Last owners wanting back items they left behind.

When I bought my house the previous owners were supposed to be out but midday. 2.30pm came and it was winter so would be beginning to get dark by 3.30pm so my DH told them the house now belonged to us and we were moving our things in as removal van had to be back for 5pm. DH helped put their stuff outside and they took it but loads of stuff was left in the shed and the garden. As fter 2 weeks stuff in shed went to tip. Nice garden whiskey barrel planters stayed. I've still got them.

My Dad left all his underwear at their house when they moved out and had to sheepishly return later in the day and ask for them back. The house they moved to a camping toilet had been left in the garage and this promptly went into a skip when they had some work done, about 2 years later the previous owner turned up and asked for it as they were going camping and then threw a tantrum when told it was thrown out. I think he must’ve been under the impression that they could store a used camping loo until he was ready for it. 😂

They asked nicely, so I think you are right to give them their hose and spool. But legally? I don't think you could be forced to.

If you had thrown it away or otherwise disposed of it it would be just bad luck on them, you would not be legally liable at all, any more than if you'd found an abandoned bedstead and chucked it out. They handed the house over and if they forgot to get the hosepipe into the van, they will just have to buy another. They are simply putting faith in you being nice people who haven't got round to clearing the garden shed yet!
When we moved from a flat into our first house, on the day of completion (which is moving day, surely?) the owners were clearing it room by room with a small van and we had to keep our removal van, paid by the hour, waiting outside all sodding day.

I moved in my house 6 months ago and they left garden tools no one ever came back but my understanding is unless they have proof of purchase it’s their word against yours and coming onto your property is trespassing. My son rents properties and one of his tenants came back asking for her wardrobe he said sure when you pay up your rent. She never paid up and she never got her wardrobe that was about 8yrs she had a good job too.

Sorry finger slipped 🤦‍♀️
My buyer stipulated everything to be removed from the property, otherwise I could be billed for removal if they had to get a skip.
My mum panicked when she was moving & I had five trips to charity shop/ tip but her buyer said he would be grateful for anything she left behind, as he was going through a divorce & didn’t have much (it was all good stuff).
My neighbor panicked & got rid of a brand new, £1500 barbecue, when we met the new neighbors, they were on the way out to a garden centre to buy a new barbecue 🤦‍♀️ told them my neighbor thought she would be sued if she left it behind, he said gosh he would have given her payment for it. Pays to try & communicate with your buyers- estate agents aren’t always keen on passing out mobile numbers. Seller of my mums new house ( got her phone number on the sly) left mum a brand new washer/dryer, expensive garden equipment that was all going to the tip so was win- win for her!

I kept a previous tenants mail for about 6 months after I moved in
The week after I threw them away she appeared at my door asking for her mail

When my last parent died, the house went on the market. The buyer ( once the legalities were going ahead ) asked if they could keep all the contents. So apart from items that were fairly new (tv , washing machine ) personal items , paperwork , clothes / bedding , photos etc and it held no antiques , I was quite happy not to employ someone to clear and dispose of. It wasn't a rental either , they moved in and lived in it as is !

My buyer stipulated everything to b

When we moved into our previous home before this one, the sellers removed everything they possibly could, including soap and toilet rolls, all electric light bulbs- we moved in in November, early afternoon and had to rush to the local shops to buy bulbs etc as it was already getting dark, before we could start to unpack! - door mats and even the dustbin! We were amazed as we had left all such items behind in our old house!

Never discovered anything left behind but have always left spare kitchen tiles or floor tiles that I thought might be of use to the buyers in case of accidents or damage.
Did once move to a house and had police and bailiffs visit several times because the sellers apparently owed money and had also done something to the electricity meter and were in effect stealing electricity - not a good way of introducing ourselves to the new neighbours. They also took some convincing that we weren't the people they were looking for in spite of referring them to our solicitor, showing ID etc.

Enjoyed reading these comments. We’re planning to move this year & have been perusing properties online. Quite a few appear to be empty but with various items of furniture dotted around them. Nothing I’d want to be lumbered with. I shall make sure to insist our next home contains nothing we don’t want. It’s not easy getting rid of a load of someone else’s old junk.

Gilly1952
🥕 unbelievably cheeky ! It really made me laugh .

True story. Years ago in my 20s I'd moved into a house. A few months later the previous owner came to my door asking if they'd left their cat there and ''could I have a look around the house to make sure we've not left anything else behind''.!

