where do I stand in shared occupancey when landlords son uses spare key to steal £650

Fire_Fox

I'm not meaning to be harsh by saying that, just don't want you to get bad advice. Your legal issues are complex and largely about the liability in case of a theft which is a criminal matter. We tend to deal with legal aspects of things like ASTs and the Landlord-Tenant Acts: mostly civil matters and often simple/ clear cut cases.

Glad the locks have been changed and glad your housemate is a witness that is helpful! Landlord should have evicted him ages ago if he is a known thief - should say something about illegal or immoral purposes in the tenancy agreement? technically the tenant has likely been illegally evicted ... but I am sure that is a relief.

GDB2222

I'm struggling to understand why people think the landlord might be responsible to make good this loss? It sounds to me like it would be hard to prove a criminal case against the LL's son, but that's a police matter. Have they taken finger prints, etc? Winning a civil case against the son is pointless, as he has no money.

Wyndham

I know you have strong suspicions, but he's innocent until proven guilty. It doesn't quite seem to be the case that you have definite evidence against him, more circumstantial evidence? The police will be able to advise you, or a solicitor if you want to go that far, but without proof I don't think you have a case.

tbs624

MacMickster wrote: »

I'm glad that the landlord is now taking some positive action by changing the locks and evicting his son. Given that he personally failed to keep the spare key secure I would be asking him to reimburse your losses to save you both the expense of going through the legal process.

Additionally, despite your landlord changing the locks, I would change them again myself, so that the landlord would not have a spare key to YOUR home. Just make sure that you keep his lock and key safe so that you can replace it when you leave the property.

Note that if the property is classed as an HMO the LL is entitled to retain keys to the communal parts of the property (additional and selective licensing may apply in the OP's area)

tbs624

Grim to be sharing a property with someone who has a drug habit to feed but if there had been previous issues with someone being lightfingered why on earth would you not have a lockable filing cabinet or lockable cupboard drawer within your room to minimise the risks?

If LL has failed to keep keys safe then he ought to be making some recompense but IMO leaving several hundred quid in cash lying around in an envelope on your desk was less than sensible.

GDB2222

MacMickster wrote: »

The landlord held a spare key to the OP's property and then neglectfully failed to keep that secure (it is now missing). As a key was used to gain access to the property this will invalidate any insurance that the OP may have.

Was the landlord negligent, for a start? Even if he was, does he have a duty of care? It's quite normal for a landlord to keep a spare key. It would be unfair to raise the OP's hopes too much, unless people here really know the law.

Besides that, was entry definitely made using that key? Yale-type locks can be opened in a number of ways - google bump keys and pick guns. The fact the key is missing is evidence, but not incontrovertible.

propertyman

While you might struggle to prove your suspicion no matter how strong they are, he will have no trouble proving that you beat him up/got your hands on him.

Frustrating I know but think longer term about your criminal record., he's lost the plot, don't join him.

ruggedtoast

I am astonished the police bothered to turn out for this. I've known people to be burgled with forced entry, cars stolen, who had to make do with a couple of PCSOs a few days later.

I suspect you've probably seen the last of your money unfortunately. You'd need Perry Mason to convince the cops to try and pin the theft on the landlord, and whatever money your erstwhile flatmate took will be long gone by now.

Jaypowell_2

Thanks for all your input people, you are right in first instance I shouldnt have left £650 in my room, I am repeatedly kicking myself at this fact but having a lock on the door in my own home, having left suff around before with no issues, on the day I felt nothing suspect, neither house mates knew I had left the cash in my room, I just popped it out the way and was due to go buy another car upon my return home - logical thinking made me leave the cash in what I presumed a safe place behind my locked door.

What I didnt expect is that the LL's spare key had gone missing or if Tom had a spare key for the room or that it would have gone missing in the first place, its just not something that I had expected.

paddyrg

The fact that the money was concealed yet stolen without disruption to the room would suggest a thief with some familiarity with the room - could 'Tom' be in there every other day going through drawers, etc?

At the very least, get a nannycam type of device and see what happens when you go out each day - although after a lock change it may be a bit late now to get evidence that 'Tom' regularly helps himself without invitation