House contents and probate

tabby aspreme

The contents of a granny flat in a house I own outright and live in , I had joint ownership with the deceased, have been left to a family member, will they have to remain in situ until probate is carried out, or can they be removed beforehand, I would prefer if they were removed, has anyone experience of a similar situation. Thanks

Claw Hammer

tabby aspreme wrote: »

The contents of a granny flat in a house I own outright and live in , I had joint ownership with the deceased, have been left to a family member, will they have to remain in situ until probate is carried out, or can they be removed beforehand, I would prefer if they were removed, has anyone experience of a similar situation. Thanks

The executor is now the legal owner of the contents and is responsible for them. You should discuss the situation with the executor with regard to having them moved.

tabby aspreme

Claw Hammer wrote: »

The executor is now the legal owner of the contents and is responsible for them. You should discuss the situation with the executor with regard to having them moved.

The executor is also the person who the contents were left to, they removed about half the contents but left some items in each room which is preventing me from using the rooms, I would like if the remaining contents were put into 2 rooms I won't be using for a while.

Claw Hammer

tabby aspreme wrote: »

The executor is also the person who the contents were left to, they removed about half the contents but left some items in each room which is preventing me from using the rooms, I would like if the remaining contents were put into 2 rooms I won't be using for a while.

It is not for you to say where the contents go. All you can do is demand that they be moved.

coylemj

Claw Hammer wrote: »

It is not for you to say where the contents go. All you can do is demand that they be moved.

OP wants to move the furniture from rooms A and B to rooms C and D, all within his own house.

OP, you don't have to ask the executor for permission to move his furniture within your own house.

Claw Hammer

coylemj wrote: »

OP wants to move the furniture from rooms A and B to rooms C and D, all within his own house.

OP, you don't have to ask the executor for permission to move his furniture within your own house.

The o/p wants the furniture moved. The op said nothing about moving the furniture themselves.

3DataModem

You can move stuff in your own house.

There is nothing compelling you to keep specific items in a specific room. I would also be reminding the executor that their possessions are not covered by your house and contents insurance, so it would be better if they were removed entirely.

dennyk

You shouldn't dispose of the items or damage them, but you could move them somewhere else as long as doing so will not cause any damage. If you were to damage any items in the process of moving them or they were damaged through your neglect (e.g. you moved them from your climate-controlled granny flat to your leaky garden shed and they suffered water or mould damage as a result), you might be responsible for the cost of the damage, but that's unlikely to be an issue if you're simply moving them from one room to another.

Technically you aren't obligated to store the items in the flat at all if the flat itself belongs to you and isn't part of the estate, so you could also ask that the executor remove the items in question and arrange storage for them elsewhere. There should be no legal problem with doing so; there's nothing requiring the estate's property to be kept in situ (unless moving it would somehow diminish its value), and definitely nothing requiring it to be kept in a building that doesn't belong to the estate. (Hell, just imagine the headache for landlords if they had to keep all of a deceased tenant's belongings in their former rental property for months or years!) The executor would be responsible for making arrangements to store and maintain the estate's property until the estate is settled. If you're fine with keeping the items in your spare flat for the time being, though, there's also no issue with that either, and definitely no problem with you moving them to a different room.

Claw Hammer

3DataModem wrote: »

You can move stuff in your own house.

There is nothing compelling you to keep specific items in a specific room. I would also be reminding the executor that their possessions are not covered by your house and contents insurance, so it would be better if they were removed entirely.

Thge o/p did ask if they could move stuff. They want it moved for them.