12

Fire extinguishers: £6

POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants, typically found in domestic seating, this must be treated as a separate waste stream): £350+VAT per tonne