Landlord seeking advice

[moobelle]

Hi I am writing this on behalf of my sister and brother-in-law. They were fortunate enough to own a lovely apartment in London which due to pregnancy they decided to rent out as was not child friendly. Its a huge flat and so the rent they could get should have outweighed the rent they would have to pay on a child friendly place. Or so you would think.

They unfortunately managed to get extremely unscrupulous tenant who now owes them nearly 20k in rent having paid for only one month. He then changed the locks, denied access etc etc and has broken half the fittings in the property.

Court proceedings followed and eviction notice was given. All legally and above board and all at huge extra costs for my sister et al.

Finally yesterday the legal eviction took place - however as the tenants had ignored all notices given over the last two months the baliffs simply threw the tenants out and did not allow them to take their possessions.

I need some advice on what my sister can do with this stuff - obviously she doesn't want it and the tenants (no matter how badly they have behaved) do obviously want their stuff.

Is it now my sisters though in the eyes of the law? Or is she going to have to shell out yet more money to get the property cleared and the stuff put in storage. They really need to get the flat sold as they are now in desperate financial state having had no rent for nearly 18 months, legal costs, locksmith costs, and having to pay rent on the property they are living in as well as the mortgage.

Can my sis sell anything of value? The morality of this is not my question as everyone will have differing views - I really just want some advice for my sis who is now 7 months pregnant and has an 18 month year old so could really do with getting the whole sorry mess cleared up.

Any advice will be gratefully received.....

[MrShed]

Storage for three months minimum, and write to the tenant advising them to collect.