THE TENANT WHO LEFT BEHIND AN ANTIQUE DENTIST’S CHAIR
July 25, 2009 in The Unexpected
An Antique Dentist Chair
An antique dentist’s chair equipped with extraction tools is not the usual thing a landlord or lettings agent expects to find left behind in an average rental property.
But there it was, at the end of the tenancy, after the tenant had packed up and left the house for good.
And according to Belvoir, Britain’s biggest lettings specialist, which has an office on Lincoln Road in, Peterborough that is just one of the many bizarre items that have been found in properties across the UK.
“There’s been the usual crop of dumped hi-fi systems and scrapped Playstations,” says Mike Goddard Chief Executive at Belvoir. “But then comes the bizarre stuff – and every now and again we hear of a new surprise.”
“Usually tenants are no trouble and the transition between one tenant leaving and another inhabiting the property is smooth, but sometimes when a property is cleared out it is the letting agents and landlords who have to deal with the leftovers,” continued Mike.
After the dentist’s chair…
- A Christmas tree beautifully decorated in the middle of August that featured a glass eye as one of the decorations
- A fish tank with two very bemused gold fish, left in the middle of the dining room floor
- A montage of page three models that covered the entire upstairs of a property
- A stuffed sparrow hawk mounted on a plinth
- Two surf boards used as ‘saloon style’ doors to get in and out of the kitchen
- A box of 24 out of date Castlemaine lager with a fishing rod, a kite and a false breast
- An external door that had been mounted on bricks and used as a coffee table
- A wardrobe full of brand new women’s clothes, shoes, jewellery and makeup
“Some items were even left as gifts for the landlord. One tenant left pickled eggs because they wanted to say thank you and thought the landlord would like them!” continued Mike.
If at the end of a tenancy a number of unwanted items have been left, please contact Belvoir as they can put you in touch with a number of charities that offer a free ‘pick up’ service for unwanted sellable items.
Belvoir’s growing network of over 140 franchised offices stretch across the whole of the UK and look after a property portfolio valued at more than £1 billion.
“Sometimes these ‘leftovers’ can result in the deposit being held back from the tenant – especially where damage has been caused to the property,” explains Mike.
“If, as a tenant, you act according to the rules laid out in your tenancy agreement, your landlord has no right – and in the majority of cases no desire – to hold on to any of your deposit at the end of your tenancy.”
“Those who do lose deposit money do so because they have simply been irresponsible at some point during their tenure,” Mike added.
Established in 1994 Belvoir Lettings is one of the UK’s leading lettings agents with over 140 franchised offices. The company which handles a property portfolio valued at over £1billion offers a specialist service in property rental, property management, residential lettings and buy-to-let for tenants and landlords. Each local Belvoir Property Management Agency is owned and personally managed by local owners, operating under licence from Belvoir Property Management (UK) Ltd. www.belvoirlettings.com
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