Can a local council sieze goods left on their property?

[Lougle]

Long story short:

A community group rented some premesis from the local council for many years. They paid a rent, although there was never a formal contract in place.

After some years, they requested that they could site a storage unit on the grounds. This was agreed, and they paid a separate 'peppercorn rent' (£1) annually.

They gave notice that they would no longer need to use of the premesis. When they came to settle up with the clerk of the council, they were told that their peppercorn rent lasted until April, so don't worry about the storage unit. No indication was given that their agreement in respect of the unit was no longer in place.

They forgot to pay the £1 fee in April, and have had no reminder. They will happily pay this. An email was sent asking for intentions regarding the unit in April, but due to various circumstances, this was not replied to. No further communication was sent.

Last week, the chairperson of the community group had an email which said that

"We hereby give notice that the external storage unit at the rear of xxxxx premesis will cease to be the property of xxx community group on 31ST MAY 2012.

If no communication is received from yourself as representative of xxx community group by the above date, the unit will become the property of xxxxxx Parish Council. Any items remaining in the unit will be disposed of."

Regardless of the fact that we intend to write to the council enclosing the £1 peppercorn fee, can they actually do that???

I can't think of any law that would allow them to take ownership of a unit that has been wholly paid for, maintained and owned by the community group, after many years of rental of the space on which it is sited. Obviously the payment is late, but that surely does not allow them to do this?

It is my understanding that the council can make arrangements to sell the goods and return to you the proceeds of the sale, less any costs incurred in arranging the sale. (This is based on legal advice I wa given years ago when a tenant failed to collect her possessions from a room I had been renting out to her).

Meant to add.... why not simply contact the parish clerk and ask whether your failure to pay the peppercorn rent and to respond to any correspondence has led to a simple misunderstanding whereby they assume you no longer require the storage unit and its contents.

I will contact her, bradbourne, but I am shocked that after years of renting the space, a communication stating that the storage unit will 'cease to be the property' of the group was sent. How can they decide that they will just 'have' the unit which the group owns?

I think from their pov, it's reasonable. The group has left the premises for the main activity. They had a storage agreement until April. April's rent wasn't paid, as peppercorn, council aren't trying to get the money. They may have other plans for the storage unit, but to be fair to the it longterm tenants, they write to find out what is going on. No answer. Reasonable assumption on their part that you are no longer interested. Further letter saying when they want vacant possession, and that they will clear it if you don't.

The group needs to get on to the council asap with polite explanations for silence. Do you want to retain the unit? If so, you need to negotiate this on Monday. If you intend to leave, but need more time to clear, you need to ask for it. If they have relet the unit, you're in a fix and may have to look urgently for a removals and storage solution. Whatever the circumstances, you need to reopen communication asap.

The unit belongs to the group not the council.

That is my whole point. Surely their options are to ask us to vacate the spot on which the unit is stored (although I would think 10 days notice is a little unreasonable) or to remind us that we haven't paid our £1 fee for this year.

I can't see HOW they can decide that they'd like to take ownership of a unit that was never theirs?

They'll have reasonably assumed from the silence it's been abandoned, and as it's on their property it is up to them to decide its future.

That's why the thing that is both important and urgent to restart communication.

Yes - it's s41 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. But they have to give you a month's notice.

Really? You think that one email with no response is adequate to decide that it's been abandoned by a group that rented their property for years?

Yes. The period of the existing agreement was end April. They've given you to end May - that's the required month.

Now you need to focus on the outcome you want and the best way to maximise your chances of getting it.

Thank you MissBehiving

So, using your info, I have found this factsheet Goods left behind at the end of a tenancy

1. I would see that it assumes and relies on the storage shed being part of the same tenancy agreement. There was never any formal written agreement (the group asked for one repeatedly, but the council wouldn't provide one), but the rental costs for the premesis and the rental costs for the space on which the unit is sited were itemised separately and the storage rental commenced (years) after the premisis rental.

1. It says 28 days notice must be given. Would you say that a polite enquiry as to our intentions with regard the storage constitute 'notice'? I would say they don't. In which case, the notice started on the day of the email advising us of their intentions, which was only a week ago.

Meditrina, they didn't give any notice. We didn't advise them we didn't want to continue. We simply haven't paid on time.

I STILL don't see that they can give 10 days' notice that they will keep our shed.

You didn't respond to the April email. What else would they think?

Well, I would expect that as we have reliably rented the property from them for years, they would think 'hmm...check they have the email'. In addition, I would expect them to at best, ask us to remove our shed. NOT to say 'it will be ours if you don't respond within 10 days'.

I'm sure that if you actually talk to the clerk tomorrow that you will be able to sort things out.

Missbehiving is correct on the law

I would get in touch and talk to them! they are likely to be reasonable if you speak to them and explain. They are not being unreasonable to start to send emails like this if they have just had silence from your end though. Of course you can remove the shed, you just need to get in touch and sort it! Its your lack of contact really that has resulted in this situation although their notice period may be too short that isn't a reason to start getting cross really if you haven't contacted them yet to see what can be sorted.

The section applies to any land that the council owns or manages whether or not there was a formal tenancy agreement in place, so they still need to give you a months notice requiring you to collect the shed and it's contents.

Thank you. I shall write to them with the peppercorn fee enclosed, apologising for the lack of contact. Then we'll see what happens. I can't do anything with the shed as the person holding the key is on holiday.

Sounds reasonable. Unless the shed or the contents are valuable they probably won't want to do anything about it as it will cost them to get rid of it. Hope it all goes well