Assets seized without my consent

Pollycat

pinkshoes wrote: »

The furniture is gone and nothing you can do.

What you can deal with is your disrespectful and lying partner.

Do you still want to be with her?

If you do, then it's ultimatum time. I would make her hand over ALL bank cards, cancel all accounts (amazon), then you look after all her finances giving her weekly cash allowence. She needs to prove she can be trusted again.

if you choose to leave, the deduct the cost of the furniture from her share of the savings!

I agree with this.

You've had advice on the furniture that was seized and sold.

You say you're starting to work through her finances but that she lies.
'Lies' as in present tense, not 'lied' as in past tense.

I would find that totally unacceptable behaviour from a partner.

There is a Debt-Free Wannabe board on MSE, if you posted on there you'd get excellent advice on dealing with your partner's debt.

Good luck - unless your partner stops lying, I have a feeling you're going to need it.

soolin

piglet25 wrote: »

If I was you I would be going through all the other things she pays for with a fine tooth comb, I couldn't stay in a relationship with so much secrecy but I understand people who do - good luck x

I agree, I would ask for accounts for every other bill she is responsible for paying, goodness knows what else she is endangering.

As for the initial question about storage - selling on stored goods is a very long process. I have storage units and had real issues actually paying one half yearly payment. It isn't a 24 hour facility but every time I went they were 'at lunch' or unexpectedly closed for the day. I phoned them and the phones were diverted to head office who said they had staff issues- but were not able to take payment themselves. I eventually managed to pay about 3 weeks late and when I did I said I had been afraid that my stuff would be sold on-and was assured this would not have happened for months.

They told me that they would not even start to forcibly remind until month 2 and at that point would email, write and phone and couldn't actually do anything apart from add a small percentage for costs (which is outlined in the contract). They assured me it could take months before they could legally pass my locker on to a house clearance auction (and I have now found the one they use!) but that I would be given legal notice that my goods had been seized and a time frame to appeal before any sale took place.

Incidentally, for auction hunters like me they don't auction them like they do in the US shows- in the Uk they tend to clear them like a house clearance and sell the stuff in open boxes or in job lots . If your furniture was really high end and your estimated value was not just purchase price, then you can probably track it down online and actually see where it was sold and for how much, although that would probably be depressing as furniture rarely holds its value and will sell for pennies against the initial cost.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

OP has two choices.


For relationship advice, further up pal.


BoP's advice is two words.


Dump Her

Partner-in-debt

pinkshoes wrote: »

The furniture is gone and nothing you can do.

What you can deal with is your disrespectful and lying partner.

Do you still want to be with her?

If you do, then it's ultimatum time. I would make her hand over ALL bank cards, cancel all accounts (amazon), then you look after all her finances giving her weekly cash allowence. She needs to prove she can be trusted again.

if you choose to leave, the deduct the cost of the furniture from her share of the savings!

Thanks for the advice, I have thrown her out and she is staying with her sister. Her family are now fully aware of the situation.

She has told me she will make restitution payments towards the loss, but I doubt I will see any of that money.

Presumably there is still a debt to the removal company (the accrued £20k - value of goods sold). The firm told me by phone that they have no contact details for her and that the debt is effectively written off once debt recovery are involved, but would they still go after her for the difference now I have made contact? Could they send demands to my address based on the number I called them on?

They still have all my personal effects, paperwork, photos, clothes and other things that are unsaleable I guess. But I assume they will not release these until the debt is paid? Starting to get worried that they will come after me.

neilmcl

Partner-in-debt wrote: »

We downsized from a detached house into a flat 3 years ago and placed our furniture in storage.... The furniture was accumulated over the past decade but was certainly over £100,000 in value.

Really, did you have the odd Chippendale in there? What insurance did you take out?

Partner-in-debt

neilmcl wrote: »

Really, did you have the odd Chippendale in there? What insurance did you take out?

Yes, there were a number of high value items. A new for old calculation would add a multiple to my estimate. The insurance was adequate however this only covers loss or damage incurred by the actions of the removals firm, not any asset disposal for non-payment.

The main issue is that my partner was able to extend the accrued debt well past the normal cut-off by any sensible firm by making sporadic payments of £100 here and there and making promises that were not kept. If after 3 months non payment they had contacted me to say the bills hadn't been paid I would have just paid the account in full and transferred the agreement into my name or simply removed the items to family and friends as an interim measure. How it was allowed to accrue to £20k is beyond belief. 3 months storage would have been £1350 + a similar amount for the initial move. Once the debt of £2600 was not paid they should have told her that she must pay this amount immediately in full or risk an asset sale. Either way, the items are all sold now and a harsh lesson has been learnt.

arcon5

Worth adding they must realise a fair value for good repossessed. If they went to auction then they could easily argue they did though. If the auction raises >£20k owed then they can deduct the costs of repossession and obviously the amount owed but any remaining balance belongs to you. So it's at least worth investigating what happened with everything. Maybe even put in a subject access request to them.... although it would need to come from here, so get her to assist you.

And after 15 years only you know what's best for you both, wouldn't pay any attention to 'dump her' type posts on here.

arcon5

redcard wrote: »

So you basically gave £100K of your own furniture to your partner to look after?

I'm guessing your not married or in a serious relationship

Partner-in-debt

arcon5 wrote: »

I'm guessing your not married or in a serious relationship

sadly, what makes this worse is that we have been together 15 years, so trusted her implicitly and whilst we were not married, we did try and split the bills appropriately. The storage was one of only 2 or 3 things that she was responsible for. I had bought almost all the furniture though, not that its relevant as I don't think a claim against her would have any legs given her now destroyed credit history.

Pollycat

You appear to be blaming (partly) the storage company for not contacting you when the bills weren't being paid.

This is why they didn't:

Partner-in-debt wrote: »

My partner had signed the paperwork for the storage

I think you need to stop looking for other people/companies to blame and look to your (ex) partner.
She was the one who didn't pay, she was the one who ignored letters, she was the one who made promises and broke them.

I think it is that that is 'beyond belief', not the fact that this company allowed the debt to accrue to £20K.

If you didn't know that she had debt problems, how on earth would you expect a company to know.

She didn't pay.
They took your goods.