We can’t house our friends belongings anymore

I think I would say they have two weeks to put it into storage, after which it will be going on eBay. They are taking advantage of your kindness - a year indeed!

Don't make any excuses to them about Christmas etc just tell them that it's been over a year and you want your house back. Honestly, you've done more than most would. Surely they have some family who could help them store stuff? Even if they dont, that's not your problem.

Give them 2 weeks to get it out. Be prepared for the fallout, though. My mam stored my brother in laws broke down van in her garden for 4yrs. When she finally asked him to move it, my sister fell out with her. I had to have words with my DSis and point out what cfs they've been. No good deed goes unpunished.

I'd give them 24 hours to collect their stuff - and if they do not, then you should turf it all out onto the fucking street. This wouldn't be decent at all. Only an absolute arse would agree to store things, let a year go by, then turn into a hard-line bastard. The family are living in a hotel.

Yes, the op should start the ball rolling, but doesn't have to be a monster about it. A month's notice would be standard, two months would be a bit easier on them.

I'd give them 24 hours to collect their stuff - and if they do not, then you should turf it all out onto the fucking street.

They arent your friends - they are users/abusers/arseholes.

The problem with "cheap" storage will be that they can't afford it.

If they've got a limited budget for renting, so limited they can't find anything and have gone down (albeit they failed to stick to and been discharged from) the homeless route for a council house, they're probably looking for something to rent that's within the Housing Costs element of UC. There will be almost nothing and what there is will be shite in some way or other and fiercely fought after by hundreds of others in the same situation as well as those not on benefits who just want cheapest rent, meaning landlords can take their pick.

The only way they can get a better property would be by using some of the rest of their UC/wages to top up the rent, renting somewhere with less bedrooms than the number of bedrooms they need and have been allocated costs for, or getting a council house that's in a good state of repair. They have turned down the latter and probably won't accept either of the former.

If they had £100/month for a storage unit they could instead put that £100 towards their rental budget, but they either can't spare the money or won't on principle.

Now they're living in a hotel. Which is going to be costing them a lot more than the temporary housing the council gave them under the homelessness scheme.they were probably in a flat if they've got DC and felt comfortable to remain there, shown by turning down a permanent house for being "too small". Now by making themselves voluntarily homeless they've been kicked out of that accommodation.

Under the scheme, whatever temporary housing they give you, including B&B, the cost is paid by UC/HB however high it is, because it's not your choice to live there, the council has placed you there. Now they're voluntarily homeless they may only be receiving the standard amount of housing costs in benefits and having to pay the extra for the hotel themselves because they've caused this situation themselves. They could have been permanently housed somewhere the rent would not have exceeded the allocated housing costs, but they turned it down. The government is under no obligation to continue giving them extra funds to support their lifestyle choices (a hotel). Even if, because of the children, the council hasn't actually kicked them out onto the streets to fend for themselves. They were apparently broke before, they're even more broke now.

This is why giving them a deadline is pointless. They'll either come collect with an ultimatum or they won't. Giving them a deadline won't change that, it just delays the inevitable and lessens the chance they'll collect because it gives them time to decide not to bother. They don't need a month to sort out a storage unit, they can sort one out in an hour if they're going to do it. If they're going to beg space off another friend they can do that in a day of contacting everyone and are more likely to be successful with that if they can claim it's an emergency and their stuff has been been thrown out to the pavement/lawn. Give them a month and they'll either do absolutely nothing at all or they'll do whatever they could have done today, in a few hours on the last day.

The friendship is over, there's no saving it no matter what you do. Piss takers are only friends with people who allow them to do it. They may remain low grade friends with people with strong boundaries just in case they get to take the piss in the future, but the one thing they won't ever tolerate is people previously without sufficient boundaries suddenly getting some and putting their foot down with them.

tell them they have one month to find storage and move stuff out. You can't do it long term and they should appreciate what they had.

