Hi Jack, this one was in Norton, no problems the Tenant had gone but house still full of possessions incl TV, furntiture clothes etc even down to his Para Uniform & Red Beret !

They always leave you a few gifts when they go John. Im in the process of sorting one out in Pentland Ave, same again stayed till last minute but gone before bailiff came to save their embarrassment of being evicted.

When I sent her a text regarding all her crap furniture and shity mattreses she left behind, she replied she left them as she thought a new tenant might like them. House left in an absolutley terrible state. This is the second one in a row left like this. The last one took "Philemewagon"s lads two trips to shift the crap.

The joy's of being landlord.

Regards, Jack

Yes I know, the wife & I spent 5 hours there today, got everything boxed up but have to give Tenant some time to decide whether he wants stuff. The place is absolutely filthy. Going to take at least another full day to empty & clean, then have to re-decorate. Why do we do it lol !

Nine times out of ten tenants will have left before the baillifs arrive, but you do get the odd one...

My husband Dave had fun and games evicting a tenant a while back from one of our smallest properties, which is a tiny one bed flat - practically a studio. The young female tenant didn't want to leave. She had an older man partner who was not officially living there but was around sufficient enough to have threatened Dave a few times; so when it came time to get the baillifs, Dave put on the form that he thought there might be trouble and two bailiffs turned up.

Dave also invited a couple of mates - well, our gas man and rubbish clearer - to witness the eviction. They find it fun but were also keen to get the work as soon as she'd gone.

So there were five of them standing on the landing of this tiny 2nd floor flat.

The tenant had fixed a note to the door saying that the eviction was unlawful, her solicitors would be in touch, no-one could enter, she was getting an injunction...and bla bla!

She wouldn't let them in but told them she had barricaded herself in. Eventually the baillifs called the police and two attended. (As they will do that if they expect trouble). The police spoke to the tenant and persuaded her to open the door. They went in and spoke to her in the hallway, while everyone else stood watching from the doorway.

Somehow the police managed to convince her that she would have to go, but as this realisation hit her, she decided to 'throw a fit' - literally!! She fell to the floor, flailing about as in an epileptic fit, at which point an ambulance was called for.

Two ambulance men and a paramedic then turned up.

At this point there were ten of them in the tiny flat, which was also choc-a-bloc with mess.... oh, and a pet rat!

The paramedic and ambulance men said they were sure she was faking it but that they'd take her away to hospital. Having really believed she would win this eviction battle, the tenant was not even dressed - and they ended up taking her away to the ambulance waiting below, in her dressing gown and nightie!

My husband then changed the locks and she was out!

After two weeks, she hadn't been in touch and our gas man knew someone that wanted the pet rat, so we gave it away instead of having it starve to death.

She did eventually come back (with police supervision, which she'd asked for) and was upset about the rat but didn't make much fuss. Instead she rather pathetically picked out a few seemingly random 'treasures' from what was to us a pile of filthy rubbish.... including a used ashtray which she put (still full) into a plastic bag for taking!

That was our most dramatic eviction!

Angela

(07-08-2012 09:03 PM)John Mac Wrote:  Yes I know, the wife & I spent 5 hours there today, got everything boxed up but have to give Tenant some time to decide whether he wants stuff. The place is absolutely filthy. Going to take at least another full day to empty & clean, then have to re-decorate. Why do we do it lol !

Is there a legally defined process and a minimum amount of time the tenant has to claim their personal possessions? If they were in the hospital or otherwise unable to respond, does the landlord have a liability if they dispose of the items too soon?

Hi John,

I try to get the tenant to sign a letter or send a text saying they do not want their effects that they have left behind. I have never had a problem with this as I tell them I will get rid of their effects at no cost. Just helps get on with putting the property back to a lettable condition. I also photograph all effects so they cannot come back at a later date saying I have disposed of their brand new 50" TV, and let them know I have all effects photographed.

I picked this paragraph up from one of the forums where a similar discussion was being held a while back as a cluase to have in your AST, but I do not know the legality of it.

"The landlord may remove, store and if not collected within 30 days, may sell or otherwise dispose of any furniture or goods which the tenant fails to remove from the property at the end of the tenancy. The tenant shall be responsible for all reasonable costs which the landlord may incur. The landlord shall be entitled to deduct such costs from any monies lawfully due to the tenant."

Regards, Jack

I took advice from the NLA & they said 7 days was ok. I think this is maybe because the Tenant has already effectively had 2 eviction dates so has had plenty of time to remove possesions.

The tenant has been ignoring all communications for months now, when clearing the house we found several carrier bags full of unopened mail, we also filled a black bin bag with unopened mail.

A bailiff once told me 7-14 days was ok. After that, free to dispose.

(08-08-2012 04:43 PM)john_corey Wrote:  Is there a legally defined process and a minimum amount of time the tenant has to claim their personal possessions? If they were in the hospital or otherwise unable to respond, does the landlord have a liability if they dispose of the items too soon?

I have had tenants leave on the day of eviction or the day before eviction. On a couple of occasions I've had tenants leave but with full house contents intact, including nice leather sofa/suites, expensive dining table/dresser furniture, flat screen TV etc.

In one case, she was with her dad just down the road, the sister saw us emptying the property and called told the dad, who confronted her. No she didn't want any of the furniture or clothes she'd left behind. But I sorted out her daughter's stuff (clothes, toys, books, jewelry etc.) which I then dropped round to the sister!

In another case, the tenant did come back to collect some stuff, then decided there was too much for him to take and told me to keep the rest and sell it to pay off his debts! just as if!! He had calmly walked out of the house on the eviction date - the bailiff was late and I was waiting with locksmith just round the corner when I saw him leave. He must have thought he'd gotten away with it and he wasn't going to be evicted, only to return to find the locks changed and he couldn't get in.

Usually, they leave you with the dregs of stuff they don't want! and leave the house in a mess. These two I've cited were probably the two cleanest I ever had, very houseproud people. They'd have been better off sorting their finances in the same way and would not have been evicted.

Thanks Tumi and all the others who have answers.

Good to see you again on the forum Tumi.

If the tenant leaves there stuff consider phoning a local auction place who will remove all the stuff and store it for the ex-tenant. They can then reclaim there stuff by paying the removal and storage fees to the auction house or they sell it to recover there cost
I have not actually done this yet however we got very close to it once. I can't see any legal reason why you couldn't however the stuff left would have to have some value