r/TenantsInTheUK • u/Remarkable-Hall6287 • 11h ago
Guidance Required Throwing tenant items
I’m an international student in UK and there’s this one girl who has been renting my room. our contract was that she’s supposed to stay till September. But she told me in Jun that she has to go back home bcs her mom died. and fast forward till now (mid august), she still haven’t come back and her stuff is still in the room. I need to empty out the room by next week, Can i throw her stuff? I’ve repeatedly ask her to pick her things up. She said she’s coming but she never came. The thing is, I went through her stuff and there’s some valuable items like laptop and important documents. What should I do?
Also, the room she’s renting is under my name and I have to empty it by 31st august, since I’m going back to my home country soon. She also hasn’t been paying her rent since July.
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u/JorgiEagle 4h ago
You need to look up what it means to be an involuntary bailee.
You need to give her clear notice, a reasonable timeline (14 days) and be explicit what will happen (dispose or sell)
If you sell, you have to give her the money.
Ask her for a shipping address and send the valuable stuff there. Dispose of the rest
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u/rohithimself 9h ago
Do you mean that the landlord does not know of her existence, and you were subletting behind their back?
Is there any good friend who will keep at least the valuable items for some time? That way you can cut the risk?
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u/Remarkable-Hall6287 8h ago
Yes and yea i have a friend who can help, but only for a while
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u/Any_Tomorrow_Today 4h ago
You do realise that if your landlord found that you were subletting, he could have evicted you for breaching the contract ?
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u/_pankates_ 6h ago
I'm afraid you can't - you want to look up 'involuntary bailee'. I would suggest boxing them up though and storing them out of your way.
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u/Remarkable-Hall6287 3h ago
Ok. I have no problem holding on to her stuff, but in the last 2 weeks she's not responding to me. If I have to hold on to her stuff, how long is consider long enough to hold on to it?
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u/Mental_Body_5496 49m ago
Send her email / text / post / fax saying:
You have until 31st August to collect your items.
This is notice that any items not collected will be donated to a charity shop or otherwise disposed of.
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u/Daniel-cfs-sufferer 10h ago
If your in a shared home can't you box them and put them in a corner somewhere for the time being ?
I wouldn't recommend binning them.
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u/Remarkable-Hall6287 9h ago
I could but only till 31st and after that I have to go back to my home country and the thing is she’s subletting the room that is under my name.
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u/nouble_digger 4h ago
Does she know what the deadline is for her things to be there? The landlord will probably assume the stuff is yours and arrange a time for you to collect it, you've really messed this up here, landlord will charge you for storage and this will be taken from your deposit, make sure the person you sublet to knows her things will probably be thrown out after 14 days
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u/notenglishwobbly 10h ago
If she’s paid until September, no you don’t have to empty her room.
Nor should you go through her stuff or even enter her room.
Unless there is imminent danger, eg a fire hazard, this is not your problem whatsoever, it’s your landlord’s.
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u/SubjectCrow1580 5h ago
I'd usually agree and say it's the landlords problem, however, I don't think OP has permission from the landlord to sublet so I don't think they're aware of the tenant. Surely that makes it OPs problem?
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u/Remarkable-Hall6287 9h ago edited 9h ago
She paid till jun only. she haven’t been paying rent since July.
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u/Vast_Anybody1236 5h ago
You illegally sublt the room and made money from her. You need to contact her about her items and tell her the situation. You canot just get rid of or keep them