Relationship Breakdown

_Penny_Dreadful

David487 said:

Thanks @gwynlas and @_Penny_Dreadful. I'm not looking to recoup the money that I paid as rent as it's only fair that I paid something. I also know that I can't get anything back for the gifts of money to pay off her student loan / credit card.

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

You will note that I said making a claim for mortgage payments and capital expenditure.  How much value do you think fitted wardrobes add to a property? Naff all.  Other than market forces properties increase in value when you make the unmortgageable mortgageable or increase the size of the property.

GiantTCR

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

Pollycat

GiantTCR said:

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

Genuine question:
is this legal?

GiantTCR

Pollycat said:

GiantTCR said:

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

Genuine question:
is this legal?

Part of me says yes. If you have receipts and you can prove you paid for them, they're yours. Another part of me says no because when installed they become part of the house so they stop being yours anymore. So, yeah, I don't know.

I've seen a lot of videos of angry contractors destroying their work (bathrooms for examples) because the customers didn't pay.

RobM99

David487 said:

And it's only become noticeable that she's rubbish with money since I moved out, as when we lived together we kept a rein on spending, whereas since she's missed council tax payments, has taken out credit card after credit card, got a bigger car on PCP and so forth. We're very much different, I abhor debt, yet she doesn't care as, in her own words, what can they do.... But they can do lots, although I think she's extremely daft.

I don't think there's a future there together.

_Penny_Dreadful

GiantTCR said:

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

How would David487 get access to the property to remove the wardrobes?  Removing wardrobes designed to fit one specific property seems like a pyrrhic victory even if he could get into the property.

David487

_Penny_Dreadful said:

GiantTCR said:

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

How would David487 get access to the property to remove the wardrobes?  Removing wardrobes designed to fit one specific property seems like a pyrrhic victory even if he could get into the property.

I would want to avoid that as there's no benefit to me in taking them away, short of sticking them into a skip, which I think would be childish. If I can recoup some or all of what I paid then that's fine, but if not I will just walk away.

A. Even if things are irrevocably broken, I have nothing to gain by being petty like that
B. Me removing them would leave her with no storage as the shape of the rooms (roof cut-ins) means that normal flat-pack wardrobes simply won't fit, they need to be custom-built (she assumed that as the show home had them, her house would...)

Pollycat

David487 said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

GiantTCR said:

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

How would David487 get access to the property to remove the wardrobes?  Removing wardrobes designed to fit one specific property seems like a pyrrhic victory even if he could get into the property.

I would want to avoid that as there's no benefit to me in taking them away, short of sticking them into a skip, which I think would be childish. If I can recoup some or all of what I paid then that's fine, but if not I will just walk away.

A. Even if things are irrevocably broken, I have nothing to gain by being petty like that
B. Me removing them would leave her with no storage as the shape of the rooms (roof cut-ins) means that normal flat-pack wardrobes simply won't fit, they need to be custom-built (she assumed that as the show home had them, her house would...)

Not being sure how you would stand from a legal point of view is a very good reason not to take that suggestion.

JReacher1

I don’t think she will have to pay you anything. All you can insist on is these items being returned to you which as you say would be petty.  

You should just move on really. 

Any chance we can see a photo of these fitted wardrobes as £5k seems expensive. I assume they are quite lavish!

tightauldgit

David487 said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

GiantTCR said:

David487 said:

But I would like to recoup some, if not all, of the money for the fitted wardrobes certainly as they have added value on to the house which she alone will benefit from. I will speak to a solicitor and try to find out where I stand.

push comes to shove you can always dismantle the fitted wardrobes. They're yours, you paid for them, you can do whatever you want

How would David487 get access to the property to remove the wardrobes?  Removing wardrobes designed to fit one specific property seems like a pyrrhic victory even if he could get into the property.

I would want to avoid that as there's no benefit to me in taking them away, short of sticking them into a skip, which I think would be childish. If I can recoup some or all of what I paid then that's fine, but if not I will just walk away.

A. Even if things are irrevocably broken, I have nothing to gain by being petty like that
B. Me removing them would leave her with no storage as the shape of the rooms (roof cut-ins) means that normal flat-pack wardrobes simply won't fit, they need to be custom-built (she assumed that as the show home had them, her house would...)

I imagine if it came to court the best you could argue for would be the current resale value of the fitted wardrobes, not what it cost you to have them built. Feel free to consult a solicitor but if it were me I'd probably approach her and ask her if she would be willing to give you some amount in payment for the units and if she says no then I'd probably just consider it an expensive lesson in spending money on people, walk away and forget she exists.

There's no point doing anything stupid or petty, they're no use to you as you say and will act as a daily reminder to her of her stupidity.