Tenant Stole My Furniture

Popeye123

Hi all,

we recently ended our three year lease with a housing association.

the specs of the lease were that we had to provide a bit of furniture, this mainly being a few drawers and a few beds.

as the tenant was a transferring tenant they had a few items, they needed a few bedroom items, we decided to let the housing association buy this and bill us for this which was fine.

Now we have just found out the tenant has taken all the stuff worth about £500.

we have tried speaking to the housing association but they have pointed us to a clause which is as follows :

"any liability to repair replace or renew the furniture floor coverings and curtains (if any) referred to in clause 4 (4) or to redecorate the interior of the Property during or at the end of the tenancy created by this Lease"

i can understand if the furniture is thier but in a very bad state but its not even around and taken by the damn tenant.

can anyone help or point me in the right direction

thanks in advance

[Deleted User]

I realise that the fact that this has happened is annoying.., but if u were a more experienced landlord, u'd realise that this kind of thing does happen (it works out costing u £166.66 a year over three years.., but this is based on new cost of furniture not what they'd be worth now which would probably be a third of original value at most). You made an agreement with the housing association knowing that u'd have to purchase furniture. At the time it must have seemed the best deal you could get otherwise you would not have accepted it. Surely u realised u'd lost most of the value of the furniture purchased even if they had been left behind by the tenant?

If you are deciding to rent privately, I think u will find most tenants expect to bring their own furniture (altho some landlords provide white goods) as most landlords don't rent furnished properties due to the additional problems this incurs (as you have discovered).

I know this seems an unhelpful reply.., but unless the tenant had to give you a deposit, I don't suppose there is much you can do now. Just put it down to experience, learn and move on. U can try a small claims court to chase the tenant but wouldn't hold your breath against getting your money back I'm afraid. And any money u got back would be based on the value of the furniture now., not when u bought it three years ago. I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble.

Popeye123

deannatrois wrote: »

I realise that the fact that this has happened is annoying.., but if u were a more experienced landlord, u'd realise that this kind of thing does happen (it works out costing u £166.66 a year over three years.., but this is based on new cost of furniture not what they'd be worth now which would probably be a third of original value at most). You made an agreement with the housing association knowing that u'd have to purchase furniture. At the time it must have seemed the best deal you could get otherwise you would not have accepted it. Surely u realised u'd lost most of the value of the furniture purchased even if they had been left behind by the tenant?

If you are deciding to rent privately, I think u will find most tenants expect to bring their own furniture (altho some landlords provide white goods) as most landlords don't rent furnished properties due to the additional problems this incurs (as you have discovered).

I know this seems an unhelpful reply.., but unless the tenant had to give you a deposit, I don't suppose there is much you can do now. Just put it down to experience, learn and move on. U can try a small claims court to chase the tenant but wouldn't hold your breath against getting your money back I'm afraid. And any money u got back would be based on the value of the furniture now., not when u bought it three years ago. I'm not sure it would be worth the trouble.

thanks for the reply

it still doesn't seem right lol, lucky the whole house wasent furnished.

im still waiting for more replies.

i thought the housing association would deal with this side, they have paid for a few other things that are broken like door lock.
the cow decided to change the door lock right before moving out and made a right mess of the whole door, she thought maybe we would enter the property after she had gone and make a mess to claim later.

thanks again

cattie

I would have thought that a £500 write off over a 3yr period is pretty good going to be honest. Personally I'd never be a landlord, but when you read some of the posts here, from both landlords & some tenants that relate to damage etc in rental properties, you'd feel blessed to be out of pocket by such a relatively small amount in the scheme of things.

When you rented the property, weren't you aware that there probably would be some things you might have to replace completely when the tenancy ended & factor this in when you were deciding to rent the property out?

If you are looking to replace the items taken in readiness for another let, consider trying to get things from freecycle or from charity shops if money is an issue.

G_M

Since you have not quoted the clause in full, it is hard to comment.

I assume this is your contract with the HA, rather than a contract with the 'tenant'?

When you signed the contract you agreed to its terms - did you read it first?

Did you provide, and get agreed/signed, an inventory for the property? Unless you established at the start (or part way through) what was being provided, you can hardly make a claim at the end for items that might /might not have gone missing.

Popeye123

G_M wrote: »

Since you have not quoted the clause in full, it is hard to comment.

I assume this is your contract with the HA, rather than a contract with the 'tenant'?

When you signed the contract you agreed to its terms - did you read it first?

Did you provide, and get agreed/signed, an inventory for the property? Unless you established at the start (or part way through) what was being provided, you can hardly make a claim at the end for items that might /might not have gone missing.

thanks for the replies so far

we had a list of every room and the things in it provided by us, these mainly being fitting/fixings there was no furniture as the HA said that the tenants usually have their own but they will contact us if more is needed, this was all agreed and signed.

they did need more and billed us for it, which was also fine. we have invoices.