It’s completely reasonable for you to want their stuff taken away. But if it was me, I wouldn’t say I wanted the space to store Xmas gifts, as that may be rubbing salt in the wound for people who sound like they’re on their uppers.

" ...there was a lot of damage caused by damp & mildew, & most of the stuff ended up being chucked..."

We stored stuff for a family member in our garage for a couple of months which turned in to several years. Luckily not in the way. We'd warned then that the garage was damp and they'd wrapped stuff up but even so most of it ended up in a skip when they came back for it.

My DD is back living with me after uni.

her “spare” stuff is in a storage unit.

they aren’t expensive.

Funny isn't it how people excessively take the piss. There are cheap storage places if they just look. I had to store all my stuff somewhere between houses and found a storage unit out in the country for £80 a month. They are there if you look.ive found cheap storage units twice now when I've moved counties. They are just using you.
My first husband was a hoarder. He used to give friends sob stories and move new hordes he didn't have room for in his house into their garages and outbuildings. One poor friend stored his crap for 10 years before losing her shit.

Be prepared for the fall out.

They didn't take a house because it was too small, so they really believe they will get something bigger. You can't reason with people like that.

They won't get a bigger place, which means they will never take their stuff back. They need a deadline and as someone else said, it's only going one way- you being badmouthing as the bitch from hell. So just rip off the plaster amd reclaim your space

They are CF’ers. Major ones. Imagine turning down a house because it’s too small when they are living in a hotel room?! And getting free storage from you for over a YEAR!! Madness.

‘Hi CF, I will need you to collect your stuff and make alternative storage arrangements for it. I’m sure you understand as it’s been over a year now and we need our space back now’

I would message them “ Hi , please can you arrange alternative storage for your belongings. It’s becoming too overwhelming for us to store it any longer and we need to utilise the space ourselves. I’m sure you understand that we need our home to fell like ours again .If you could please have it removed by x date “

What a pair of bloody idiots turning down an offer of accommodation! Yes, they need to start paying for storage. You'll find it hard to actually get rid of the stuff though - I bet they won't come and get it. This will probably be the end of the friendship unfortunately...

YWNBU to ask them to sort through & consoliate their stuff, so it occupies fewer boxes/ less space in your garage (and none in your loft/ bedroom).
With a view to moving it to a (paid) storage unit in the new year, if they haven't found a new house by then.

If they've lived without it for a year, they will probably find it easier to accept that they don't need it all as much as they once thought they did, or that (for example) their children might have grown out of some of the clothes or toys.

Wow I don’t think they have realised how big of a deal it is to turn down emergency accommodation. The council may discharge them and never help them now.

Just tell then you need them to remove their items by X date. No explanations, no sorry, just to the point.

So how long have they been your friends for and what are they like as friends out of interest.

Over a year?!
They need to get it into storage, you've been more than kind.
If they refuse, do what a PP said and take it to ken yourself.

OP, I wouldn't say that you want your space back in order to store Christmas gifts, as they'll think you don't need that much space for that, and will likely make excuses. I think your best bet is to tell them that you've spoken to someone recently who was in a similar position to them, and they were telling you that they ended up having to throw away all the stuff that they'd stored in someone's garage because it had all gone mouldy. Then say, 'with that in mind, I think it's best if we stop storing your stuff, as it would be a shame for it all to be ruined because it's not been stored properly, so can I suggest you come over and go through it all a.s.a.p., get rid of anything that's already spoiled, or that you no longer want, which I'm guessing is probably most of it, as you clearly haven't needed it in the last 12 months, and then arrange to move the rest of it into proper storage?' If you feel like it beforehand, do a bit of research to find out about some suitable storage places, and what they charge, and then you can tell them about that too. However, be prepared for them to say something along the lines of, 'we really can't do it right now, as you know we're staying in a hotel, which is costing a fortune', or they come up with any other excuse, then just say, 'well you could have moved into the house you were offered, and then you wouldn't be in this situation, but you decided to turn that down, and while we were happy to help when we thought you'd be housed fairly quickly, I'm afraid we now need our space back. We're happy to give you another 2 weeks to come and sort it, and get it moved, but after that I'm afraid we're going to have to get rid of it, as we need our space back.'

