Landlord cleared out personal belongings

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Tomato1970 said:

My Aunt has been in hospital, and was transferred from there to a nursing home. After a month or so it became clear she is unlikely to make it back to her rented flat so we gave notice on her behalf (we have LPA) - rent paid up to 18/03/2020.Have just found out the landlord has been in and cleared the property.

They did not let anyone know. Everything has apparently been sent to the skip, all my Aunts personal things although they kept the photos.

We had managed to go in and take any valuables but had not cleared all the documents/paperwork etc which is going to cause problems  All the nephews/nieces live >3hrs away but we had planned to clear the property w/end 14/03/2020.

I am absolutely astounded, and feel like contacting the police. This is criminal surely? My Aunt is still alive, she's not well but we wanted to move more of her things into the nursing home to make it more comfortable.

She has a son who is severely autistic but might have wanted some things from the property. Have not been able to tell my Mum about this as we know she will be so upset on her sisters behalf.

I don't think it was the best landlord/tenant relationship - the landlord had wanted to sell up for some time but my aunt did not want to leave and there no grounds to evict - but she had no right to do this.

I'm very angry and don't want to overact but there must be something we should do? 

Tomato1970

Clearly LL has acted unlawfully

You need to tell us when did your mother 1st move in to the flat ?

And is the Flat In E&W, Scotland or NI ?

JayRitchie

Doesnt this qualify as theft? Are you sure the did actually put the belongings in a skip?

diggingdude

I would be tempted to report it as theft to the police, because it is theft. Whether stuff was thrown or kept doesn't really matter.
I would want value of goods plus at least the same again in compensation. Are you in an area LL needs to be licensed as they have alot of learning to do

HampshireH

I would report it as theft too. This is what it is. Your relative has a tenancy and when someone went to the house her belongings had disappeared. 

It is irrelevant what it was. They shouldn't have accessed the property without notice/permission

They most certainly had no right to dispose of anything.

onwards&upwards

All her clothes, books, records, Knick knacks, pyjamas, bed linen, is it literally all gone?  That’s stuff she would have still used.  

I’m with you, I wouldn’t let this drop without a fight, it’s the disrespect for a living person that would have me fuming. 

Marvel1

It's theft, I would not let this go.

csgohan4

Make sure you take photo evidence and letter before action to LL

davidmcn

Assuming we're talking England or Wales, I'm not sure it has the element of dishonesty required for theft, if we think the landlord just prematurely cleared the property rather than actually nicked the stuff.

Besides, I can't see the cops treating it as other than a civil matter, and even if they are interested it doesn't help with the separate matter of getting compensation.

diggingdude

davidmcn said:

Assuming we're talking England or Wales, I'm not sure it has the element of dishonesty required for theft, if we think the landlord just prematurely cleared the property rather than actually nicked the stuff.

Besides, I can't see the cops treating it as other than a civil matter, and even if they are interested it doesn't help with the separate matter of getting compensation.

I get where you are coming from, but this would then suggest any landlord could go do the same "sorry Gov, thought they'd moved innit"

davidmcn

diggingdude said:

davidmcn said:

Assuming we're talking England or Wales, I'm not sure it has the element of dishonesty required for theft, if we think the landlord just prematurely cleared the property rather than actually nicked the stuff.

Besides, I can't see the cops treating it as other than a civil matter, and even if they are interested it doesn't help with the separate matter of getting compensation.

I get where you are coming from, but this would then suggest any landlord could go do the same "sorry Gov, thought they'd moved innit"

It doesn't mean the tenant doesn't have remedies, but I'm not convinced it constitutes the crime of theft if the landlord had the honest belief that the tenant wasn't coming back (even if they are mistaken about their rights from a landlord and tenant point of view).