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Original poster

£4000 found when ripping out kitchen

348 replies

ElizabethDarcy88 · 13/06/2022 18:06

Today after having old kitchen ripped out our fitter found hidden a box and inside was £4000 in cash. ...we have informed solicitor who managed the sale. (It was a probate house sale) what do you think will happen?

OP posts:
IcedOatLatte · 13/06/2022 19:16

MarshaBradyo · 13/06/2022 19:05

You could be right

Show quote history

It definitely will, this has Loose Women type discussion written all over it

I don't think posters are looking at the notes properly, those are the ones before the current non plastic ones

You can't spend them and banks don't have to take them, they need to be sent off the the Bank of England

Threetulips · 13/06/2022 19:17

It’s not dishonest - you brought the house and contents for probably a lot of money - you didn’t steal it.

EarringsandLipstick · 13/06/2022 19:17

gamerchick · 13/06/2022 18:07

You're more honest than me like Grin

😂😂😂

missushbbb · 13/06/2022 19:18

i think you did the right thing. i would worry no good would come of it if i kept it. it's a tough one!

Emotionalsupportviper · 13/06/2022 19:18

JaninaDuszejko · 13/06/2022 19:07

It did go into someone's pocket, your thieving husbands.

Show quote history

That's nasty and unnecessary.

There was no-one to legally claim that cash. What do you think would have happened to it if it had been handed in to the council?

Though I do hope that if I'd found cash n that situation I would have given at least half to charity - but I wouldn't have given it to the council.

IcedOatLatte · 13/06/2022 19:21

Georgyporky · 13/06/2022 19:15

You bought the house & its contents, that money is yours; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
I'd split 50/50 with the fitter.

Would you say the same if the situation was reversed? Say you moved house and the next day realised you'd left something extremely valuable behind would you not expect the buyer to return it? Would you happily let them keep it?

waddlemyway · 13/06/2022 19:22

OP you, DH and the kitchen fitter are swimming in good, honest karma. It will come back to you in one way or another, even if it’s not £4000.

Kinda similar thing happened to me when I bought a 2nd hand oven off ebay (back in the day when that was what ebay was used for 😂). About a year later I wanted to look up something in the instruction manual and £500 fell out the back. I was mighty tempted to keep the dosh but a quick poll of friends said I had to tell him. He was so, so grateful he cried. He said he really needed the money, it was like his deceased wife had sent it to him just when their daughter could use it the most. He couldn’t believe his luck, he couldn’t believe my honesty. He told me to keep £100 to take my kids for a nice day out to the zoo or something fun and could I please transfer the other £400. I wish I could say I hadn’t have been tempted to keep it at first, but now after that experience I’d always “do the right thing”

FlippityFlapperty · 13/06/2022 19:28

If you get to keep it, I’d certainly give the fitter half. He was honest.

RagzRebooted · 13/06/2022 19:32

waddlemyway · 13/06/2022 19:22

OP you, DH and the kitchen fitter are swimming in good, honest karma. It will come back to you in one way or another, even if it’s not £4000.

Kinda similar thing happened to me when I bought a 2nd hand oven off ebay (back in the day when that was what ebay was used for 😂). About a year later I wanted to look up something in the instruction manual and £500 fell out the back. I was mighty tempted to keep the dosh but a quick poll of friends said I had to tell him. He was so, so grateful he cried. He said he really needed the money, it was like his deceased wife had sent it to him just when their daughter could use it the most. He couldn’t believe his luck, he couldn’t believe my honesty. He told me to keep £100 to take my kids for a nice day out to the zoo or something fun and could I please transfer the other £400. I wish I could say I hadn’t have been tempted to keep it at first, but now after that experience I’d always “do the right thing”

That's so lovely, it made my eyes water.

SpideySensesIsALoadOfShit · 13/06/2022 19:33

I'd have felt compelled to do the same, OP. I just couldn't live with myself if I knew I'd not said anything. I'm not sure I've ever found honesty to be very rewarding in any kind of monetary way, but it has to be better than living with the knowledge that you've done something morally dubious.

What I very much hope happens is that they let you keep it.

