Find it, Keep It

rafhelp

If you found £50 somewhere, it wasnt yours, but no one else claimed it and you dont know whos it was, under the UK law, are you entitled to keep it. Or does law state you gotta give it to cops or summat

DS4215

I've always kept any cash that I've found, but if it was in a wallet or some way traceable it would go to the police (or the owner if the address was nearby).

geordie_joe

You have to take reasonable steps to find the rightful owner. The most reasonable step would be to hand it in to the police, because it is reasonable to expect the rightful owner to contact them and report it missing/ask if anyone has handed it in.

If you did find £50, and kept it, and got caught, you would have a hard time convincing anyone that you had a good reason for not handing it in.

tuttifruiti20

If there was a way to return the money to the person then I would, could ruin someones day or even their life if you find a wedge of money, say for their rent or travel somewhere, and take it to waste on things.

realshannon

hand it into the police, if unclaimed within a few days, you can claim it back, it gets logged onto the system. it would be awful if it was an old lady/man or someone who really couldn't afford to lose that money but at least you will feel better about keeping it if it isn't claimed.

gemgemz

I found £20 actually outside a police station a few years ago, I went in to hand it in and they told me to keep it as the owner would be untraceable. Not sure if this is the usual line, or if they just didn't fancy the paperwork to be honest.

Found a tenner in the self service till at Asda a few months ago, someones change or cashback obviously, handed it in to the surprise of the staff who looked at me like I had two heads, but I have been in the position of being down to my last tenner loads of times, I'd have been distraught at losing it! Never found out if the rightful owner sussed that they'd left it in the machine and claimed it though.

(Gave the £20 to charity, as I didn't feel right just keeping it).

Gem

geordie_joe

gemgemz wrote: »

I found £20 actually outside a police station a few years ago, I went in to hand it in and they told me to keep it as the owner would be untraceable. Not sure if this is the usual line, or if they just didn't fancy the paperwork to be honest.

I think they were just lazy. They would almost certainly not be able to trace the owner, but the idea is that the owner might trace them. Someone could walk into the station and say they lost a £20 note and ask if it had been handed in.

clogger123

Believe it or not there is a crime called Theft by Finding. You are best to hand it into a Police Station, get a receipt and if nobody claims it after certain time you will get it back. Simples!!!

patman99

It would become yours after 12 weeks if unclaimed.

Crazily, the Police keep lost property logs in each station, but they are unique to that station. There is no national lost property register. This means that if you lived in Romford and took a day trip to Westminster and found a Rolex watch on a park bench, if you took it back to Romford and handed it in at your local Police Station, there would be a high chance of you becoming the watch's owner, as it's real owner would not think about reporting it to Romford Police Station.

Stolen_Kisses

patman99 wrote: »

It would become yours after 12 weeks if unclaimed.

Crazily, the Police keep lost property logs in each station, but they are unique to that station. There is no national lost property register. This means that if you lived in Romford and took a day trip to Westminster and found a Rolex watch on a park bench, if you took it back to Romford and handed it in at your local Police Station, there would be a high chance of you becoming the watch's owner, as it's real owner would not think about reporting it to Romford Police Station.

I am really surprised to hear that there is not a national register . I automatically presumed that there was .:p

Jobseeeker

it would be "theft by finding". However if you hand it in and it is not claimed you will get it back. This happened to my dad, so he then gave it to a charity