Cleaning after a death or hoarding: free help for the UK
Plain answers and free tools for families, executors, landlords and anyone helping someone who hoards: what to do first, who pays, what it costs, and where to find help that costs nothing.
Researched and edited by Taro Schenker · Updated · Sources and method
What has happened?
- Someone has died at homeA step-by-step plan for the first days: police, the coroner, keys, the home and the estate.Start here
- A home needs cleaning after a deathWhat a specialist clean involves, what can be saved, and the smell that will not go.Start here
- Blood, body fluids or needlesWhen you need a specialist, what not to touch, and who deals with needles.Start here
- A home is hoardedFree help from the council, fire service and charities, found by postcode.Start here
A landlord or housing officer? Who pays for the clean-up and the after-a-death planner both have a landlord route.
Free tools
Each one gives you a result from your own answers, before we ask for anything. None of them needs your name or email.
- After-a-death plannerAnswer five questions, get a printable plan.
- Clutter scaleCompare each room with nine pictures and see what help fits.
- Free help by postcodeYour council's pages, and how to ask your fire service for a free home safety visit.
- Who pays?The routes that could pay for a clean, and what to ask each one.
- Cleaning cost rangesWhat UK firms publish for a job like yours, with every source.
- Plan to help someone who hoardsSafety first, then a plan made with them, not for them.
- Cleaner checklistCompare firms on the checks that matter, including waste carrier registration.
Specialist cleaning, explained
Trauma cleaning
Cleaning after a death, a suicide or a serious injury in a home: removing what is contaminated, disposing of it as the waste rules require, and treating the smell. Also crime scene cleaning.
Biohazard cleaning
Blood and body fluids, needles and sharps, drug use and human or animal waste. The risk is infection, which is why it is not a job for an ordinary cleaner.
Hoarder cleaning
Sorting, clearing and deep cleaning a hoarded home, ideally with the person who lives there deciding what stays. Start with the clutter scale.
Who runs this site
An independent guide, not a cleaning company. Rules come from legislation, government guidance and the organisations that run each service; prices come from named UK sources, with the date where the source gives one. Each page lists what it relies on, and we say which UK nation a rule applies to.
The tools are free. If you ask us to, we try to pass your enquiry to a cleaning firm that covers the area, and that firm may pay us a fee. About us and how the site is funded · Sources and method