Something missing after house viewing

[sadsadme]

Ultimately my fault leaving valuables in plain sight when strangers come in to our house, but is there anything I can do? Not worth a lot, maybe few hundred quids worth of jewellery, but they have sentimental values and I am utterly devastated! Not insured. I usually wear them when I go out but I must've forgotten when I vacated the house for the viewing. Now I cannot find them. The viewer is going to come for 2nd viewing soon with a different agent (of the same office).

Is there anything I can do? If I tell EA, what would happen?

Follow them very closely? Maybe they feel guilty and want to put it back? Although they couldn't if you follow them too closely 🤔

Inform the EA and the police. That is completely unacceptable.

It's going to be very difficult to prove. Obviously they will deny it.
I'd put it down to a life lesson sadly.

Are you 100% sure they’ve taken it?

Surely you're not considering letting them back in!

That's really awful of them; what an abusive thing to do.

Are you sure they're not insured on your contents insurance?

I would inform the estate agency manager/owner. It may be the buyer or the agent. Was that the only person to visit the house? The manager may have had other reports. Do any of your neighbours have cctv? It’s unlikely to have picked up anything but it’s worth viewing.

Put costume jewellery out or a bit of money and film the second viewing? Not sure if that is legal though so check first.

I am quite sure they were there and I don't really move them except for wearing them, but no one can be 100% sure I guess. I had it yesterday morning, forgot about it the whole day and this morning I couldn't find them. No one else came into the house yesterday. What would EA do if we inform them, I wonder...

Sure you didn't put them safely somewhere before the viewing?

On second thoughts If the filming is legal then call the agents bluff say you have cctv indoors but say the app has disconnected from the hard drive and you await your mate who installed it for you as you aren’t very techy. (My mother has a ridiculously complicated cctv set up with a hard drive in the attic that keeps the footage for 30 days, sometimes she loses connection to her phone and our mate fixes it). Say there was jewellery in your room but you can no longer find it. If it was the agent they may put it back.

It is a long shot but you never know.

Be truthful. Tell the EA that hundreds of pounds worth of jewellery was missing after last time and you don’t want them back for a second viewing.
To me, several hundred pounds worth of jewellery with sentimental value would be a significant and very upsetting loss.

This

Secret camera, leave more out, get proof this time

It could just as easily be the estate agent, who has keys, as it could be the viewer.
Let the agent know you have had stuff go missing (even if you don't expect to get it back/them to do anything about it). They should not have left people alone in the house. But, realistically your home insurance might not pay out as it was left in sight when you let the agent and viewers into your home. It's still worth letting them know, especially if it was valuable enough to be a listed item.

Personally, I would also be tempted to fit cameras inside. You would have to let the agent know, but it would be a useful deterrent.

I would call the estate agent on the off chance they noticed it out and tucked it away.

You don’t have anything to lose at this point.

How do you know it's the viewer and not the EA?

I'd be surprised if it was the viewer as they are coming back for another look. That would be beyond brazen. I'd be suspicious of anyone at the EA who had access to keys and knew you would be out for the viewing.

First report to police, required so you can claim on insurance.
I'd then call the agent and say "Is there any chance your colleague at first viewing spotted the jewellery I left in view and put it in a safe place? If not, then that viewer can' come for a second viewing and I leave it to you to break the news".

Why aren't you making a police report?

Mention reporting it to police for insurance reason.
If it was the agent, they will perhaps suddenly remember putting it in their pocket for safekeeping and then forgot about it.

What a strange thing to say 😂😂😂

I had a brand-new hardback book stolen on a viewing once. It wasn’t irreplaceable, more just creepy, to think of someone wandering around and lifting what they fancied. I’d tell the EA; there’s a slim chance they might have moved your jewellery as it was lying in plain sight. It’s not so easily done when you’re busy and selling a house is stressful, but after the book incident I put anything that matters (whether it’s valuable or not) somewhere inaccessible. I also put photographs of our children away after the EA suggested not having photos of children in the photographs.

Sorry, that last sentence made no sense. I put their photographs away when people were viewing the house after the EA said about not having children’s photographs in the images for the schedule.

Report to police, then tell EA. Let them know that you'll no longer be proceeding with them or the viewers as important personal items went missing on their watch. They may get 'found' as a result. If not, then at least there are consequences. This is assuming you're in a position of power and not desperate and these are the only viewers.

Thank you so much for the replies. Although I am resigned to it being an expensive lesson and very sad about it, all your ideas and views really help put things into perspective. I think I will talk to EA tomorrow morning and go from there.