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TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

Landlord told to pay £12k compensation after burning tenant’s belongings

A landlord who burnt his tenant’s possessions has been ordered to pay £12,000 compensation.

Buy-to-let investor Tyrone Holmes, of Kensington Grove in Box Lane, Wrexham, pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal damage at Mold Crown Court.

Holmes, aged 52, hired men to clear the flat that his tenant was renting, including household furniture, clothing and electrical items.

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The tenant, Lydia Russell, who had occupied the property for six months, was shocked when she returned home at the flat in Green Road, Brymbo, LL11, to find her belongings gone.

The tenant, whose rent has fallen into arrears, then received a text from her landlord stating that her belongings had been removed from the flat.

The jury at Mold Crown Court was told that Holmes instructed workmen to remove possessions from the property.

When Russell’s sister went to confront the landlord at his house, she discovered what she described as “three big lads” standing outside near a white van and a flatbed truck.

The sister also witnessed two men burning items in the back garden which appeared to have been removed from the rented property.

Prosecuting barrister Brett Williamson said: “Some of her property was dumped on the pavement outside and some of it was taken away.

“As a result criminal damage was caused and she [the tenant] never saw some of her possessions again.”

Judge Niclas Parry ordered the landlord to pay the compensation by 31 October.

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    how long after evicting a tenant do you keep their possessions? i had some under a tarpaulin at the bottom of my garden for 3 months before i burnt them.

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    If you don't follow the procedures set out in the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, then the tenant can sue you for up to 6 years if you are unable to return their possessions to them.
    You need to take good care of their possessions whilst you have them. Keeping them under a tarpaulin in your garden is unlikely to be considered taking good care of them by a court (unless the tenant left them in the garden originally).

     
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    If a tenants has left belongings in a property I think you have to give them a reasonable amount of time to collect them and then advise what'll happen after that period has elapsed. What's reasonable is open to interpretation but 21 days is apparently a good starting point.
    Sounds to me like the landlord in this story got off light, letting yourself into a tenants home and burning their possessions is an appalling thing to do, arrears or not!

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    3 months i believe

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    So if the tenant burnt and trashed the flat then what. ‘Nowt’

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    I have a two week clause in my AST and when checking tenants out I get a waiver signed stating they have removed all belongings and anything remaining can be disposed of as I see fit.

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    This LL was wrong but can fully understand where he is coming from, I doubt if the items were worth £12k but that is not the real point, he should have placed all the items in a pile and covered them with a tarpaulin or stored them in a warehouse and charged her for storage on top of the rent arrears. Always in this type of situation the tenant gets off scot free.
    Like most of these "news" stories we are not hearing the full story, he probably tried for weeks or even months to get his rent or some agreement leaving him frustrated and Nowhere to go as the court process is not helpful.
    I see more of this action being taken against dont care less tenants.

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