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Landlord Legal Issues

Landlord & tenant lawyer Tessa Shepperson of www.landlordlaw.co.uk answers your questions

Q. My tenant has now vacated my property but has left lots of rubbish behind. How am I supposed to deal with this?

A. You need to deal with items left behind in the proper way. If items are going to be a health hazard, such as decomposing food, you should dispose of them promptly. However, as regards anything else, you need to notify the tenants and give them an opportunity to come and collect anything they may want. If it turns out that the items were valuable and you dumped them without following the proper procedure, the tenants could sue you, so be careful.

The procedure in England is set out in the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977. Under this, you need to give tenants proper notice to come and remove their property, which should be sent by recorded delivery.

Remember that in 1977, when this act was passed, we did not have email, texts or WhatsApp!

Tenants should be given a decent time limit. In most cases, 21 days will be sufficient. If you need to re-let the property, you can move the items to another location – for example, a garage or outbuilding.

If the tenants ignore your letter, then this authorises you to sell or otherwise dispose of the items. It is best to have a detailed list of all the items (ideally independently verified) just in case tenants make claims later that you have dumped valuable possessions. Sale by auction is a good idea as then tenants cannot claim you have sold at an undervalue. 

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