One for you armchair lawyers.

[toxo]

Briefly: My rented garage roof was leaking and eventually I was moved temporarily into the garage opposite whilst repairs were done.

Problem was, the people that dealt with the repairs neglected to tell the people who collect the rent about this arrangement.

I got a phone call a year later telling me that they'd emptied my garage because no rent was paid on it for a very long time.

Said they were very sorry and said I'd have to deal with their insurance company because it was chocka with stuff, which I am.

The question is: I've been paying rent for years to protect the stuff that I no longer own so I might as well not have paid that rent. Am I entitled to claim it back?

 

[discobob]

was you/are you still paying rent for a garage??

[oldypigeonpopper]

Did they not tell you they were going to empty the garage of all your possessions ? 

[old man]

Would be worth a punt in the small claims court for a few quid?

[Stonepark]

Present them with itinery of contents and replacement as new value, would also report to police to get crime number to satisfy insurance company. If less than £5k, advise them will be going to small claims court to recover money.

Your rent was in part paying for the insurance, and therefore cannot claim back.

[toxo]

1 hour ago, discobob said:

was you/are you still paying rent for a garage??

Yes, Haven't even checked the standing order. Don't want to jeopardise anything.

29 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Did they not tell you they were going to empty the garage of all your possessions ? 

They didn't know my stuff was in there until later. They thought someone had died because the rent hadn't been paid for a long time. (I was paying the rent on my original garage.)

[discobob]

Give them a Hobson's choice - all your payments back or full re-imbursement  of your lost goods 

You was paying for a service that they didn't provide at the end of the day

[toxo]

8 minutes ago, Stonepark said:

Present them with itinery of contents and replacement as new value, would also report to police to get crime number to satisfy insurance company. If less than £5k, advise them will be going to small claims court to recover money.

Your rent was in part paying for the insurance, and therefore cannot claim back.

Am dealing with the insurance company who are playing mind games. Given them an itinerary. They've sent me a photo of the front of the garage, (probably taken by the garage owners) asking me to point out where everything was in the garage. I complied telling them to ask the garage owners if they refuted my list.

Now if I've got it right the housing association that own the garages just pay a contractor to clear the garage and (apart from the photo) have no idea what was in there. Hence the mind games.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

1 hour ago, Stonepark said:

Present them with itinery of contents and replacement as new value, would also report to police to get crime number to satisfy insurance company. If less than £5k, advise them will be going to small claims court to recover money.

Your rent was in part paying for the insurance, and therefore cannot claim back.

Really?

I would reckon contents insurance would be down to the person renting the garage.

[bostonmick]

I boughf a car that was found in a lockup garage that the rent had not been paid on.however the company doing the clearing could not sell me the car until they had found the renter or in the case of death their ndxt of kin and offer them to pay the arrears of give the contents over to the clearing company.

[Tonka54]

My  2 pence worth is this, If you rented the garage you have a "landlord". Assuming the leaking roof was not caused by damage that you had inflicted, it would be your landlords problem.

You say " I was moved " , This would indicate that somebody, (presumably) your landlord or one of their representatives was aware of the leak and more importantly, made arrangements to move you temporarily whilst the repairs to the leaking garage roof were carried out.

Again presumably, The garage you were moved to was also the property of your land lord and if this is the case, surely it was just a matter of continuing to pay rent for one garage whilst the other had its roof repaired.

The fact that, whoever repaired the roof did not liaise with the landlord, who presumably, arranged for the repair to be carried out in the first place, is not your concern, nor is it your concern, or for that matter, your responsibility to ascertain when the work to repair the leak had been completed and whether you should move back in or continue to use the garage you had been moved to.

It was your landlords responsibility to make sure that all parties involved "knew the score" , and it was also down to them to inform you of proceedings.

Now the fact that you "(got a phone call a year later) again presumably from your landlord, indicates that they had the wherewithal to contact you at any stage, regarding the leak repair but more importantly ( before illegally removing your property without your consent ).

I would strongly suggest that you do not get involved with your landlords insurance provider. Instead contact your landlord pointing out the above points. state that you have been paying rent for the one garage that you initially rented, and continued to pay for it throughout the repair period and beyond.

Work out a value for the property they removed and claim that back under threat of legal action if they do not comply. 

I would suggest going through the "Ombudsman" if you have to resort to legal action, as in my experience small claims or CCJ's take a very long time and usually cost you more than you will eventually recover.    

[ph5172]

From the limited information it appears you were renting a garage from a housing association / local authority. 
 

I would assume that the rent is collected by the housing finance department and repairs carried out by either a contractor or the maintenance department. 
 

it appears your question is should you be able to reclaim the payments for your garage rent and you are not asking about the contents. 
 

either way you have rented the space be that in a different location, the fact the property has been destroyed is a different matter. 
 

I think the chance of being able to reclaim the rent is minimal at best 

[toxo]

12 minutes ago, Tonka54 said:

My  2 pence worth is this, If you rented the garage you have a "landlord". Assuming the leaking roof was not caused by damage that you had inflicted, it would be your landlords problem.

