Storing belongings for another person

Alderbank

lincroft1710 said:

It's been nearly 5 years. Does the "friend" still want the stuff?

Since the OP's first post says, 'She has asked me to send her belongings through a courier' the answer is probably 'yes'.

lincroft1710

Alderbank said:

lincroft1710 said:

It's been nearly 5 years. Does the "friend" still want the stuff?

Since the OP's first post says, 'She has asked me to send her belongings through a courier' the answer is probably 'yes'.

Good point. It just seemed odd that for 4/5 years friend hadn't bothered about their belongings

Angelique888

Olinda99 said:

surely she can organize a courier her end to.pick.up a box or whatever and zhe would then do the paperwork - all you would do.is hand the box to the courier when they arrive

That's was the plan but since Brexit, it's more tricky with customs and every item has to be listed individually. I don't have the time to do it and I don't see why I should do it. 

Angelique888

ButterCheese said:

She is expecting you to do all of the legwork whilst putting in minimal effort herself.  If it was that important to her, she could fly, ferry or drive over here to get it.  Or organise a courier herself.  She's not doing that because she either can't be bothered or can't afford it. 

Give her 1 month - say if stuff is not collected by this date then it will be given to charity.  If it can all fit in a car then I'd consider driving to the nearest port of entry as a favour, but that depends on how friendly you are and how much you want to invest in keeping the friendship.

Do not think about the emotional side of it too much; ex-colleagues are not necessarily friends.  If it were my friend I would not even ask them to do it, and would be embarrassed that my stuff had been there for so long

She is defenitely not a friend and we only work together for a few months. I just don't want any issue with the police or be accused of theft. I was trying to help her but it's been 5 years now and I want my garage back!

user1977

Angelique888 said:

ButterCheese said:

She is expecting you to do all of the legwork whilst putting in minimal effort herself.  If it was that important to her, she could fly, ferry or drive over here to get it.  Or organise a courier herself.  She's not doing that because she either can't be bothered or can't afford it. 

Give her 1 month - say if stuff is not collected by this date then it will be given to charity.  If it can all fit in a car then I'd consider driving to the nearest port of entry as a favour, but that depends on how friendly you are and how much you want to invest in keeping the friendship.

Do not think about the emotional side of it too much; ex-colleagues are not necessarily friends.  If it were my friend I would not even ask them to do it, and would be embarrassed that my stuff had been there for so long

I just don't want any issue with the police or be accused of theft.

The police are not going to be interested and it certainly isn't theft anyway.

saajan_12

You have to take reasonable care and give reasonable notice - usually 30 days, but here maybe 60 days makes sense given you know she is abroad (even if just over the channel). 

Inform her that you have her stuff, cannot store it any further, and she has x days to arrange for it to be collected. You will make it available for collection at reasonable times with a few days notice. After that time, you will consider the items abandoned. 

Note once the items are abandoned, you can't always just throw away valuable stuff.. you may have to sell the items and pass the value on to the friend after reasonable costs of selling (includign your time). If the stuff isn't going to reach that value (eg its old clothes that'll fetch £100 but it'll cost £200 to organise for sale, etc) then I'd photograph to show the items and keep some record of the rough value before just disposing. 

Ectophile

The legalities are covered by Schedule 1 of the Torts (Interference with Goods Act) https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/32/schedule/1

You have to give the owner formal notice before disposing of the property.

Having done so, and given the owner time to collect the goods, you can sell them.

Any money you collect belongs to the owner.

sheramber

There are firms that will pack up goods and transport them abroad .  They deal with all the paperwork/ customs clearance etc.

Send the name of such a firm to her and tell her to arrange it herself. 

Tell her the courier can liaise with you to arrange a suitable time to pick up.

Alternatively, if she decides it is too costly will she advise you so can dispose of the items with no cost to yourself, such as donating to a charity.

TELLIT01

Sadly looks like the saying "No good deed goes unpunished" is correct here.