Binning Someone Else’s Shit in My Garage

[ConcreteUnderpants]

I have a garage not attached to my house (in a row of garages around the corner) that I lent out.

The terms were that he could keep his stuff there and instead of rent, he would fix the roof. He would also put a new lock on it as I’d lost the key and let me keep a couple of things of mine in there (that were already in the garage).

A year and a half on, I finally need the garage myself and have enough money to do the roof myself as I can see that he hasn’t done it. Had to break in myself as he didn’t give me a key to the new lock (haven’t seen him since I first let him have the garage).

It is full of his shit. Apparently (from a man I saw opening his own garage a few doors up), he visits it every few weeks.
Not sure what to do. I am assuming that the stuff in there now belongs to me. It is worth a fair bit (car parts and tools etc) but I don’t want the hassle and expense of getting a skip and clearing it out. Do I leave a note on the door saying you have 2 weeks to clear all your shit out before I bin/ sell it? Do I ‘accidentally’ leave the door open and hope it gets nicked? Advice welcome please.

Basically AIBU to give him a fortnight to empty it and then chuck it if not? I am a bit scared of reprisals if I do this.
I need the storage in a few weeks.

Yes!

Do you know his full name?

If so you could try and find him on Facebook or even on the electoral register.

Say the stuff is yours and you have no idea what he's talking about.

This is theft. Which is, you know, illegal and immoral.

Don't do that, OP.

Wow. So much bad advice on here it’s unbelievable. OP did not sign an AST so she can do what she wants.

Have a look on Facebook to see if you can find him and message him politely that you need the space back. I'd give him at least 30 days to remove his items.

I'd see a solicitor for legal advice. Only they can give you the actual legal 'niceties'. May cost a couple hundred quid but it'd be money well spent IMO.

Garage man sounds horrid, he promised to fix the roof and he hasn't and he hasn't given the owner a key .. OP hasn't heard from him In over a year. I'm not sure why we are giving him a joy of thought other than any legal obligations that the OP has

So basically this is some random guy you dont know that you have let use your garage for free for the past 18 months?

Fizz yours is some of the worst advice on the thread!

What do you so desperately need the garage for?

Because its her garage. If she wanted to store nothing but air in there and only ever visit to dance the macarena inside on every Summer Solstice, she has a perfect right to do so. He had an extremely generous indefinite verbal agreement in return for a one-off job and he hasn't even deigned to do that. Additionally, he's annexed the garage, treated it as solely his and refused to even give OP a key for her own garage. Just because he likes to consider it his own exclusive property in perpetuity doesn't make that the case legally.

Dis you give him any notice that you wanted the garage back before you broke in?! You can’t just do that with no notice. Imagine if a landlord did that with a house!

To be fair, most people renting houses give their own details (often references too), sign binding legal agreements and hand over a lot of money each month in return for sole protected rights of occupancy. It's also a matter of a right to private family life and human dignity - completely different to storing a load of old junk and then making yourself uncontactable.

I'm sure he has legal rights, but morally (even aside of whether he's stolen goods from the neighbour or not), he's on very shaky ground.

Don't go down the putting up a sign on the door route, as it's the easiest thing in the world for him to claim he didn't see it, it must have been torn down by kids or blown away. He could even claim defamation by you putting it up in public to 'shame' him. I think the best way is definitely to fit your own locks and make him come to you when he needs access. You're not denying him access to his possessions (at least no more than he has done the same to you by changing the lock and not giving you a key) - it's just a 'civil' way of getting the message to him that he needs to get in touch with you.

I'd say it's akin to blocking in somebody who knows where you live and who has knowingly parked in your own private space. You're not keying the paintwork, torching it, tampering with the brakes, slashing the tyres or anything like that - purely requiring them to contact you when they know exactly how to do so to arrange for them to safely retrieve their property from your land/facility.

He then moved and stopped working with my neighbour (apparently stealing about £500 worth of tools) so I have no way of contacting him.
I'd be tempted to get said neighbour around to recover his property.

