Can I sell old owners stuff?

NewHomeBuyer

Hello!

So I'm in the process of buying a repossessed house with a garage that is full of the owners old stuff. The property is 'sold as seen' and it will be my responsibility to get rid of any remaining items that the old owner has left in. Currently, he hasn't collected much but obviously he is aware that the house is being sold.

After contracts have been exchanged, can I sell any items that he hasn't picked up rather than just take to the tip? There's a lot of stuff to get rid of, mostly old unusable furniture. But there is a few bits that could be sold, including an old motorbike in the garage! Where do I stand with this?

I've asked the estate agents to contact him a few times and they have said they have done the best they can do.

pmlindyloo

Personally I would asking my solicitor this question.

There are laws about 'abandoned goods' which require you to send formal notices to the owner giving them the chance to claim the property. Then if you have no response you can sell the property but any money received needs to go to the owner unless after 6 years you have tried to contact them but have no response.

I am not an expert (hence the suggestion to ask your solicitor) so do not know if this applies to properties that you buy but the solicitor might be able to write this into the contract so that the owner gives up his/her rights to the property/or collects it in a certain time period.

Your seller will have to sign the contract so this would probably be the best way to do things.

princeofpounds

Google 'bailment'.

The answer is basically no, not immediately. You have a basic involuntary duty of care towards other people's possession.

But once you make reasonable efforts to contact them and permit collection, you may be able to in order to compensate for storage costs.

NewHomeBuyer

Thanks for your replies.

The estate agents have inferred that by buying the property, any of his possessions left in the house will be transferred over to my ownership.

I will contact my solicitor to have this written into the agreement, if possible.

Ninnut85

I'd get rid of it and sell it.
If the previous owner ever came back i'd say "what motorbike? There was no motorbike here when I moved in. Must have been cleared out before I moved in."

googler

NewHomeBuyer wrote: »

The estate agents have inferred that by buying the property, any of his possessions left in the house will be transferred over to my ownership.

I will contact my solicitor to have this written into the agreement, if possible.

Good for them. Unless you have proof that one or more of them have the appropriate legal training in this area of law or statute, I'd take that with a pinch of salt.

st999

I'd get rid of it and sell it.
If the previous owner ever came back i'd say "what motorbike? There was no motorbike here when I moved in. Must have been cleared out before I moved in."

That's what I did, previous owner came back 4 weeks later looking for something left in the garage. I told him the garage was empty and the door open when I moved in.

I never mentioned I'd told some people down at the pub about all the junk in the garage and to help themselves.

They cleaned it out the day before I moved in which was 2 days after I bought the house.