Stuff left behind by the last owner

fluffymuffy

We moved to our new house last week. There are a few things left there by the last owner. I guess these are ours now? Tins of paint in the garage, some pot plants...

But then there are things that were offered to us for sale on the Fixtures and Fittings list - which we decided not to buy. There's a manky carpet that we decided not to pay £50 for. I guess they decided not to rip it up and put it in the van.

But mostly there's this very nice table and chairs outside. They wanted £450 for it. We could probably buy something similar new for that and so said "No thanks". But it's still here.

We asked the estate agent. They said it must have been sold with the house if it's still here. Does that really mean we get to keep it? Or can the last people come and get it when we're out. Or would we have to give it them if they asked? What's the legal angle on this.

(I'm not feeling to kindly towards them as they disconnected some kitchen appliances they took by cutting off the wires as they come out of the wall.)

marliepanda

I think technically they are still theirs as, as you said, they were not included.

My inkling is that they have no space for the fancy tables, and clearly dont want the manky carpet, so tried to get money, you said no, they thought 'well we dont have anywhere to put it anyway' and left it.

They certainly cannot come and get them whilst you are out, thats trespassing. I would maybe write to their solicitor (or whatever contact you have for them) giving them a timeframe to collect everything they left and if not, then its yours I guess!

fluffymuffy

Not sure I want to encourage them to come and collect this nice table.

I wonder how long would be reasonable to just wait it out for and then acquire ownership of it? After some time I might well be thinking of charging for the storage of it. It's quite big and with those six nice chairs it takes a lot of room. That would cost a fair bit in one of those rent-a-store places.

go_cat

My view is on completion everything left becomes yours .. I would use them ( the tables ) It could be they just couldn't be bothered in the end like our vendor who wanted to sell us stuff we offered a lower price , he refused and he ended up leaving them as he couldn't be bothered :T

go_cat

Alternatively wait for them to contact you, it's their problem not yours so to speak, I definitely wouldn't be using my time to chase them

Cheeky_Monkey

I would say that the table and chairs now legally belong to you.

If the vendors had wanted them, they could've come back the following day or at the very least left you a note to that effect.

I believe the only thing vendors are allowed to come back for is to remove any plants, shrubs etc. that were not able to be moved at the time and actually have up to a year to do so I think.

baskerville_2

Its probably a case of they couldn't be bothered.

I'd use them. Its your property now so they can't just enter at will. Probably too tight to include them in the removals quote!:D

phill99

Brilliant forum. People can post a question and people that no nothing about the subject can post an answer.

The items left are not yours. I'd you keep them, you could be guilty of theft.

You need to get your solcitors to write to the previous owners solicitors giving them 14 days to remove them or you will assume that they have given up ownership of the items.

more_money_for_me

phill99 wrote: »

Brilliant forum. People can post a question and people that no nothing about the subject can post an answer.

I thought they were all experts.....thats what it says in the title of the website......If you are telling me they're not I'm resigning my membership.:D

G_M

more_money_for_me wrote: »

I thought they were all experts.....thats what it says in the title of the website......If you are telling me they're not I'm resigning my membership.:D

:T :T :T :T :T :T :T

This link describes the legal position when a tenant abandons goods in a property at the end of a tenancy, but many of the obligations (in Tort etc) are the same.

DRP

phill99 wrote: »

Brilliant forum. People can post a question and people that no nothing about the subject can post an answer.

The items left are not yours. I'd you keep them, you could be guilty of theft.

You need to get your solcitors to write to the previous owners solicitors giving them 14 days to remove them or you will assume that they have given up ownership of the items.

i imagine 99.9% of people wouldn't worry for a second about doing absolutely nothing.

I certainly wouldn't bother making contact with the old owner and would continue to use any stuff that i wanted.

I would probably wait a month before binning the rubbish stuff that I didn't want.