To think I should be able to get all his things back?

[UndertheCedartree]

Just looking for some advice as to how to deal with this.

My DBF was living in Supported Accommodation when he had a decline in his mental health and the past few weeks he has been in hospital. After about 2 weeks I went over to his house to pick up some of his clothes but there was no answer at the house and when I went over to the office I found out they had shut down the house to refurb it without telling me or my DBF. I arranged a time to come back. When I did everything from his room (and others) had been thrown into bin bags and put in a room all jumbled up. I managed to find some of his clothes mixed in with others and took a few other things I could find. I said I would have to wait til my DBF could come and sort through the rest as I didn't know exactly what was his.

Just to explain, it was decided by the hospital that different accommodation would be found for him as this place didn't support his needs.

So, today I phoned the manager to arrange a time to collect the rest of his things. He told me there were a couple of bags of clothes left. I explained that there was all of his things bar a few clothes as rather than letting me know so I could pack his room up properly it had all just been thrown in bin bags and mixed up with other people's things. There is a games console and games, toiletries, a fan, clothes, bedding, mugs, personal things like photos and cards etc. I said 'well, has it been stolen or thrown away?' and he said 'why would someone do that?' so I said 'well, exactly so it must all be there'.

What do we do if we go down there and there is literally a couple of bags of clothes? I don't even know if they will be his as when I went last time there was a couple of bags of clothes with his name on but I took all those that were actually his, the rest weren't his as too big. What if his things aren't there? What do I do?

Firstly You need to find out if his items have actually been disposed of.

Maybe you need to put everything in writing so find out their complaints procedure. You should write to them, make a list of his missing items and ask how to make a claim for the cost of the (replaceable) missing items. That way there is a paper trail rather than them saying they don’t know anything about it.

I really hope you can get his things back, I know how upsetting it is to lose sentimental items and photographs that can’t be replaced.

It’s awful that they have just bagged everything up like that but I imagine they are pretty used to people leaving and leaving items in their rooms that then have to be disposed of, your BF was a hospital inpatient though so it’s not like he’d just left!

Thank you for the advice. I'm afraid what my DBF's reaction will be if his things are missing. It won't be any good for his mental health that's for sure. Part of the reason he needs somewhere different is the amount of his things that have gone missing. The staff go into his room and touch his things - they take clothes to wash which then get mixed up with someone else's. He doesn't need anyone doing his washing etc - he is perfectly capable. The things he does need help with like e.g setting up a bank account or doing some voluntary work they can't help with. When I say can't help with, they are actually meant to help with those things but the staff don't have the skills to help him with those things.

And the annoying thing is if they had just communicated with the hospital or me or his mum (they have all those contact numbers) I would have gone and packed up his room. But they left it for us just to find out, that his room had gone and he had no home to go to.

That really is awful.

Is it council run, a private place? I’m afraid I don’t really understand the set up of how it works but there should be somewhere higher up than the actual house to complain to -Council? Head office?CEO of the company? -or whatever, maybe his social worker could help you. I’m not sure how much good it will achieve in getting his items back but it may put a stop to other vulnerable people suffering the same. Good luck.

Such a violation of his dignity. I am so sorry.

It's a private place. That's why I really wasn't sure what I could do if the manager just insists these are all his things. To be honest it's an absolute racket. The very rich landlord gets housing benefit for 2 bedrooms for each resident, even though there is only one extra bedroom/office between them all for the staff to use. Then they get funding from the council to provide care - they employ guys from abroad that have little or no English and therefore are limited in the care they can provide. They then charge the residents £40 per week to cover bills (before energy price increases) so they get £860 per month for that and the residents get rubbish broadband and the boiler always being turned off. I raised this with his care coordinator at the time but he wasn't interested. He has a new one now so I can see if she can help. Thank you.

It really is.