Last owners wanting back items they left behind.

I’m not sure about the legal position, when we moved into our house they left ladders and a pool table in the garage and in the bedroom built in wardrobe at least a dozen long evening dresses those were the only thing they asked for as they’d forgotten they were there apparently. They did pickup the dresses but they weren’t my style anyway 😁

All I can add is to ask where on earth they must live in the UK if they are in need of a hose pipe !

Well they asked nicely so why not
If you d already given it or thrown it away I guess it would have been tough luck nothing they could do legally
(I wouldn’t have thought) as they d abandoned it

Pretty sure it would be the sellers’ responsibility to take everything with them.

I suppose that letting them collect it is down to good will.

When we bought our house the previous owners left a pony on the field! But we had agreed that they could do that until they found it new lodgings.

Loads of things get left behind normally rubbish previous owners don't want.
They were lucky you didn't take it up to the tip.

If the seller leaves things behind technically haven’t given vacant possession, which is a breach of contract - but only worth getting heavy if there’s a lot of rubbish that you have to pay to get rid of. If there are items the seller might have overlooked give them (direct if you have contact details, otherwise via the estate agent) a reasonable time to collect them and say if they don’t you will dispose of them.

We had a 12 foot blow up snowman that you plugged in and glitter flew everywhere. It was for some big event.

They didn't want him back because we did ask and he puts in an appearance each Christmas.

Friends who sold a lovely old 18th C listed house several years ago left (deliberately) a stash of “old” roof tiles in an outhouse in case future owners needed to do repairs so that they would match the existing clay tiles.
The new owners rang them and asked them to be removed.
So they went to the tip.
Part of the roof had to be replaced some years later and they had no end of trouble sourcing “old” tiles and ended up removing them from the back roof to put on the front, using modern tiles for the back where they didn’t show.
The same (new) owners also ripped out a beautiful blue Aga and sold it for scrap and replaced lovely wide oak floorboards with modern pine and chipboard.
Each to their own.

It is the sellers responsibility to take everything but as they asked so nicely why on earth wouldn't you return it.. you could have refused but happily you didn't..

Until I was 11 my family owned and lived over a bookshop. In my 30s I revisited the village and called into the shop telling them that I used to live there. The owner asked my name then said he had something that belonged to my family. It was a box that had been forgotten in a cupboard when we moved and contained the letters that my dad wrote to mum when he was in Egypt during the war. I’m so glad they weren’t thrown out.

Having moved many times, we have had lots of things left behind; 150 jam jars without lids, a cat called mog, one couple turned up 3 months after we had moved in and started digging up rose bushes, a vice and best of all an agreement with a neighbour that we would take phone calls for them!

I think that as a gesture of good will -tell them that you are happy if they collect it and suggest a time suitable to you .

RosiesMaw

All I can add is to ask where on earth they must live in the UK if they are in need of a hose pipe !

Funny you should say that. About 20 years ago on New Years Day my husband let our dogs in the garden. The man in the house behind came out of his shed with a hosepipe and put it in his car.

My husband called Morning to him and he replied and put his hand up. We didn’t think anymore about it but a few days later we heard he was missing and after a few more days he was found dead in his car several miles away having gassed himself.

Primrose53

RosiesMaw

All I can add is to ask where on earth they must live in the UK if they are in need of a hose pipe !

Funny you should say that. About 20 years ago on New Years Day my husband let our dogs in the garden. The man in the house behind came out of his shed with a hosepipe and put it in his car.

My husband called Morning to him and he replied and put his hand up. We didn’t think anymore about it but a few days later we heard he was missing and after a few more days he was found dead in his car several miles away having gassed himself.

OMG 😟😟😟

It depends, if they had left a load of rubbish to be disposed of then hard luck. If it was a smooth purchase and the place was tidy then no problem

If I didn’t want the item requested, I’d happily hand it over.

RosiesMaw said ^ The same (new) owners also ripped out a beautiful blue Aga and sold it for scrap and replaced lovely wide oak floorboards with modern pine and chipboard.^

My Dh was lucky enough to be able to visit the old house his grandparents had lived in from between the wars. Much to his astonishment, the old green Aga was still in the kitchen! It must now be one of the oldest in the UK, as they weren’t sold here until the 1920’s.

My understanding is that any items left behind becomes the property of the new owners. Therefore there would be no legal repercussions should you sell or dispose of them,

Where did you get that understanding?

We bought a house from an elderly lady; she moved about five hundred miles away. On day shortly after a man knocked, looking most apologetic, said his aunt had sent him, and would we let him have the 'yellow rug' from the kitchen that she had forgotten to take? This was mysterious, until we suddenly realised that she meant a small, plastic doormat, about eighteen inches by twelve, that must have cost about £1.50 in those days. He was apoplectic; the petrol must have cost him about ten times the price of buying a replacement mat.

RosiesMaw Did they get Listed Building Consent to rip up the oak flooring, because if they didn't, and I cannot see they would they aregoing to have lots of fun and games when they sell the house.

We live in a listed house and preparatory to selling we are carefully gathering all the documents that show we had consent for everything we have done

M0nica

RosiesMaw Did they get Listed Building Consent to rip up the oak flooring, because if they didn't, and I cannot see they would they aregoing to have lots of fun and games when they sell the house.

We live in a listed house and preparatory to selling we are carefully gathering all the documents that show we had consent for everything we have done

There are a LOT of changes done to listed buildings done without permission, if they are internal may go for decades before being revealed, by then nothing can be done.

When we moved in to my current house we found that the owners appeared to have forgotten they were moving. Clothes and belongings all over the place, plus an empty bottle of wine, my guess is they though

Sorry! My guess is they thought I know we have work to do but let's get drunk instead. The house was also filthy. We rang them and said their belongings were on the lawn and if they didnt pick them up they would go to the tip. Sorry GSM I am sure this wasnt within legal advice