Need to get rid of ex-lodger's stuff BUT....

Bailey101

Afternoon All

My lodger moved out about 3 weeks ago and her rent and deposit 'ran out' today. The problem is that my spare rooms full of her stuff, despite her saying she'd be back in a couple of days for it, and I can't re-let until it's been emptied. Normally I'd send a recorded delivery letter stating a timeframe to have it removed and that would that, but I don't have a forwarding address and she's not answering her phone or replying to texts (turns out she has a really bad habit of ignoring her problems until she's ready to deal with them, regardless of the trouble it's causing other people).

My questions are 1. Should it come to it, would a message through facebook stand up in court as I have no address for her and 2. Can I tell her that if the stuff isn't collected by a certain date it's going in the communal shed (it's shared with 4 other households) and I won't be responsible for theft, water damage etc?

Any help would be much appreciated

Bailey xx

BitterAndTwisted

FACEBOOK? And how would you persuade a court that she'd read and understood your message on Facebook?

Do you know where she works? If you can't store her stuff in your spare room I'd just shift it to the communal shed now and be done with it.

princeofpounds

You have established a bailment. Google that term and you'll get a lot of a information. You have a duty of care over the possessions, you need to make a reasonable effort to contact her and offer a reasonable opportunity to collect. But if it drags on you might have some rights to charge a reasonable fee for storage and sell or dispose.

So in brief, if facebook is all you have, use it. No-one can fault you for not having a forward address. But it's too early to put it in a communal space.

The latter stages of this blog post will give you a bit more of an idea.
http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/2010/04/27/landlord-rights-over-tenants-possessions/

DVardysShadow

Rather than facebook, I would put an advertisement in the local paper - but I would use facebook to tell her that you are putting an ad into the paper - and I would keep proof of having done both. While a court might be reluctant to accept facebook notification as good enough, they might regard facebook as reinforcing the local paper ad.

The legal concept you need to understand is 'bailment' where you have possession, but not ownership of the goods in question

Bailey101

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

FACEBOOK? And how would you persuade a court that she'd read and understood your message on Facebook?

Do you know where she works? If you can't store her stuff in your spare room I'd just shift it to the communal shed now and be done with it.

That's what I was worried about, but other then texting it's the only way to get in touch with her. I'm concerned about ending up in court if anything happens to her stuff as she did the same thing to her last landlord and she's now trying to sue him for all sorts (despite the fact that he had her crap in his house for 3 months and heard nothing from her at all).

Last time I spoke to her she was leaving the city all together so I've no idea where she now works.

She's a freaking nightmare :mad:

xx

wilykit

Do what I did when my ex moved out and kept telling me he would get his stuff, then didn't turn up etc...I gave him plenty of chances, but in the end I stuck all the decent stuff on eBay and text him the item numbers, and the rest I either gave away to people or charity shops or binned!

Bailey101

princeofpounds wrote: »

So in brief, if facebook is all you have, use it. No-one can fault you for not having a forward address. But it's too early to put it in a communal space.

I'll keep her stuff in the flat for a while longer until I can get some sort of acknowledgement from her.

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Rather than facebook, I would put an advertisement in the local paper - but I would use facebook to tell her that you are putting an ad into the paper - and I would keep proof of having done both. While a court might be reluctant to accept facebook notification as good enough, they might regard facebook as reinforcing the local paper ad.

I never thought of the paper - I'm not too sure where she's moved to but I'll put an advert in my local one and the one that's local to her family home (don't know the family but I know the area city she's from)

Bailey101

wilykit wrote: »

Do what I did when my ex moved out and kept telling me he would get his stuff, then didn't turn up etc...I gave him plenty of chances, but in the end I stuck all the decent stuff on eBay and text him the item numbers, and the rest I either gave away to people or charity shops or binned!

That made me snigger -I'd love to see her face when she got that text......

BitterAndTwisted

How much is secure-storage where you are? I'd have a look into that and see what it costs. Ex-ledger can pay when she wants to collect her stuff. If she's talked about suing her previous landlord I'd have serious doubts about doing anything doubtful with her carp like putting it somewhere other people could go through it and take it. It could all be bluff of course because she's just a flake or a plain pita.

HB58

Like BitterandTwisted, I would suggest putting the stuff into storage until your ex-lodger decides to collect it - especially if payment is made on collection rather than deposit!

Bogof_Babe

Try phoning her mobile from a number she won't recognize. She might answer out of curiosity.