Landlord disposed of clothes by mistake!

jamie11

Negligent or not, civil or criminal, as said earlier they were second hand and the landlord has offered £50, you could probably buy more than three bin bags full of second hand clothes with that, take the money and go on a shopping spree to your local charity shops.

The_Unready

supersuzie50 wrote: »

Presumable she had told him that there were broken appliances etc in the room. If I saw black bags, I would think they were rubbish as well. There is really no reason to complain. All rooms should be tidy - why were her clothes not in the wardrobe or drawers? Why were they in black bags?

Just remind me, precisely which bit of the Housing Act states that a tenant has to keep a room tidy?

"All rooms should be tidy - why were her clothes not in the wardrobe or drawers? Why were they in black bags?"

What the heck has it got to do with the landlord where the tenant keeps her clothes? The LL is obviously a muppet on so many levels!

Unbelievable! Is your post just a wind up?

The Unready

DVardysShadow

PaulLuke wrote: »

Actually,how do you know that there was no intent to 'permanently deprive' etc?

You don't know that there was and you don't know that there wasn't. A criminal court would not be happy with this - therefore, neither would the police. A civil court, properly acquainted with the legal rights of tenants would have no difficulty in dealing with this as negligence, since the distracting question of 'intent' does not arise. All that would be at issue is the level of damages to be awarded. In fact, unless the Landlord made an offer 'without prejudice' or 'without accepting liability', it would not even be necessary to establish that the clothes had been taken, because this has been admitted.

supersuzie50 wrote: »

Presumable she had told him that there were broken appliances etc in the room. If I saw black bags, I would think they were rubbish as well. There is really no reason to complain. All rooms should be tidy - why were her clothes not in the wardrobe or drawers? Why were they in black bags?

Why they were in binbags and not stowed in drawers and wardrobes does not need an answer. Presumably tenant was moving in, so it is not unreasonable. But even if she had been there for months, it does not matter, the tenant is within her rights to use black bin bags as her wardrobe if she so chooses. The landlord had no business to do anything other than dispose of appliances.

jamie11 wrote: »

Negligent or not, civil or criminal, as said earlier they were second hand and the landlord has offered £50, you could probably buy more than three bin bags full of second hand clothes with that, take the money and go on a shopping spree to your local charity shops.

Come off it. She has put her wardrobe together over a period of time. Those clothes are personal to her. Suggesting that compo appropriate to a bulk purchase of 3 binbags of clothes from a charity shop is appropriate is rather insulting.

theartfullodger

It's theft, criminal offence. Call Police, confirm complaint in writing to Police & get crime reference number.

Produce list of clothes & replacement costs, plus expenses.

Cheers!

Artful (landlord)

Maysie

Must be a cheap charity shop that would give you 3 bin bags of clothes for £50 haven't you seen the prices they charge these days? They are more than sale items in the high street. say 20 items per bag minimum could be more (op how many items do you think she has lost?) thats 60 items less than a quid an item your having a laugh. Most things in charirty shops seem about the £4 mark for a bobbly primark t-shirt,£8 for trousers or skirts and about a tenner for most dresses. If she had her seasonal clothes in bags as us women sometimes overfill the dressers and wardrobes.... Could be some coats which cost her a fortune in the bags. Coats round here are always over a tenner in charity shops.

Ms_Speculatrix

If he didn't have her permission to be in the flat he is on a sticky wicket straight way.

Even if he did, removing broken items does not include taking bin bags even if they were full of rubbish it's none of his concern. He should not have touched anything other than the items he came to remove.

Tenants can live how they like, there is no requirement in law to keep things tidy. I can barely believe that remark actually. We all live differently and should be free to do so in our own homes without someone coming in and deciding to remove things because they look like rubbish to them.

Your daughter should not have to wear charity shop clothing because someone effectively stole her wardrobe. I personally would have thought it was a mistake on his part but in that case he should be offering proper compensation. If I had received that attitude about hearing from a solicitor I would probably then consider it theft! Whatever, he is in the wrong here.

As far as her recourse is concerned, the problem here is that because of the lack of securitiy in tenancies tenants risk eviction if they are considered "difficult" by the landlord. I would write to him and ask him for more money, be polite and calm but do make it clear that you will take matters further. Possibly a solicitors letter via the CAB solicitors might do the trick. If he came in without permission be sure to mention that too. If you don't get anywhere with that either go straight to small claims or do that and report him to the police. Even if they do nothing, she will get a crime number which she could use to claim back from her contents insurance if she has them. Unfortunately he could then decide to give her notice and she will be in the situation of having to find new accommodation.

Other than that I'd change the locks if he has his own key and can't be trusted not to enter the property when she is not there.

Absinthe_2

I agree with the comments regarding the paltry £50 offered. I'll bet her clothes were unique, and original to her. Even in decent charity shops selling quality clothing, you can be hard-pressed to buy a decent skirt for less than £7. Its why I stick to books nowadays.

Three bags of clothes would be many items. £50 would not even start to cover the cost, even second-hand, although the reason why the OPs daughter should be forced to wear tat, because her landlord went and destroyed her possessions behind her back, escapes me.

Broken items, do not feel like clothes already there in bin bags. He had no right, and I would take it further. I would also be looking for somewhere else to live.

Catherine_Johnson_2

Why do people insist on jumping straight in with answers without knowing, or asking, the full facts?

The OP has made no mention of whether the tenant gave permission for the LL to go in. Without this knowledge it's impossible to say whether he/she should have been there. The INFERENCE from the post makes it sound like it was agreed between LL and tenant. But we don't know, so why comment on the LL being in the wrong?

Perhaps the tenant had agreed with LL to bag up the faulty items? Again, we don't know. This could explain why the LL removed the bags.

Maybe if the OP spent a bit more time writing exactly what the circumstances were then people could give a bit more thought to giving a sensible reply based on facts?

Everything else in the meantime is simply conjecture.

alfiesmum

phill99 wrote: »

As it is a civil matter, the compensation will cover the value of the goods. Not the replacement cost. The clothes may have cost £500 2 years ago, but as a bunch of secondhamd clothes, they will be worth virtually nothing (go to any charity shop to confirm this) £50 may well be over generous on the LLs part.

On the subject of what the clothes were worth/charity shop values etc, I was in a charity shop yesterday, and an advert for donating stuff was playing it said something along the lines of "For every bag of clothes donated, Dr Barnardos can raise around £20". So the above post was about right then.

On the subject of whether or not it was done maliciously, the title itself says - "landlord disposed of clothes BY MISTAKE". So that bit's not up for debate really.

lolly_896

alfiesmum wrote: »

On the subject of what the clothes were worth/charity shop values etc, I was in a charity shop yesterday, and an advert for donating stuff was playing it said something along the lines of "For every bag of clothes donated, Dr Barnardos can raise around £20". So the above post was about right then.

On the subject of whether or not it was done maliciously, the title itself says - "landlord disposed of clothes BY MISTAKE". So that bit's not up for debate really.

I uploaded a bag of old clothes to ebay this week, i have raised £127, so by my calculations £50 is not nearly enough