Abandoned goods left in a property

When a tenant (or contract-holder if in Wales) leaves a property, whether they served notice or the landlord obtained a court order, and leaves some or all of their possessions, the landlord will have a number of things they should do before the goods can be permanently removed.

The landlord should deal with abandoned goods as stated in The Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 section 12 and Schedule 1 – Uncollected Goods.

Communication
The landlord or agent should try all means possible to communicate with the tenants or contract-holders, to give them the opportunity to arrange to collect the goods left at the property.

There is no definitive time for how long the warning notice has to be in law, one to four weeks would probably be deemed as ‘reasonable’, the legal requirement. The landlord would need to consider how much time would be required, depending on the volume and type of possessions left and whether the tenant or contract-holder have moved locally or out of the area.

If the tenant or contract-holder does not respond, the landlord would need to serve a notice to confirm the removal or sale of the goods.

The notice should be in writing and sent to their last known address, which could be a forwarding address, the property address or their next of kin address.

If the tenant or contract-holder confirms in writing they renounce any interest in the belongings, then the landlord is free to have them removed, sold or destroyed.

It would be acceptable to remove any perishables as they could attract vermin, which could incur further costs. This would be considered as the landlord acting reasonably as they are reducing any additional costs the
tenant or contract-holder may have to cover from the security deposit.

Notices
There are two types of notices that should be served to the tenant or contract-holder. These can be served together or on their own.

An obligation to collect notice. This would be served if there is no value to the possessions. These could be, but are not limited to, personal belongings, toys, clothes etc. This notice should be served to the tenant or contract holders.

If the landlord intends to sell some or all of the possessions to the value of any debt including any additional costs (storage costs), they would serve an intention to sell notice. This notice should be served either by registered post or recorded delivery.

Storing possessions
An inventory should always be carried out, preferably by a third party, to record and evidence the goods and their condition before they are removed. The main reasons for this are to 1) confirm the condition of the
goods and 2) to confirm they have not left anything of value, like a diamond necklace for example. Without an inventory the tenant could try and claim for damages and it would then be for a court to decide whether the items where in the property or if the landlord damaged them upon removal or storing of the goods. The landlord could agree to keep the possessions in the property whilst the notice is served, or the landlord could decide to put them into storage. If the goods have been removed from the property and are being stored in a different location the tenant must be informed of where they are being kept and how to obtain possession of the goods.

If the landlord intends to sell the possessions to recover any debt or to cover additional costs, the possessions must be stored for up to three months and the tenant must be informed of where the possessions are being stored and any storage costs incurred.