Tenant possessions left

[James 01]

Hi
I am sure this has arisen before but have checked back and cannot find the answer. A tenant has vacated the flat and has left various items. The last conversation was on the 5 January when she advised the van is expected the next day but when I checked earlier this evening it was still there. She has said at least 2 times before Christmas she will collect it but the van never arrived or so she says. There are no rent arrears. Is there any formal / legal process or am I entitled to give her a time-limit ( 7 days ) to collect otherwise it will be visits to the local dump?
Thanks

[bobzac]

It depends, has the tennant left before the end of the agreed time in the tennancy agreement or are the items still there following the expiration date of the contract ?

[James 01]

Thanks for the reply. We agreed to end it before the tenancy expired. She was claiming there was an outstanding electricity bill left by the previous tenant who changed the meter from a pre-payment to credit. Southern Electric re-installed the pre-payment meter but she could not pay the bill and arrears so she moved out in July 2007 while it was being sorted out. Southern Electric later advised however the debt is hers and she never replied to their letters. Having found this out we agreed to end it as she now does not want to return. I posted about this on the 20 October 2007 before I was aware the debt was actually hers.

[bobzac]

In this case you are going to have to sit tight for an official answer but as you have it, I was looking into this information last week.

1) Check the tennancy agreement, was there something in there with regards to the tennant being responsible to paying all utility bills ? There certainly is on mine and thats what I have to do.
I had a problem with British Gas with a balance that wasn't mine and believe me, I phoned them up and told them to sort it out. If she hasn't done that, I would suggest it is hers.

2) The property she has left behind would be classified as abandoned. I believe she has 6 months to claim it from yourself before you can do anything with it.
The tennant is still the legal owner of the property and you have to show that you have tried your best to contact her and tell her to collect it (registered letter is your best bet with a suggested time scale).

3) Im not too sure about taking someones property down to the tip - only reason I say this is if you sell the persons property (after waiting 6 months and letters been ignored), should they ask for it - you are to pay back the monies gained, plus the interest owed as the property unless specifically stated by the owner always has and will belong to them.

As I said, this is snippets of what I managed to find the other day after my flat mate dissapeared for a few weeks and I was weighing up my options.
Best plan is either 1) sit tight and wait for someone who is 100% certains on what they are saying is correct or 2) go the CAB and ask them or 3) ask your letting agent if you have one - you paid for the contract to be written by them, they should know what rights you have under it

[bobzac]

this may give you some pointers - Abandonment - LandlordZONE