Theft by tenant catch 22

Peter_East

Hi

We took out landlord's insurance with Direct Line. We read the review on MSE and they get a good rating from MSE so we went ahead. We went for the additional cover to include theft by the tenant.

An inspection of the property revealed that the tenant had disposed (sold, given to a friend?) of a high quality piece of furniture. Our view is that this is theft (A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and ;thief; and ;steal; shall be construed accordingly). Direct Line appeared to agree and asked us for a crime reference number from the police.

This is where we hit the catch 22.

We contacted the Met via 101. On the phone two officers said that this was theft. They arranged for two officers to visit us. The two officers rang their sergeant and confirmed that where there is a civil contract that they consider it to be a civil matter and do not get involved. So no crime reference number for Direct Line.

The question arises. What is the point of Direct Line's theft by tenant insurance if they require a crime reference number and the police do not issue crime number where there is a civil i.e. tenancy contract. I cannot now think how the insurance is of any practical benefit. At the least this feels like mis-selling of the insurance and I am also surprised by the recommendation from MSE.

All (helpful) advice welcome please.

giraffe69

You might go into your local police station, ask to see someone higher up and explain the requirements of Direct Line.

If the tenant sells your possessions without permission that is not part of any civil contract.

AnotherJoe

I would go back to the police and ask for one again, IANAL but i think they are wrong, of course its theft and most likely they are trying to avid paperwork and keep crime stats low.

robatwork

The met are being lazy. Call them back and demand they file a report regarding a crime.

TonyMMM

Might be theft, might not be .. e.g.

If the sofa and mattress were falling to pieces/dangerous in some way and the tenant asked you to remove/change them and you didn't, so they disposed of them then the "dishonest appropriation" test may fail, and so no theft.

if they just liked them so took them with them when they left - that's theft.

Has there been any communication with the tenant about the items before/since ?

If you have a deposit, will that cover the cost of replacement ?

theartfullodger

There appears to be no miss-selling, perhaps naïve buying/ adherance to policy terms.

Good heavens, the Police taking steps to ensure crime figures are kept down & it looks like they are doing better than they act......

Report theft: Require CRN. Simple.

What reference did you give this esteemed tenant or is he still your tenant? Have you/will you claim from deposit? (presumably check-in inventory & photos show item, so easy to claim). Personally I'd start with small-claims TODAY, lba then follow CaB process.

keithdc

TonyMMM wrote: »

Might be theft, might not be .. e.g.

If the sofa and mattress were falling to pieces/dangerous in some way and the tenant asked you to remove/change them and you didn't, so they disposed of them then the "dishonest appropriation" test may fail, and so no theft.

if they just liked them so took them with them when they left - that's theft.

Has there been any communication with the tenant about the items before/since ?

If you have a deposit, will that cover the cost of replacement ?

But... that's the police's job- to investigate and determine whether a theft did occur.

They may decide not to undertake an investigation, but that is their decision.

All the OP really wants is a crime reference number!!

Peter_East

Hi

Thank you.

This gets to the point about the Met. They seem to be saying - this is really complicated and therefore we will not get involved. That might well be a useful assessment of the likelihood of prosecution. The issue here is that they appear to be refusing to even log it as a reported crime. Can they do this?

missile

I would suggest, if two officers visited there must be a record and all you need is the reference number.
If they cannot / will not provide this, you can make a complaint. Complaints must be investigated and you can ask for a written response which you could forward to DL.
As has been suggested you should follow up with tenant. It may seem easier to make a claim via DL, but your policy will go up next year.

Cakeguts

Go after the tenant. See if you can find out what happened to it. Some chairs disappeared from one of our houses when we were letting furnished and it turned out they had been given to the tenant's mother. Once the managing agent realised they had gone and mentioned it they suddenly reappeared with tenant explanation of them being in his mother's house.

Same tenant I think demolished the garden shed with an axe. Not much we could do about that.

lincroft1710

Cakeguts wrote: »

Go after the tenant. See if you can find out what happened to it. Some chairs disappeared from one of our houses when we were letting furnished and it turned out they had been given to the tenant's mother. Once the managing agent realised they had gone and mentioned it they suddenly reappeared with tenant explanation of them being in his mother's house.

Same tenant I think demolished the garden shed with an axe. Not much we could do about that.

Cakeguts, the next time there is a thread from someone wanting to be a BTLer perhaps you could re-post the above