I'd get the neighbour round, if he recognises anything great. I'd then be tempted to involve the police incase other stuff is stolen too.

But police maybe not be the best idea. You could have a garage full of stolen goods and no evidence that it's let out. Therefore it could be seen that you are in possession of stolen goods.

So I'd definitely not try and sell, at best you'd be selling the tenants property at worse you'd be handling stolen goods.

Did the neighbour report the theft of the tools to the police? If so they will be interested in seeing the contents of your garage. Have you tried the last phone number the neighbour had for him? You are acting as if this person has vanished into thin air but he obviously hasn't as the other garage owner has seen him. It can't be that hard to track him down.

SausageRoll the OP has repeatedly said she needs the garage in a couple of weeks time, or whenever it was, I am interested to know why. There's clearly something happening/coming which she needs to store. Otherwise she'd have said she's simply had enough of his stuff being stored in there and the roof not being redone.

Did you give him a timeframe within which he had to repair your roof and change your lock?

Did you tell him how long he could stay rent-free?

One if the things I would do is ask the neighbour for a list of the tools he alleges were stolen by the man storing stuff in your garage in case the tools in the garage are the stolen property. If they correspond, then go to the police.

Two weeks' notice is not enough if he only returns every few weeks. I would give 6 weeks' notice.

Ok. Thanks for all the replies so far. Surprised at a lot of responses. Yes, it seems I was a twat. I just really didn’t see this coming. I had a garage I didn’t really use, someone needed it for storage, so why not?!

I naively/stupidly didn’t even think of a proper contract etc as I’m an idiot and didn’t assume someone I was helping out would be such a knob.

I only found out about my neighbour’s tools recently when I went to see if he had any bolt cutters. And yes, I was going to ask him if he could see his tools in there.

For the record, I don’t want his stuff. It smells in there and I don’t want the hassle of clearing it all out. I saw the roof hadn’t been done before and the lock changed and was obviously pissed, but I had enough other crap in my life to deal without adding that to it. As I didn’t need the garage then, I just let it slide, but now I need the storage for my son’s stuff (moving out of his uni place so fridge, bed, bulky house stuff needs to be in there).

I’ve put a waterproof notice on the door, giving him a month’s notice and my phone number. I really think that is more than reasonable, as he’s been such a cheeky fucker.

I wish it had just been a literal shit. It certainly would’ve been much easier to deal with.

SausageRoll the OP has repeatedly said she needs the garage in a couple of weeks time, or whenever it was, I am interested to know why. There's clearly something happening/coming which she needs to store. Otherwise she'd have said she's simply had enough of his stuff being stored in there and the roof not being redone.

OK, sorry if I misconstrued your tone. Yes, she obviously needs it now to store something - I doubt it's anything groundbreakingly fascinating, though! For all we know, she might have had some stuff that she needs to keep that's currently stored in a spare bedroom or something and thought "Hey, I own a garage - why do I have all these boxes in here when I could enjoy the space properly?!"

I’m just pissed as I feel I was nice and basically did him a favour

Why did you doing him a favour cause you to be drunk?

If you can't understand what the OP means Hinge you've got bigger issues than she has.

I hope you put a new lock on too, along with the note, or he could say you've knicked his stuff. Take pictures, let the neighbour see if he stuff is in there, get his full name from neighbour and look for him on social media.

Put your own lock on it too so he has to call you for access, if you let him go of his own accord he could damage the garage or your possessions out of spite when he reads your note. If he doesn’t move it in the time stated then clear it.

Yes, new lock on and as soon I catch my neighbour, hopefully he’ll have his full name and I can do a Facebook search for him.
He did give me his business card when I first saw him, but that’s long since been lost.

Will just be polite, but assertive. I just want my garage space back, no drama!

You don't even know his full name? 🤦‍♀️

Erm...it was on the business card, but tbh I can’t remember it. I’m pretty easy going/a total dick.

He may well be using the garage as a lock up for stolen goods. Tricky.