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Garage Rental - Help

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  • Summercherry
    Summercherry Posts: 69 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    WIAWSNB said:
    Summercherry, do you have Legal Protection included in your house insurance? If so, call them up for advice - and likely action.
    You surely do have a valid case here.
    That’s a good idea thank you.  I will have a look. 
  • silvercar
    silvercar Posts: 49,474 Ambassador
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Academoney Grad Name Dropper

    silvercar said:
    I’d concentrate on getting your goods back, several hundred pounds is a lot more than a monthly garage rental I would think. 

    The owner of the garage can’t dispose of property without giving you notice to claim it. Obviously they had no way of contacting you, unless they knew the agent was handling it, but they could have taped a note to the garage door.
    The ‘disposed’ of goods equate to around £500.  Personally, I think they’ve either kept or sold the goods, as they didn’t ‘dispose’ of everything which doesn’t make sense to me.  Only the stuff worth anything was ‘disposed’ of. Hmmmm but that’s what the owner told us and we have no proof to the contrary.

    We’ve paid around £2000 in rent in total.  

    Apparently, allegedly, the actual owners did pin a note to the door, so they told us, but as we’ve not been down there in a couple of months didn’t see it.  However, there was nothing on the door when we arrived, we just knocked on a few doors in the area and just so happened that one of those doors was the owner. 
    It seems the actual owners don't use their garage, or they would have noticed your occupation sooner.

    If someone started a thread on here, that someone had occupied their garage, the advice probably would have been to change the lock and put a note on the door, wait a while and then dispose of the goods. So I think the garage owners have done nothing wrong.

    You have a claim against the letting agent, as do the garage owners. I wonder how the letting agent came to have a key and why they thought they could let the garage, unless your landlord misled them into thinking that the garage was part of the flat you rent rather than the car park space. Maybe at one time the owner of your flat had a private agreement with the owner of the garage - that wouldn't be unheard of if the owners don't actually need the garage.
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  • Summercherry
    Summercherry Posts: 69 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    silvercar said:

    silvercar said:
    I’d concentrate on getting your goods back, several hundred pounds is a lot more than a monthly garage rental I would think. 

    The owner of the garage can’t dispose of property without giving you notice to claim it. Obviously they had no way of contacting you, unless they knew the agent was handling it, but they could have taped a note to the garage door.
    The ‘disposed’ of goods equate to around £500.  Personally, I think they’ve either kept or sold the goods, as they didn’t ‘dispose’ of everything which doesn’t make sense to me.  Only the stuff worth anything was ‘disposed’ of. Hmmmm but that’s what the owner told us and we have no proof to the contrary.

    We’ve paid around £2000 in rent in total.  

    Apparently, allegedly, the actual owners did pin a note to the door, so they told us, but as we’ve not been down there in a couple of months didn’t see it.  However, there was nothing on the door when we arrived, we just knocked on a few doors in the area and just so happened that one of those doors was the owner. 
    It seems the actual owners don't use their garage, or they would have noticed your occupation sooner.

    If someone started a thread on here, that someone had occupied their garage, the advice probably would have been to change the lock and put a note on the door, wait a while and then dispose of the goods. So I think the garage owners have done nothing wrong.

    You have a claim against the letting agent, as do the garage owners. I wonder how the letting agent came to have a key and why they thought they could let the garage, unless your landlord misled them into thinking that the garage was part of the flat you rent rather than the car park space. Maybe at one time the owner of your flat had a private agreement with the owner of the garage - that wouldn't be unheard of if the owners don't actually need the garage.
    The actual owner was nice about the whole situation tbf considering.

    You’re correct that they didn’t use the garage by all accounts, hence why it wasn’t noticed sooner.  The lady said she had lived there for 8 years and barely used the garage.  She said her partner moved in and wanted to put items in the garage that’s when they discovered that the lock had been changed so they cropped the padlock off and discovered our stuff inside.

    As to how the agency got keys to the garage in the first place was that (allegedly, this is what they have told us) the previous tenant didn’t give the keys back to the agency so they cropped off the padlock, put a new one on and gave us the keys! (We don’t rent the flat it’s attached to, only the garage). 

    It’s a mess, of none of ours (or the actual owners) doing.
  • saajan_12
    saajan_12 Posts: 4,981 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Herzlos said:
    I'd be asking them to reimburse you for the lost property and your 18 months rent first, taking it to small claims court, trade bodies etc if needed.

    I think you have a decent claim for the value of the lost items - as a direct result of their failure to give you the right address, the items were removed and disposed of by someone else. 

    Also for the last few months rent since the neighbour removed your items and changed the locks - as you didn't have the storage for that time. 