Clymene · 13/06/2022 19:34

God I'm really horrified at how many people would keep the money.

Summerofcontent · 13/06/2022 19:35

gamerchick · 13/06/2022 18:07

You're more honest than me like Grin

Yep, this! 😂

user375242 · 13/06/2022 19:37

The issue is the probate. It will now probably be absorbed in inheritance tax and legal fees. For that reason alone I'd not have involved anyone legally. If the people selling the house were alive and the money could be easily passed on then it's a different story.

Whooshaagh · 13/06/2022 19:38

I would have slept on it personally and decided tomorrow.
You're very honest.

LilacPoppy · 13/06/2022 19:43

@IcedOatLatte they are just regular non plastic £20 notes. Can be used in shops till September and swapped at Bank of England forever.

IcedOatLatte · 13/06/2022 19:45

LilacPoppy · 13/06/2022 19:43

@IcedOatLatte they are just regular non plastic £20 notes. Can be used in shops till September and swapped at Bank of England forever.

Are we looking at the same photo @LilacPoppy ? The one I can see is of the previous style note, definitely can't be spent.

lifecanbehardattimes · 13/06/2022 19:46

PersilPower · 13/06/2022 19:06

You did the right thing. Good karma and all that OP, you will be rewarded for this somehow. For those with a finders keepers attitude, I wonder how you’d feel if this was money your elderly parent had left behind?

Whilst I understand what you are saying, I wouldn't feel bad if it was my parents money as I wouldn't know anything about it.

EmmaH2022 · 13/06/2022 19:46

user375242 · 13/06/2022 19:37

The issue is the probate. It will now probably be absorbed in inheritance tax and legal fees. For that reason alone I'd not have involved anyone legally. If the people selling the house were alive and the money could be easily passed on then it's a different story.

Exactly
and the solicitor can't keep it quiet and whoever inherited now has extra work to do and extra stress for what will likely be no financial gain.

ClinicallyProven · 13/06/2022 19:48

YukoandHiro · 13/06/2022 19:05

This thread is a bit depressing. Everyone saying they would just keep it! I would feel so guilty if I didn't declare it - it's part of a dead person's estate. You don't know the bereaved family's financial situation.

They've just inherited a house!

Hollipolly · 13/06/2022 19:48

I hope you get to keep it OP.

You have a point if its old money... other than that I would of kept also.

EmmaH2022 · 13/06/2022 19:51

lifecanbehardattimes · 13/06/2022 19:46

Whilst I understand what you are saying, I wouldn't feel bad if it was my parents money as I wouldn't know anything about it.

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I would rather they kept quiet, I still worry about stuff like this with my dad's estate

If it's going to go in taxes and legal fees, the additional stress isn't worth it.

i admit freely, if there was a chance of getting £4k for the hassle, that would be different, but if the estate was subject to tax, that's already reduced by 40%. Then legal fees, which now can't be avoided as solicitor will be obliged to report to authorities, I guess?

honestly, inheritance sounds like free money but even aside from the death, it's pretty stressful. I say this as someone who ADORES money as well.

Hollipolly · 13/06/2022 19:51

@PersilPower well of you hide 4k....life can't be that bad because it clearly was forgotten. Let's not exaggerated OP found it in her own house. @user375242 like said it will cost OP either way....

Sswhinesthebest · 13/06/2022 19:51

user375242 · 13/06/2022 19:37

The issue is the probate. It will now probably be absorbed in inheritance tax and legal fees. For that reason alone I'd not have involved anyone legally. If the people selling the house were alive and the money could be easily passed on then it's a different story.

Me too.

Original poster
ElizabethDarcy88 · 13/06/2022 19:52

Thank you for all the messages, i will certainly update once I know what will happen, I guess we are just too honest

OP posts:
CanaryShoulderedThorn · 13/06/2022 19:53

We had something similar to this but £600 in an envelope, found at the bottom of a glove compartment in car we bought. We took it straight round and the old owners were thrilled.
Couldn't keep something that wasn't mine.
It will come back to you in one way or another OP.
I once gave £20 (that I really couldn't afford) to a woman crying outside the foodbank , which had closed early. The very next day I won the staff lottery at work 😉

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