Hasn't collected his belongings yet, what to do?

going un-reg

I've a bit of an issue regarding a flatmate that just moved out. He went away for a week's holiday to see his girlfriend in the UK, and on his return, our new flatmate was to move in.

He didn't return on the day he said he would, and my new flatmate alongside his mother (she came over with him from Rome to get him settled in) had to remove all of his stuff from the room for him (he should have had an empty room to move into).

It's now a week and a half, and on two occasions, he's told us he'd be back to collect all of his stuff which is currently littered all over our sitting room, a serious eye-sore.He only took the bare essentials, 90% of his belongings are still here.

Each time, he didn't show up, no text message, no phonecall, nothing. I feel like he should be threatened at this stage, but with what? I'm not the sort of person to throw peoples stuff out etc. I could get the landlord involved, but what could he do?

Our old flatmate is totally taking the piss at this stage, and is starting to bother everyone in the house now...

Advice?

bastados

Ultimatum time...


...I am not my brother's keeper.

going un-reg

I agree, however what ultimatum can I give in this situation?

D3PO

going un-reg wrote: »

I agree, however what ultimatum can I give in this situation?

send him a text. you no longer rent her and are therefore no longer entitled to store your belongings here. Please collect them by X time on X date.

If you do not collect at this time I will assume that you no longer want these items and will sunsequently but them in the rubbish.

save the sent text in case you need it at a future time.

djimi

Yup definately go with ultimatum. Id simply say that items will be available to collect until Friday 10th at 5pm (or whatever), at which time they will be brought to Mrs Quinn/SVdP. Should shake him into action. Be prepared to follow through with it if needs be...

Penguino

Thread carefully if you do decide to throw their belongings out.

A recent case in Mayo awarded damages to the tenant for a landlord throwing their belongings out of the property. The tenant claimed that someone put bleach on the belongings and landlord was successfully sued.

I know this isn't exactly like your situation and there was the underlying case of wrongful eviction in the Mayo case but you are leaving yourself wide open if you damage or throw out their belongings.

seamus

You don't have the right to dispose of the items unless you have good cause to believe that they've been abandoned.

You have no authority to give an ultimatum as to when the items are to be removed and you could be successfully sued if you were to throw the stuff out, even if you'd set him a deadline.

Get your hands on a big box (like something a dishwasher comes in) and throw it all into it and leave it in the corner. Send him a text notifying him that he will be charged storage of €20/week for the items, starting next week. You then have grounds to withhold the items until he has paid the storage fee.

D3PO

seamus wrote: »

You don't have the right to dispose of the items unless you have good cause to believe that they've been abandoned.

You have no authority to give an ultimatum as to when the items are to be removed and you could be successfully sued if you were to throw the stuff out, even if you'd set him a deadline.

.

Im sorry but your wrong. You have every right to dispose of the items from the proeprty once the property is no longer being rented.

This is very different than the case in Mayo where quite rightly he landlord was sued as it was an illegal evition.

There have been many cased like this that have gone to court and have been settled in favour of the defendent as by defintion they have been abaondoned when left in the property post tennancy.

will dig out said rulings this evening and post them.

Penguino

will dig out said rulings this evening and post them.[/QUOTE]

Please do

djimi

seamus wrote: »

You don't have the right to dispose of the items unless you have good cause to believe that they've been abandoned.

You have no authority to give an ultimatum as to when the items are to be removed and you could be successfully sued if you were to throw the stuff out, even if you'd set him a deadline.

Get your hands on a big box (like something a dishwasher comes in) and throw it all into it and leave it in the corner. Send him a text notifying him that he will be charged storage of €20/week for the items, starting next week. You then have grounds to withhold the items until he has paid the storage fee.

How would you define abandoned? If you send him notice that if his stuff hasnt been removed by x date it will be considered abandoned and given to charity, give him time to respond (say a month or even two) and dont hear back in that time is that not fair enough? I know there may be a good reason why he has not come back to claim his stuff in the meantime, but surely allowing sufficient time to pass you would assume that either he or someone else would be in touch to at least let you know what the story is.

I suppose the other option would be to move his stuff to a storage unit and try and persue him for the costs if and when he turns up to collect, but that Im sure would prove to be a tedious battle.

In reality this is the landlords problem, not the tenants; even if it is the tenants who have to put up with the extra stuff lying around. It is the landlord who should be persuing him to remove his belongings and making alternative arrangements to store/dispose of them as he sees fit.

seamus

djimi wrote: »

How would you define abandoned?

There would be no specific set of rules which define "abandoned" I suppose. You could look at the old "year and a day" rule and decide that if he hasn't picked it up in that timeframe, it's been abandoned.

That seems a bit long to me. There is another statute dealing with goods which have been incorrectly delivered. You are basically required to inform the owner of the goods that their delivery is waiting to be collected. They then have a certain amount of time to collect it (I think it's 3 months). If it's not collected at that time, it becomes your property.

That would seem to me, to be more in line with what's going on here, though I can't find the details of it at the moment.

Edit: The timeframe is 6 months, sale of goods act, section 47.
So basically I would be of the opinion that if the stuff is still in the house 6 months after the guy has left, you can consider it abandoned and sell it or dump it. Just my opinion though, may not hold up in court.

In reality this is the landlords problem, not the tenants;

100%

Edit 2: I would also note that while you have a reasonable amount of responsibility to the goods (i.e. don't put them out on the street or use a laptop as a doorstop), you do not have a duty of care towards them and can probably not be held responsible if they're stored in a damp attic or get stolen from an unlocked shed.

conorhal

going un-reg wrote: »

I agree, however what ultimatum can I give in this situation?

"Your belongings will be in bags outside the front door on Saturday morning for you to pick up, I suggest you get there before the charities do...."

Some people are just thoughtless. I had one Chinese flatmate that moved out and then went off to China for 3 months over the summer. Then texted me when she came back to ask, "can I come around and collect that meat I left in the freezer?"
No luv, whatever mystery meat that was, long ago poisoned fed the local strays that root through out bins....

Jo King

Send a text saying that there has been a break in at the house and the guards want a list of missing items. Sat that You are not sure which of his items are missing. Can he come and check his stuff?
He will be around in jig time to find everything outside the front door.