They had! He was called Spud! According to the neighbours who I spoke too, he wasn't very well looked after so I told him no, he's not having Spud back, he's mine now and he can't come in to look around, then I slammed the door in his face!

Spud was very well loved and looked after with me!

The previous owners of our house came round a few weeks after we had moved in asking if they could dig up the carrots they had grown in the garden!

Germanshepherdsmum

If someone leaves rubbish or possessions behind without prior agreement the law deems that they have not given vacant possession of the property and are thus in breach of contract. They can be pursued for damages including the cost of removing what they have left. Best to refer it to your solicitor.

In our case we knew that the chap was planning to return to his country of origin once he’d got the money, so it was the only way.
He left a lot of debt and unpaid bills behind!

When we bought our current house the owners asked if we wanted to buy a particular light fitting in the dining room and as it wasn’t to our liking at all we said no thank you.
They then said well when you get a new one fitted will you let us us have the old one back.
In other words will we pay for their property to be dismantled as they didn’t want to pay.
We said ok.
They then got in touch regularly to ask if it was ready for collection.
After a while the just stopped asking and we didn’t hear from them again.
The whole house needed modernisation and the dining room was way down our list of priorities.
It is so long ago I can’t remember what we did with it now.

If someone leaves rubbish or possessions behind without prior agreement the law deems that they have not given vacant possession of the property and are thus in breach of contract. They can be pursued for damages including the cost of removing what they have left. Best to refer it to your solicitor.

Visgir1

Loads of things get left behind normally rubbish previous owners don't want.
They were lucky you didn't take it up to the tip.

I strongly suspected that a former owner would leave a load of junk for us to get rid of, so I specified that the place must be cleared completely.

He still left a lot of junk, inc. a manky old sofa, but I’d arranged with the EA for us to check just before completion, so it was delayed by 24 hours. He wasn’t at all happy, but tough - zero sympathy here. We’d have had to pay someone to take his junk away.

My daughter and her husband bought a wreck/ doer upper from the family following the death of the owner - a hoarder and well known drunk - about- town. The cousin cleared much of it but a lot was left, including a full loft, garage, garden etc. The relative said that she wanted one piece of furniture ( right at the back of the garage behind a mountain of stuff) She contacted them over a year later to collect it. Fortunately DD is a patient woman. Most of us would have dumped it some time before.

I agree, it can be difficult to know who did unauthorised work when a property has changed hands several times, but the person on the end of an enforcement notice will be the current owner.

Germanshepherdsmum

There is no time limit on enforcement where failure to get listed building consent is concerned Katie. A good solicitor acting for a buyer will want to know exactly what works have been done and to see the relevant consents.

There is a lot of unauthorized work on listed buildings been done in the past, some still being done now, if any new work is not recorded it might be decades before it’s revealed and proving who did it is futile, when that person has likely died.

It shouldn’t happen but it is done to save money.

Katie59 It must be soe years aince you had anything to do with lisred buildings. Ww are currently getting our ducks in a row to sell our listed building and we have to account for everything we have done to the house since we moved in and we have to pruduce all the consents.

Not only that, if it is discovered that previous owners did something without consent, we could be held responsible for reinstating the house back to what it was, if that was required.

I can never under stand why people buy listed buildings when all they want to do once they have acquired it is to make it look like any other modern house inside.

Philippa111

Rather pathetic to get an estate agent involved over a garden hose!!
I think most people would just buy another one!

Exactly what we thought. We also paid the full asking price for the house.

Some years ago when DH was working away from home Mon-Friday and renting a flat on the South coast (which I had had to blitz from top to bottom when he took it on) he had his deposit withheld at the end of his tenancy ostensibly because 1) he had left some items in the freezer- frozen peas I believe- and 2) because of the “state” it was in (!) Oh and 3) they accused him of moving the electricity meter.
(How anybody does the last is beyond me.)
We apologised for the peas, suggested they chuck them , or indeed enjoy them, but contested the “state of the flat” as DH had instructed the letting agent to arrange for a contract cleaner after he had vacated it and they had sent us a bill for same!
It took me back to our children’s student days when we advised the kids to photograph everything in the flat/shared house when they moved in and again on leaving - things like the state of the cooker, bathroom, walls, floor surfaces with the date and time on each photo