Removal of Furniture to girlfriend’s house!

Removal of Furniture to girlfriend’s house!

8:48 AM, 27th July 2016, About 8 years ago 19

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We rent out a furnished apartment via a letting agent. We have just inspected with the letting agent present and the tenant has removed all the furniture from the second bedroom and a table and chairs from the dining room. He has also turned the second bedroom into a study. furniture removal

We were asked by the agent if we would agree to the tenant removing furniture and expressly said no – it was to stay. We are now trying to get the agent to tell us where and how the furniture is being stored.

The tenant blithely told us it was in his girlfriends house! How do we get the agent to get the tenant to put in writing where the furniture is, that it is safely stored, is appropriately insured against loss or damage and is replaced in the apartment on termination of the tenancy and in the same condition before it was removed.

Our apartment has been rented out for 5 years to various tenants and this is the first time we have come across this.

Many thanks

Eddie


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Comments

Eddie Blower

20:11 PM, 28th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Luke P" at "28/07/2016 - 12:40":

Thanks Luke and Mandy. Valuable advice. You are right too Luke, we are not professional landlords. We bought an apartment & returned home and left it to the agent to rent out, Having said that it is a major investment for us so we are just Mum & Dad investors. There are a lot of us around. Our market for the apartment if you like has been professionals wanting short term leases whilst working in the area which is why it was fully furnished.

Eddie Blower

22:31 PM, 28th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Luke P" at "28/07/2016 - 12:40":

Thanks Luke for your valuable advice. Will take this on board.

Eddie Blower

0:22 AM, 29th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "28/07/2016 - 14:25":

Thanks Mandy - good advice & much appreciated

Mandy Thomson

9:03 AM, 29th July 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Eddie Blower" at "29/07/2016 - 00:22":

You're welcome, Eddie. Unless there are other issues with this particular tenant, I believe Luke is right that you should let it go. Assuming your agent has properly protected your deposit, and had an inventory done before the tenant moved in, you will be able to recover any damage or loss at the end of the tenancy.

If you are an inexperienced landlord, it is important that you get yourself up to speed with the legislation and your responsibilities, as even with an agent, the buck mostly stops with you. I recommend joining the NLA and doing their foundation course (this can be done online for free if you're unable to attend their one day class based course).

It is also crucial that your agent belongs to one of the professional bodies such as ARLA, UKALA etc - this isn't a legal requirement, but will protect you if something goes wrong.

Colin McNulty

16:14 PM, 1st August 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "28/07/2016 - 14:25":

Mandy > "I had to buy him a new bed as this had been supplied in his previous let."

I have to say Mandy, I find comments like this strange. Why was it you "had" to buy him a new bed?

Maybe I'm just a tight arse, but I'm in the house business, not the bed business. My tenants are perfectly capable of sourcing their own beds, if they want to sleep on one.

Mandy Thomson

17:38 PM, 1st August 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Colin McNulty" at "01/08/2016 - 16:14":

OK I didn't "have" to buy him a new bed, but as the monthly rent is £800, and the bed and mattress combined were under £500, I considered that on balance it was a good business decision. Had I not taken that particular tenant, it's likely I would have had another month's void waiting for another suitable applicant (I'd had many offers but on closer examination many of these applicants proved unsuitable for various reasons).

Alison King

20:07 PM, 1st August 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mandy Thomson" at "01/08/2016 - 17:38":

I've been in exactly that position myself. Buy a few bits of furniture for less than a month's rent or have to find another tenant. Like you I bought the bits of furniture. It made sense at the time.

Colin McNulty

22:02 PM, 1st August 2016, About 8 years ago

Ok that's fair enough. Personally I'm not aware of having lost a tenant because they didn't have the requisite furniture and I didn't get it for them, but your mileage may vary.

Mandy Thomson

8:54 AM, 2nd August 2016, About 8 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Colin McNulty" at "01/08/2016 - 22:02":

I expect he might still have moved in, but the tenancy would most likely have started on the wrong foot, as he was only moving because his last landlord was taking back the property to move into himself - for the record, I referenced the tenant thoroughly and I found out as much as I could about both the tenant and his last landlord, so I'm satisfied they were both telling the truth.

Not only did I want to start on the right foot with this tenant, I felt I was doing a very small bit toward improving the image of landlords generally - if your tenant isn't happy, the whole thing is set to fail from the start. Our tenants are our customers and we have a duty of care to keep them as happy as possible.

One of the reasons this particular tenant chose me was because of my NLA accreditation, which he made a point of verifying (he works in HR, so no doubt he did his due diligence on me too).

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