Money found in the loft

JoeyG

Suppose you gave it to the family of the deceased, and it turned out the money had been there for several previous owners, that would be as bad as keeping it yourself.

You are taking on a lot of responsibility by trying to locate the previous owners, I second handing it in to police and letting them do the detective work... and if nothing comes up after 3 months nothing comes up, you're free to donate it to a charity of your choice

breadlinebetty

When you buy a house, whatever property or junk is left in that house becomes YOURS on completion.

Once the property has been signed over on COMPLETION, anything left inside that property belongs to the new owner. For example,a new owner is perfectly within his rights to hire a skip and throw any old junk that the previous owners were too lazy to discard of themselves - and forward the bill on to them! So, regardless of whether the old woman was senile is of no significance - she would have had a family member or solicitor protecting her interests. If they were too lax to searxh the loft, then it's their fault - and their loss.

IF (which is extremely doubtful) someone popped up months or years later to stake a claim to they wouldn't have a leg to stand on. The money would no longer belong to them - just as any old junk they left behind wouldn't. Besides, ANYONE could have found and kept that money............it needn't be the new owner.

mlz1413

G_M wrote: »

44 posts. 44 opinions. QUOTE]

But nothing from OP!

gemmalouanna

breadlinebetty wrote: »

If they were too lax to search the loft, then it's their fault - and their loss.

Exactly what I was thinking.

planning303

OP if your friend is worried about getting the money into a bank account, i've got a plan.

If he sends me the money via fed ex, once recieved i'll send him 10k from my overseas bank account. He then just needs to return my 2k (preferable in cash) and we'll be all square!

:beer:

ukjoel

your presuming it belonged to previous owner.
In reality you have no idea if it was hers, the person before that, or if it was nicked from a bank job years ago by someone she knew who stashed it there and then got run over by a bus.

I would hand it in to the police station as lost property.
If no one claims it within a month its yours - legally.

Doesnt even have to be your local police station - there is no network link for lost property.

planning303

ukjoel wrote: »

Doesnt even have to be your local police station - there is no network link for lost property.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, you within your rights to drive 500 miles and hand it in to a police station miles away. You will be asked where / the situation resulting in you finding the money. But i'm pretty sure you don't have to say anything.

TAKE A WITNESS! and ensure at least 2 coppers are present, prefereably sergeant

googler

jenny74 wrote: »

Personally, i would hand it in to the local Police as lost property. After 3 months, it legally becomes the finders- if it has not been claimed. And the Police will check the facts if someone tries to claim it. Good luck to your friend.
Advise him to hand over the money to the Police in an interview room with 2 officers and his own witness present.

It's not 'lost' property. It was found in a house that previously belonged to someone who can easily be identified, either through the solicitor/agent whom the house was bought from, or by other means. It obviously belonged to the immediately previous owner, or a prior owner, unless the owners were stashing it for someone else.

The first thing the officers will say, after they've asked "Where did you find it?" is "Have you contacted the previous owner, their agents or their estate?"

Unless you're suggesting the OP's friend lies to the police about where he found it ....?

nuttyp

What a lucky person, when i moved into my house (council ) all i found in the attic was loads of junk, and it took 2 trip to the tip. Would of loved to have found something of value but no, only empty boxes and broken electrical items.

Hope the OP answers soon.

planning303

googler wrote: »

Unless you're suggesting the OP's friend lies to the police about where he found it ....?

Yes Lie.. good advice