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Landlord’s shock after flat is stripped of items by evicted tenant

It’s a story that’s seldom told - how some tenants steal items from landlords’ properties when a tenancy ends.

Now the Oxford Mail newspaper has a story of a landlord who is in shock after a tenant he describes as “noisy” and “not nice” emptied his entire property after being evicted. 

“The tenant took with her the television, all of the cutlery, the microwave, the toaster, and even took my lawnmower” the landlord tells the paper.

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“Everything had been stolen and it was completely unclean when we got there. The fridge was filled with muddy water.”

The newspaper reports that the tenant allegedly stopped paying stopped paying rent in January 2020, after which she was evicted following a court hearing. 

The landlord is reported to have received a letter from Oxford council stating the tenant was making excessive noise and behaving in an anti-social manner late at night. 

The tenant was also accused of leaving “excessive waste items in the garden” that were “becoming a detriment to the local amenity”.

 

 

The landlord and his wife are now said to be suffering financially - the property is their only buy to let and in the absence of rent they are now “running out of money”.

Thames Valley Police are looking into the thefts.

You can see the full Oxford Mail report here.

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

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    Why rent a property with all those items in it ?

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    Do we have a comment from Shelter or Generation Rent?

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    • 30 April 2021 10:25 AM

    Never will you..........

     
  • Neil Moores

    Thames Valley Police will, very shortly, determine that this is a civil matter.

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    Neil, That is not true. I had a similar experience in Ealing and flew from Cork, following day , police met at the property and said Theft as you know is a criminal offence. Police caught him, Harrow crown court and small fine £350 and criminal record to boot. The CPS covered my flight and public transport expenses and the Judge called me in when the case finished and said the court thanked me for making the effort to get there as a witness. all with 6 months. He also spent 4 nights in Acton police station and my furniture was recovered by the police and kept at acton police station !!
    I could not speak highly enough of the Met in my instance

     
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    Not the theft , As the owner of the goods is stating and naming a person for stealing then the police have to treat it as a crime.

     
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    Just off to start repairs and massive clean-up on one of our flats - tenants were only there 6 months!!! Just as well they were not longer term tenants, as can only imagine the state the place would be in!

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    I've just got rid of a tenant in a shared house who came with a hard luck story and proceeded to take the mick, being extremely unhygienic, leaving the place a mess for others to tidy up and keeping virtually all the kitchen utensils in his room, leaving nothing for the others to use. The room is going to take a fair bit of time and expense to clean. I intend to claim for the rent he omitted to pay, and the cleaning if I can.
    GR et all will always regard these tenants at best as an irrelevant distraction from the narrative of greedy, exploitative landlords, if they acknowledge them at all. No doubt they think that landlords deserve every bit of abuse they get for doing horrid things like giving people somewhere decent to live.

  • Trevor Cooper

    Can't always tell by appearances, either. A young, upwardly mobile, terribly-well spoken couple left a brand-new house after one year, leaving scuffs, chips and weird marks on the walls and paintwork in every room, which they tried to cover by painting in a different shade of emulsion. We got threatened with court action for retaining money from their deposit.

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    Agreed, that works both ways as well, once had a couple off a very rough council estate, a friend was horrified that I was going to rent to them, the rent was always paid in full and on time, the house was always spotlessly clean, they decorated, made improvements and kept the garden well, then had another guy his father was CEO of a large well respected new car dealership, his son lived like a pig and had the manners of a pig.

     
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    Totally agree, once had a Boss suit-wearing so-called 'Businessman' tenant who was seen driving around town in a Ferrari. His parting shot when leaving was to put a paving slab through our patio window. All because we wouldn't sell him the property. We tracked him down at one of his business clients' addresses and embarrassed him into paying for the damage. They come in all shapes and sizes and walk amongst us.

     
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    Hound hound and hound them. Dont get into this " game" unless you are prepared to take the rough with the smooth But Never ever let a toerag of a tenant off the hook, chase tgem and keep chasing them, or never complain.

  • George Dawes

    Rent unfurnished - sorted

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    Good advice - let unfurnished. The damage can be done to carpets, paint, kitchen units or even to the structures. You can never be sure how a tenant would behave with their changed circumstances. Not all the tenants have enough money to furnish. Landlords are a vulnerable community. Neither government or law is in their support.

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    Nothing new about this I currently have same issue in Ealing. The root cause is the anti-Landlords regulators making us powerless to act or run our Business just keep quiet suffer in silence or get fined.
    As Tenants more or less ok & usually paid although some short falls which is understandable in this climate. However, they have just moved on, I knew they were leaving and gave them a Reference, they had told me they needed a bigger space and found a Place from a LL who had 80 properties. My Flat is one bedroom good size really, they had said they signed other Contract 17-4-21 but asked to have until end of month for time to move which I was ok with. They have now moved leaving piles of rubbish including stuff in the loft area they had use of.
    What is missing is a complete Fire Door, another oak door gone & substituted we folding flimsy doors, my Fridge. my washing machine, freezer, double bed etc, Obviously where ever they are gone its easy for that LL to have 80 properties when he is letting the bare property and they take my furniture & white goods to make it liveable. So let unfinished and far less hassle & responsibility, they won’t be contacting you to fix or replace those items which I do all t time 24 / 7. I will not be contacting the Police either I have enough stress already.

  • Fery  Lavassani

    Not one one mine. But I saw a case where tenant demanded to be paid back, the 12 months rent he paid or else. You wouldn't believe it, the tenant took not only the boiler and radiators, but all floor boards too. The poor landlord had to auction the house at the end.

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