Belt Auction

other peoples views very welcome?

Hi could anyone give me there feed back on the problem below. I was asked to carry out some work for a guy (as this is my trade, property maintenance) basically the roof of a property had fallen in and had not been repaired for 2 years hence in that time water had poured in and there were rats and mice in there as well and were the most unpleasant working conditions thinking i might get a bite from one of these fellas!! the room was full of shit nearly floor to ceiling and because of all the water damage on the inside it also had to be completely gutted and redone as well, basically i was told by the owner to remove some items and put them inside his house which i did and then i was told to dump everything else so i did i bagged it all up ready to dump. because my wife has a secondhand shop i had to go throw it later so i could remove all of the clothes shoes etc as we send these for recycling and they go of to third world countries etc. well to cut this short when i went threw all of the shit i found some items which i got checked out and some turn out to be worth a bit of money so i put them in for auction as in my mind i had been asked to remove this stuff and dump it so by rights it belonged to me now? or did it as a copula of weeks ago i was arrested for theft and whist there the police also mention theft by finding ? the guy found out by a third party about this and now claims i stole them but that's simply not true! the way i see it is he realised his mistake and now wants get it back by lying and hence trying to f**k up my life in the process. needless to say i did this work 6 months ago and got arrested 2 weeks ago any feed back legally or such would be great also how can it be theft by finding i didn't find it i was asked to dump it! that was part of the job

Public Comments

1. If you got notice in writing that indicates or shows your job was to clear and dump the rubbish then you're home free. The guy didn't want what was there and paid you to remove it. Once removed from his property it doesn't matter what you did with it (subject to proper disposal processes). As you present the story what you did is fine. If there's more to it then you may run into problems. Either way, get a lawyer.
2. I am not a police officer, but it sounds like that the person is trying to commit fraud by saying you stole it when he clearly told you you could dump anything you wanted to dump, and it would not surprise me if he'd been spying on you while you worked, so he would know when to call the police, and I have a hunch that is exactly what he did, so I'd make a point of mentioning that to the police, and let them look into that for you.
3. If the items sold were clearly not rubbish, they didn't belong to you because by law people are not considered to abandon valuable property. That's what the courts will claim. It was theft by finding in that they claim you should have turned it in.
4. I am not a Lawyer but I would of thought that as he stipulated for you to put some items in his house, which you did, and for you to dispose of the rest, this should be sufficient. The fact that some of the items proved to be of value makes no difference, as you did return the items he asked you to.
5. If the items were worth a bit then you should have told the owner. Sorry but I can see where he is coming from. UK
6. This sounds more of a misunderstanding than anything else. I do not wish to judge you, but maybe the pair of you (both you and your client) have been a little foolish. I'm not sure which side to take on this one. However, I'm putting myself in the old man's shoes for a minute. We only have your version of events for starters, and there's always 2 sides to every story. So in for instance, I tasked you to repair my old garage roof, that I have foolishly let go for some time through lack of funds, and maybe I'm getting on and don't get about too much these days. However, in the garage in a box hidden under all the crap was a small suitcase that contained my Dad's war medals, and my dearly departed Brothers collection of rare stamps, including a penny black worth thousands. It was only when my Son happened to ask about the forgotten items that I realised that I told you to bin the lot, and forgot all about that case under all the rubbish - to my horror. So, I'm not being funny mate, I don't know you, and I mean you no harm whatsoever, but you did the old 'finders keepers' trick the way I see it, and that's a bit wrong. I don't know the value or even what the items were that you took and sold, but maybe you should have double checked with your client before you helped yourself. It's just about common sense and being polite that's all. What ever, I hope it works out for you, and maybe you should come to some agreement with the chap, and maybe offer him some financial compensation out of court. That way, perhaps you get to keep a clean record, and he then doesn't feel wronged and drops any charges that could well be brought..
7. You got a verbal contract fight on your hand. Unfortunately what's not in your favor is that you look like the bad guy who made a profit off of someones hardship. The key is proving the transfer of possession from their into your hands. You need some sound legal advice.