You say " I was moved " , This would indicate that somebody, (presumably) your landlord or one of their representatives was aware of the leak and more importantly, made arrangements to move you temporarily whilst the repairs to the leaking garage roof were carried out.

Again presumably, The garage you were moved to was also the property of your land lord and if this is the case, surely it was just a matter of continuing to pay rent for one garage whilst the other had its roof repaired.

The fact that, whoever repaired the roof did not liaise with the landlord, who presumably, arranged for the repair to be carried out in the first place, is not your concern, nor is it your concern, or for that matter, your responsibility to ascertain when the work to repair the leak had been completed and whether you should move back in or continue to use the garage you had been moved to.

It was your landlords responsibility to make sure that all parties involved "knew the score" , and it was also down to them to inform you of proceedings.

Now the fact that you "(got a phone call a year later) again presumably from your landlord, indicates that they had the wherewithal to contact you at any stage, regarding the leak repair but more importantly ( before illegally removing your property without your consent ).

I would strongly suggest that you do not get involved with your landlords insurance provider. Instead contact your landlord pointing out the above points. state that you have been paying rent for the one garage that you initially rented, and continued to pay for it throughout the repair period and beyond.

Work out a value for the property they removed and claim that back under threat of legal action if they do not comply. 

I would suggest going through the "Ombudsman" if you have to resort to legal action, as in my experience small claims or CCJ's take a very long time and usually cost you more than you will eventually recover.    

Thanks Tonka. It's a sizeable housing association that owns the garages and it's literally about one dept not telling another dept what's going on. They've fully admitted liability. The first I knew about it was a phone call asking me when I had last been to the garage. After I replied "maybe a month ago" he said "I think we might have a problem" 🙂

I've obviously erred on the high side of the values so as long as I get close to that I'll not bother with the rent thing unless it would be an easy "do".

[Tonka54]

Again I would think reclaiming the rent would be almost impossible, after all they provided an alternative garage whilst the repair was carried out.

No, your claim would be for the property which they removed/destroyed without your permission, it does not matter in the least that the garage "looked" abandoned.

The fact is, they had a means and a duty in law to contact you before even entering the garage , never mind removing your property, especially as you continued to maintain payment throughout.

[Jim Neal]

I'm slightly confused but if I understand correctly....

1) You have only ever been paying one lot of rent at a time and not double for any period?  And

2) You have always had access to "a" garage for the whole time you have been paying rent?

If the answer is yes to both of those questions, then you have received the service you have paid for and there is no grounds to request a rebate.  That's the way I'm interpreting it.

Best of luck, I hope you lost nothing sentimental or irreplaceable.  Sounds like a case of gross stupidity!

[arjimlad]

I did a case just like this years ago, it was that long ago it was on legal aid!! 

The same thing happened. We sued the council for the loss of this chap's stuff. The battleground was the valuation, of course! 

You paid rent for a garage, you were moved into alternative garage so you would not be able to get a refund of the rent paid. 

The landlord having excluded you from the garage was in law, a bailee of your goods and had a responsibility to take reasonable care of them, so if you have good enough evidence of what was there, you should be able to claim for the value of what has been lost. The claim will not be new for old though.  I suggest you google Part 36 Offer and send one of those before issuing proceedings in the small claims court against the Landlord saying that their servants or agents for whom they are responsible unlawfully disposed of your possessions, with a list and sensible secondhand values. You may need to back up your values by scouring through used ads for kit etc.. 

Hope this helps.  CAB is a good source of free advice on these matters. Or you may have legal expenses cover on your own buildings or contents insurance on your home or car. 

[enfieldspares]

Briefly: My rented garage roof was leaking and eventually I was moved temporarily into the garage opposite whilst repairs were done.

DID YOU PAY ANY RENT ON THE GARAGE OPPOSITE...OR DID THE RENT FOR YOUR ORIGINAL GARAGE CONTINUE TO BE PAID IN LIEU OF PAYING ANY SECOND RENTAL FOR THE GARAGE OPPOSITE?

Problem was, the people that dealt with the repairs neglected to tell the people who collect the rent about this arrangement.

SO THE FAULT IS POSSIBLY THEIR'S? EXCEPT WHEN THE REPAIRS WERE DONE WERE YOU NOTIFIED OF THAT AND THAT YOU COULD MOVE YOU PROPERTY BACK FROM THE GARAGE OPPOSITE TO THE ORIGINAL GARAGE?

I got a phone call a year later telling me that they'd emptied my garage because no rent was paid on it for a very long time.

WHO MADE THAT PHONE CALL? WHERE IS THE RECORD OF THEM HAVING TRIED TO CONTACT YOU...THE TENANT...THAT YOU HAD PAID NO RENT? I'D ASK TO SEE THAT RECORD SOME OF WHICH MUST BE IN WRITING BY A LETTER WITH AT VERY LEAST A CERTIFICATE OF POSTING OR HAND DELIVERED TO THE TENANT'S (YOUR) ADDRESS THAT THEY HAVE ON RECORD. THE FACT THEY DID CALL YOU IS ODD AS WHY DID THEY NOT CALL YOU BEFORE THEY EMPTIED THE GARAGE?

