Tenancy Agreements 31 days of tips – Day 26 – left items

This is day 26 of my 31 days of tips on tenancy agreements series. To see the rest of the series click here.

Property left behind by tenants when they vacate

This can be a real problem. Landlords often cannot re-let until the property is cleared, but they do not have the right, legally, to deal with the items left behind as they do not belong to them. The legal term is that the landlord is an ‘involuntary baillee’. What is the correct course of action and how best can the terms of your tenancy agreement help you deal with this situation?

The correct course of action, as discussed by Ben Reeve in his guest blog here, is to serve a notice on the tenants (under the provisions of the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977) giving the tenant information about the property held and giving them an opportunity (generally 21 days) to collect them before they are disposed of or sold.

Because this procedure is provided for in the Act, it is arguable that any attempt in the tenancy agreement to circumvent it (for example by saying that the landlord has an absolute right to dispose of anything left behind without the need for any notice) will be considered to be unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (discussed on days 15 and 16 in this series). This is no doubt very annoying for landlords, but unfortunately it is the law.

The procedure I follow for my tenancy agreements is as follows:

• Make it a requirement that when the tenants leave, they should remove all their own belongings from the property and provide you with a forwarding address

• Then say that if any items are left behind, tenants must remove them within 14 (or 21) days of receipt of a notice which you will send to the forwarding address provided by them, the notice to be sent by recorded delivery or delivered by hand (note that it is unwise to serve any notice on tenants by post as it is impossible to prove that it has ever been received if the tenants deny this).

• If the tenants do not remove their possessions within the specified time or if they have not given you a forwarding address, you are then entitled to deal with the items by selling or disposing of them (note that if they have any value you should try to sell them for the best price possible).

• Tenants are responsible for the reasonable costs of storage and/or sale, and you are entitled to deduct this from any proceeds of sale.

This should be reasonably safe from being found unfair, as you are following the provisions of the Torts Interference with Goods Act 1977 and also they will be in breach of the terms of the their tenancy agreement by leaving items in the property in the first place.

One note of warning however – if you think that tenants have left but their possessions remain in the property, be very careful about re-entering the property and changing the locks, unless they have specifically told you that they are vacating. The leaving of possessions indicates that they intend to return, and you may find that you are being sued for unlawful eviction.

Do you have any comments on this section? Have you had problems with tenants leaving things behind? Has anyone been sued by tenants after their property has been disposed of? How do you deal with this in your tenancy agreement?

Tomorrow I will be looking at lets to students

NB Read about my tenancy agreements service here.

Related posts:

1. Tenancy agreements and Julie’s big mistake
2. How to create your own tenancy agreements
3. Landlord claiming damages eight months after tenant has left