Landlord allowing third party storage in garage we are paying rent for

specialboy

Lock up garages cost in the region of £50 per month (in my area anyway) contact the landlady and ask that this amount is deducted from your rent until you get full use of it and also request a refund for previous months that you didn't have access.

Voyager2002

MortgageMamma wrote: »

If you are being pushed by the agent to sign for another 6 months then the landlady is obviously insecure about finding new tenants quickly, it would cost her time and money to do that, it would cost her time an money to evict you and she would risk not receiving rent. You could call her bluff and insist on a partial rent refund...

Not necessarily. If a new contract is issued then the agent will charge fees to both tenant and landlord, so it could well be the agent rather than the owner who is keen on a new contract.

Voyager2002

You had a right to sole use of the garage from day 1 of your tenancy, but as a favour to the landlady you agreed not to use it for a while. Since you agreed to this, you cannot now ask for anything for the period before you first asked for the key.

Then when you needed use of the garage and asked for the key, you should have been given the key immediately. During the period of the delay the landlord was effectively renting your garage from you, and so you could reasonably ask for a rent rebate amounting to a typical rent of a lock-up garage in the area for the period during which she withheld the key from you.

You now have access to the garage, and find that it contains someone else's possessions. The most sensible solution would be for you to make some arrangement with the owner of these things so that they compensate you for the use of your garage. Otherwise of course they are free to remove their belongings. Perhaps you could ask your land-lady to put you in contact with the owner of these things so that you can make some mutually satisfactory arrangement.

pollydollydoodah

Ask them to clear it and say you rented a house with a garage as you needed a garage. That's not unreasonable at all.

I'd be tempted to agree with your husband and leave it as you don't want to antagonize them and be served notice as you are near the renewal. But as others say-they can't just throw you out.

I totally agree it's annoying, but in a way by delaying getting the key, they could say they've only just put the stuff in the garage. (Obvs they haven't but I'd guess it's hard to prove as you had no key)

agrinnall

D_M_E wrote: »

Until this is resolved, I would not store or put anything I owned in the garage as there would be a danger of it being removed along with the current other person's property.

Change the lock on the garage then the 3rd party will have no access unless they break in, at which point the police should be called.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'd start by changing the lock on the garage and that way no-one can get into your garage except you. Warn them that their possessions are at risk of getting oil over them from your possessions (eg a friend of yours storing their motorbike in your garage and doing oil changes or the like in there) and that they might like to ensure their possessions are safe by removing them quickly - because you fear they might get damaged from those oil changes/your friend is a bit "generously proportioned" and clumsy and might well accidentally trip over their possessions.

If that hasn't worked after a fortnight - then it may be necessary to say "I did warn that some damage might occur. Well - some minor damage has now occurred. I'm very sorry - but the damage was after the deadline I gave you to remove your possessions, so I am surprised your possessions were still there".

It's been my experience that making it very plain that one knows someone else is illicitly using your property doesn't work at getting them to stop doing so. Followed by it doesn't work either to tell ("ask") them to stop doing so. So it probably will be necessary to be "firm" to get this illicit use stopped.

Mahsroh

Firstly, your issue about the agent trying to push you into another fixed term contract - they will always bully you into doing this but don't let them. My letting agent (i'm a landlord) actually served notice to my tenants when they didn't sign up to another fixed term (without consulting me!)... Needless to say I was far from impressed with that, but please don't let them bully you.

In terms of the garage issue, I would suggest (firstly) a fairly polite but firm letter to the agents explaining that the garage is being used by your LL without your consent and ask for the situation to be rectified. The agents (as annoying as they can be) will know your rights so they'll hopefully push the issue with the LL.

If that doesn't resolve it, where you take it from there is very much a personal choice. If the garage is not a major issue to you and you're planning on leaving in a few months, although it may be annoying (it would annoy me too), is it worth upsetting the apple cart? There is no right or wrong answer to that question really.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I'd start by changing the lock on the garage and that way no-one can get into your garage except you. Warn them that their possessions are at risk of getting oil over them from your possessions (eg a friend of yours storing their motorbike in your garage and doing oil changes or the like in there) and that they might like to ensure their possessions are safe by removing them quickly - because you fear they might get damaged from those oil changes/your friend is a bit "generously proportioned" and clumsy and might well accidentally trip over their possessions.

If that hasn't worked after a fortnight - then it may be necessary to say "I did warn that some damage might occur. Well - some minor damage has now occurred. I'm very sorry - but the damage was after the deadline I gave you to remove your possessions, so I am surprised your possessions were still there".

Please don't behave in this childish way.

Simply tell them (don't ask!) that their friends need to move their belongings out of the premises you are renting immediately. You have all the legal rights here.

princeofpounds

Some good advice here, some a little off...


I agree with Voyager that whilst you do have a right to exclusive occupation of the garage, you implicitly agreed to have the stuff in storage for some time and so it's of little use worrying about the past, even if it turns out you were basically donating a service of commercial value.


With regards to the current situation - totally understand you want the stuff out.


What you have to be aware of is that you have established something called a bailment (google it - this is the area of law that answers your original question). It is the legal situation that arises when you are involuntarily left in custody of other people's possessions.


Basically, you are obliged to take reasonable care of the possessions (so no chucking them out in the street - yet) and you also have to make reasonable effort to allow the owner of the goods to collect them. This is not that onerous - write a couple of letters, keep evidence of postage and give a couple of weeks.


Then you get into more complicated territory, where you can start to charge for storage. But I would imagine it doesn't get that far.

Guest101

All these arguments which are totally not necessary.




Simple put, at the minute YOU are liable for the property. Your insurance wont cover you, so you simply


1: sign the renewal agreement.
2: once signed you inform the LL she has 14 days to clear the garage after which point you will dispose of all belongings (the cost of such disposal will be passed on to her.
Or: 3: don't do 1. Still do 2. Get notice, go to court, wait for bailiffs (approx. 4-5 months total)