    I don't however think you can (successfully) claim the whole 18 months rent. One way or another, you did get to keep your items there for the first x months. If say a property turned out to be unlicenced, the LL may not be able to collect future rent but that doesn't make the past rent refundable. 
  • Summercherry
    Summercherry Posts: 69 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    saajan_12 said:
    Herzlos said:
    I'd be asking them to reimburse you for the lost property and your 18 months rent first, taking it to small claims court, trade bodies etc if needed.

    I think you have a decent claim for the value of the lost items - as a direct result of their failure to give you the right address, the items were removed and disposed of by someone else. 

    Also for the last few months rent since the neighbour removed your items and changed the locks - as you didn't have the storage for that time. 

    I don't however think you can (successfully) claim the whole 18 months rent. One way or another, you did get to keep your items there for the first x months. If say a property turned out to be unlicenced, the LL may not be able to collect future rent but that doesn't make the past rent refundable. 
    Yes, the agency said ‘but you’ve had use of A garage’ when we asked about the rent reimbursement (which I thought was comical as it’s not theirs to rent out).

    But at the end of the day our landlord has no right to any rent as he doesn’t own a garage to rent out, and will have collected our money fraudulently?

     In theory, the person that actually owns the garage should get that money as that’s where our stuff was stored? And the agent should have some responsibility for that as they couldn’t have done complete due diligence checks? 

    Hence why I was asking you lovely people your thoughts on everything. 
  • FlorayG
    FlorayG Posts: 2,208 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    saajan_12 said:
    Herzlos said:
    I'd be asking them to reimburse you for the lost property and your 18 months rent first, taking it to small claims court, trade bodies etc if needed.



    I don't however think you can (successfully) claim the whole 18 months rent. One way or another, you did get to keep your items there for the first x months. If say a property turned out to be unlicenced, the LL may not be able to collect future rent but that doesn't make the past rent refundable. 
    Maybe the OP can't claim the rent but the actual owner of the garage can and the person who WAS receiving the money has committed fraud. The EA also is at fault for not using due diligence in making sure the person 'renting out' the garage actually owned it
  • WIAWSNB
    WIAWSNB Posts: 680 Forumite
    500 Posts Name Dropper
    Yes, the agency said ‘but you’ve had use of A garage’ when we asked about the rent reimbursement (which I thought was comical as it’s not theirs to rent out).

    But at the end of the day our landlord has no right to any rent as he doesn’t own a garage to rent out, and will have collected our money fraudulently?

     In theory, the person that actually owns the garage should get that money as that’s where our stuff was stored? And the agent should have some responsibility for that as they couldn’t have done complete due diligence checks? 

    Hence why I was asking you lovely people your thoughts on everything. 
    The BiB is very funny! A response could have been, "Fair do's - so I'll just snip the padlock off the next garage along, put my stuff in there, and keep paying you your rent - for another garage that ain't yours?"

  • saajan_12
    saajan_12 Posts: 4,981 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    FlorayG said:
    saajan_12 said:
    Herzlos said:
    I'd be asking them to reimburse you for the lost property and your 18 months rent first, taking it to small claims court, trade bodies etc if needed.



    I don't however think you can (successfully) claim the whole 18 months rent. One way or another, you did get to keep your items there for the first x months. If say a property turned out to be unlicenced, the LL may not be able to collect future rent but that doesn't make the past rent refundable. 
    Maybe the OP can't claim the rent but the actual owner of the garage can and the person who WAS receiving the money has committed fraud. The EA also is at fault for not using due diligence in making sure the person 'renting out' the garage actually owned it
    Sure, but I don't see how that rises to a cause of action or damages that the OP can use. 
  • Herzlos
    Herzlos Posts: 15,791 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    saajan_12 said:
    Herzlos said:
    I'd be asking them to reimburse you for the lost property and your 18 months rent first, taking it to small claims court, trade bodies etc if needed.

    I think you have a decent claim for the value of the lost items - as a direct result of their failure to give you the right address, the items were removed and disposed of by someone else. 

    Also for the last few months rent since the neighbour removed your items and changed the locks - as you didn't have the storage for that time. 

    I don't however think you can (successfully) claim the whole 18 months rent. One way or another, you did get to keep your items there for the first x months. If say a property turned out to be unlicenced, the LL may not be able to collect future rent but that doesn't make the past rent refundable. 

    Legally I think you're right. I was viewing the back dated rent as a compensation / go away statement.

    Though legally I don't know who'd be due the money.
    The OP got 18 months use of the garage
    The agency did some work under instruction from the landlord but failed due diligence.
    The landlord got the money fraudulently.

    So I guess the agency should be giving all of the rent to the actual owner an an apology, reimbursing the OP for the lost goods and the landlord should be reimbursing the agency and real owner for any costs.
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 18,852 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Either someone is completely stupid or someone is not telling the truth/behaving in a fraudulent manner!

    LL "I have a parking space to rent out"

    EA "We have successfully rented out your garage"
    If you are querying your Council Tax band would you please state whether you are in England, Scotland or Wales
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