Said they were very sorry and said I'd have to deal with their insurance company because it was chocka with stuff, which I am.

YOUR STUFF IS/WAS STILL YOUR STUFF. REASONABLE STEPS SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE TO FIND WHO OWNS IT BEFORE EITHER DISPOSING OF IT OR DESTROYING IT (IT MAY HAVE BEEN GOLD INGOTS YOU WERE STORING) AND A PERSON CLEARING IT OUT CANNOT JUST SIMPLY USURP YOUR RIGHTS OF OWNERSHIP. THAT IS STEALING BY FINDING.

BUT HAVING SAID THAT THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A CLAUSE IN YOUR RENTAL AGREEMENT COVERING PROPERTY LEFT IN THE GARAGE. SP YOU NEED TO SEE YOUR CONTRACT AND ALSO ANY PROTOCOLS THAT THE LANDLORD HAS IN PLACE FOR WHAT APPEARS TO BE "ABANDONED" PROPERTY WITHIN THE GARAGE AND IF THOSE PROTOCOLS WERE ADHERED TO.

The question is: I've been paying rent for years to protect the stuff that I no longer own so I might as well not have paid that rent. Am I entitled to claim it back?

IGF RENT WAS BEING PAID BY STANDING ORDER THAT NEGATES ANY CLAIM BY THE LANDLORD THAT NO RENT HAD BEEN PAID. BUT IN TERMS OF THE GARAGE BEING EMPTY THE RENT WAS FOR A GARAGE. THAT YOU PUT SOME STUFF IN IT, FILLED IT CHOCKA, OR PUT NOTHING IN IT IS IRRELEVANT. YOU RENTAL WAS FOR THE GARAGE. NO DIFFERENT FROM RENTING A PARKING SPACE AND THEN NOT USING IT. 

IS THE QUESTION YOU ARE ASKING CONCERNING THE ORIGINAL GARAGE OR PROPERTY LEFT IN THE GARAGE OPPOSITE? IF IT IS THAT AND YOU CONTINUED TO USE IT EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE MADE AWARE THAT THE ORIGINAL GARAGE WAS NOW REPAIRED AND YOU COULD NOW MOVE YOU STUFF BACK IN TO THE ORIGINAL GARAGE THEN THAT'S A DIFFERENT KETTLE OF FISH.

Edited December 23, 2021 by enfieldspares

[Tonka54]

As an addition to my previous post, I think I can see what has happened here, It looks like your landlord issued you with an alternative garage to use whilst your existing one had a repair carried out to a leaking roof. 

Upon the contractors arrival to do the work, they discovered that the garage was still locked but because you had been given an alternative garage to use they assumed that you had moved out and just locked it up afterwards.

I further assume that the contractors contacted the landlord to tell them the garage was locked, and that the landlord, (thinking that you had moved out) instructed them to force entry.

After doing so they discovered your stored belongings still in the garage, realising that your belongings would be in the way of them making a repair to the roof leak, they either took it upon themselves to remove them or more likely, was instructed by the landlord to remove them, themselves assuming that you had moved into the alternative garage and what you had left behind was unwanted.

So it's possible that if you make a claim on them for you stored items, they may counter claim on the grounds that you was instructed to move out of your original garage into an alternative garage so that they could carry out repair work, you had failed to move your belongings into the alternative garage and, as the needed full access to affect a repair to the leak they had to get rid of your belongings.

Never the less, they had a contact number for you and should have informed you of their intentions should you not be able to remove your belongings post haste.  

Edited December 23, 2021 by Tonka54

[toxo]

Thanks for the effort guys. Over thinking it a bit. Dept A is responsible for maintenance. Dept B is responsible for collecting rents. Dept A told me to use garage 2 whilst garage 1 was being repaired but neglected to inform Dept B of the arrangement. Dept B don't know me from Adam and assumed, because no rent was paid on garage B for a long time that maybe someone had died. (That fact alone shows they can't run a **** up in a brewery). Dept B employ a contractor to empty garage B. Dept B has no interest in the contents of a garage that has defaulted on the rent for a long time. They just want it emptied so it can be rented out again.

They were suitably apologetic and fully admitted liability and said that because the lost value was considerable I would have to deal with their insurance.

One strange thing - They changed the locks on both garages. Why would they do that if they were both empty?

[Tonka54]

2 hours ago, toxo said:

Thanks for the effort guys. Over thinking it a bit. Dept A is responsible for maintenance. Dept B is responsible for collecting rents. Dept A told me to use garage 2 whilst garage 1 was being repaired but neglected to inform Dept B of the arrangement. Dept B don't know me from Adam and assumed, because no rent was paid on garage B for a long time that maybe someone had died. (That fact alone shows they can't run a **** up in a brewery). Dept B employ a contractor to empty garage B. Dept B has no interest in the contents of a garage that has defaulted on the rent for a long time. They just want it emptied so it can be rented out again.

They were suitably apologetic and fully admitted liability and said that because the lost value was considerable I would have to deal with their insurance.

One strange thing - They changed the locks on both garages. Why would they do that if they were both empty?

Maybe to stop unauthorised use till they are rented out again.