Gratuitous Bailment

[NOCAB]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could help.

I have a problem in that my brother is the administrator of my fathers Will, and as a result (and due to a family feud) has amongst other things, denied me access to my parents property to retrieve my own personal belongings.

I have made a request on 5 separate occasions to the appointed solicitors but am being ignored and am concerned that some valuable items in the house that belong to me have gone missing as they have not been included in the inventory and the inventory itself is inaccurate.

Alongside this issue there are also storage areas under the house where the rest and larger majority of my belongings were also stored (4 bedroomed house worth), following a rather unfortunate accident forcing me to rent out my property for a number of years and my parents kindly allowing me to store my belongings at their house. These storage areas were locked, but when I came to start removing items readying the house for sale (on request from the solicitors) it became clear my brother had removed the locks and items were now missing. There was a considerable time delay (approx 2 months) between my brothers appointment as administrator and me being able to make time to start clearing my property, and despite advising him via his solicitor that these areas were now unlocked, they remained unlocked for quite some time afterwards as well.

I did keep a full inventory prior to storing these items so I do have a reference point.

Equally items have also been damaged due to my brother having the patio power washed to help with the house sale. What he didn't take into account was that he needed to lay sand bags by the storage doors or water would and did flood into the basement and has subsequently wrecked some of my belongings.

I believe as the estate administrator he has some if not full responsibility for resolving these issues under his obligation as Bailee re 'Gratuitous Bailment'

Any help would be much appreciated

[R0b]

Hello

So to confirm, your brother is the executor of the will and the solicitors are appointed to market and sell the house only? If the solicitors are acting as representatives to sell the house only, then on the face of it, I don't think they would have any liability here and you should be communicating with your brother directly.

Who produced the inventory that you are suggesting is inaccurate, the solicitors or your brother or someone else?

If your brother is the executor of the will then yes he would have a duty under common law bailment. He would likely be classified as an involuntary bailee because the goods would have come into his hands without his consent as a result of becoming the executor but has actual knowledge of those goods.

As an involuntary bailee, he has a duty to take reasonable care of the goods until they have been returned to you. There are two points to consider here, the first being damage to the goods due to the cleaning of the patio and the second, is his potential liability for failing to allow you to collect your goods.

Damage to the goods
As I mentioned above, there is a general duty to take reasonable care of the goods whilst they are in his possession. If you are able to prove that the damage to the goods were as a result of the flooding of the basement, then he would be liable. Depending on the circumstances, this might be the cost of repair, replacement or reduction in value.

Refusal to allow you access / missing goods
The starting point for any claim for breach of duty as a bailee is for you to demand the return of the goods. If he ignores that then you could have two avenues to go down. The refusal or goods which are no longer there will be considered as the wrongful interference with goods which falls into two categories generally: trespass to goods and conversion.

Trespass to goods is the less serious of the two and involves the deliberate interference with your goods and is usually associated with minor interference such as scratching a car or touching a pen or book or painting without your consent.

Conversion however, is where a person misappropriates your goods with the intention of depriving you of its use and possession. Conversion is a strict liability which means you simply have to show that the goods have been misappropriated resulting in your deprivation. There is no excuse for the bailee to say that he did not know the law or general ignorance of your rights. There are various examples of conversion but from what you have said it is not clear which one applies, though it could be for example conversion by:

- taking possession
- destruction
- transfer to another
- loss
- detention

Your brother's refusal to hand the goods back will fall under the conversion by detention category but if that is simply a front because he has sold or took possession or lost the goods, then those actions would apply instead.

The starting point for these types of claims will usually be the market value at the time the offence took place. Alternatively, if it is possible to do so, the court may make an order to deliver up the goods in question but otherwise damages will be the only available remedy. Where damages are awarded, that will effectively extinguish your title to the goods.

[NOCAB]

Hello

Hopefully some more info

My brother has appointed the solicitors to manage probate.

The inventory was produced by the solicitors but I am not sure who actually provided the info, but it has quite a few items missing from it including all of my property.

My brother is the administrator. He wasn't named as the executor in the Will but applied via letters of admin and has obtained a grant.


I have taken photos and advised him and the solicitors but they are stating he is not responsible as none of my property forms any part of the estate.

I have made an access request 5 times now with the final option being for all identified items to be place in the garage which I do have access to. The house was cleared this weekend and I have not found any of the items which were in the house that belong to me in the garage so can only assume he has moved or taken these

- taking possession - this seems to apply as the house has been emptied aside from some furniture for display purposes
- destruction - water damage has effectively destroyed some items, and I do not know what he has done with the other items
- transfer to another - again I am not sure
- loss
- detention

What evidence do I need to provide to contest as I do have some receipts and photos and took an inventory when I stored these items but I am sure they will say 'prove it'

If I have to accept a monetary value then so be it although I would prefer the items back.

Hopefully this provides some more context.

Do I need to appoint a solictor to assist, or can the matter be challenged via the small claims courts. I would estimate damage and missing items to be worth in the region of £10,000 as a ball park.

Kind regards,

Robert

[R0b]

Hi Robert,

Can you edit your post and only keep your response rather than copy and paste everything I have said in my previous post, I'm struggling to work out which is your response to what I have said.

[NOCAB]

Hi Robert,

Can you edit your post and only keep your response rather than copy and paste everything I have said in my previous post, I'm struggling to work out which is your response to what I have said.

I have edited out your own points sorry