If you feel awkward about doing that, you could say that you're considering moving yourselves, so you now need them to move their stuff, so that your house looks big and spacious for when you put it on the market / return it to the landlord.

Sadly, I think they're probably now so caught up in their own situation, that it probably hasn't even registered how long they've been clogging up your house with their stuff, but however good friends they may be, please don't be daft enough to take pity on them, after they've been so blindingly stupid about turning down a proper roof over their heads.

I think you were more than generous. We had about 15 boxes of a friends stuff in the garage for a few months due to timing issues when they bought their house and it was a bit annoying. I wouldn’t have coped with stuff in my bedroom.

would guess after a year some of it isn’t even relevant anymore? I’d say that you’re happy to carry on storing x boxes (4?) and to let you know what they want to do with the rest. They can’t possibly expect this to be an endless situation.

"too small". 😬 Wow. Their entitlement is off the charts.

If they're stupid enough to have done that without understanding the consequences, they're probably also stupid enough not to realise it'll be decades before they're housed by the council now, if they ever are. By that time they'll be entitled to a 1bed flat!

I wouldn't give them any notice OP. They're not going to find a proper solution however long you give them. All you'll be doing is delaying getting your space back. Any solution they come up with is going to involve leaving it all with you as long as possible then running their mouths about how you're such a bitch for letting them down, as they beg their way into someone else's space "for a few weeks".

It's expensive to get the council to come collect lots of large items. I'd be there yourselves to supervise when they collect (if they do, don't be surprised if they don't).

Anything that won't fit in your car to take to the tip or anything that's particularly minging and you wouldn't want it in your car - ensure they load up those items first (just do it if they start arguing) and when they run out of space, refuse to have the things unloaded onto your property again.

Have screwdrivers etc ready so you can take things apart to make them fit into their vehicle, for them to reassemble later (and don't lend them your screwdrivers! Or you'll never see them again. Piss takers like this never return stuff they've borrowed).

Boxes of clothes etc you can hang onto "for them to collect another time", then easily take to the tip when they're still there a week later.

If they leave anything on the pavement outside your property report them for fly tipping (remember to make a note of vehicle registration).

They've totally brought all this on themselves.

Indeed OP, and I bet if all their belongings were in storage that they were having to pay for month after month, instead of being stored in your house for free, they'd have been a damn sight keener to accept the council's offer.

Storage is cheap, I was quoted £100 P.W. for contents of a 3-bed house.

I stored several boxes in a friend's garage following a disastrous situation in my late 20s. They were there a year whilst I got things together.

I also stored several boxes in my garage for a year for a friend once I had a garage to offer.

Both times, there was a lot of damage caused by damp & mildew, & most of the stuff ended up being chucked by the time the owner was able to retrieve it.

I think you need to tell your mates to firstly, consolidate everything, get rid of as much as possible & secondly, move it into paid storage.

If they're unwilling to do that...well, a mate of mine once disposed of an ex flatmate's stuff by moving it to a storage unit, paying the first (heavily discounted) month, & sending the ex flatmate details of how to continue paying, if he didn't want it to end up on Storage Hunters.

If your friends are genuinely trying to sort things out, they'll work with you to even reduce it to a few boxes you might be happy to continue storing.

"Hi friend, hope you're well.

I'm just trying to organise some house bits and store some early Christmas shopping, but its a bit of a squeeze in the loft!
Are you able to come over on this weekend/X or Y date to have a sort through your house boxes or move it over to a storage facility? Planning wise, I'm sorry but I need my loft and garage clear of your things by mid December.

I've seen at x local storage facility it's £xyz a week which might be useful

Let me know if those dates work or other times you're free to come and have a cuppa and a sort 😊"