[Melias farm]

This evening I went to sort the feed that was delivered last month (I buy a month in front best I can).
Some charmer has slipped in and stolen the lot!
£400 worth of feed all gone.
Usually it would have been away but my horse bashed 2 5ft round bales over i on to it all. It was on a pallet and covered in a tarp so I thought fine.

I’m so angry and upset that someone has been on my land with my kids and me here alone!

My dogs went ballistic yesterday so I think that’s when it happened. There’s no way they stumbled on it by chance. It was buried deep in hay. It’s taken me weeks to get to the point I could dig it out.

[SallyintNorth]

That's awful, no wonder you need to rant!   

[Fleecewife]

Hello @Melias farm. you must feel sick with fury.  Have you reported it to the police?  It could be part of a string of thefts so even though you didn't see who did it, it might help towards finding the culprits.

[Melias farm]

Im making sure my father hasn’t moved it somewhere (he has the start of dementia). I’ve had a look last night. But, you can’t miss 12 bags of feed really.
Im confident dads not turned up at mine pinched feed and gone again (he he a cockapoo and a kitten. So organic ewe nuts won’t be a lot of use to him.
Im going to call them in the morning and knock on my neighbours door to tell them. Horrible really. I don’t care about the feed (ignoring the monitory value I couldn’t afford to loose) it’s the fact someone has been here while my kids and me were here. The fact they will have interacted with my
Animals.

Dogs will be loose from this morning and I’m hatching Chinese geese. See if anyone is so happy to walk amongst 6 dogs and a load of aggressive geese.
Wonder what else I can get (I have cameras that I bought off the previous owner. They haven’t given me access. I’ve contacted them and they are being less than helpful about giving me access to see who did this)

[SallyintNorth]

Wait, the previous owner has visibility of the camera recordings on your property (and you don't)?  That's bizarre and would make me very uncomfortable.

[Kiran]

This does sound dodgy to me. I had a similar situation here. Previous owner was supposed to give me the CCTV code for remote viewing. Kept dancing around the subject so I pulled the ethernet lead. I record locally to the hard disk only now

[Melias farm]

@Kiran i didn’t realise I could do that. I know what I’m doing this morning! Thank you

It is dodgy. It was a young couple that had the place as a livery yard. They split up. I kept my horses at the yard.
They’ve left thousands of pounds worth of their things here. The only contact I now have won’t talk to me to arrange the things being removed (they weren’t hers). So I’m stuck with their stuff I can’t get a definite answer too if I’m legally allowed to get shot of it all.
I’ve got pigs coming at the weekend. They have their boat stored in the paddock I wanted for the pigs.
I’ve been here since the end of September. They’ve had long enough

[Backinwellies]

vent away!

I would get a solicitor appointment (most will do a free intro session ) where you can find out legal position on stuff left behind.

Report loss to police (but also tell them about cameras.) and ask them about stuff left too (previous owners may think they can just arrive and take at any time ... which they cant!

[AnnS]

That’s a  horrible thing to happen. If you haven’t already done so change all the locks. I would be worried about the previous owner’s stuff going missing and being somehow held responsible.

[PipKelpy]

Nicking feed for livestock narks me! It ain't cheap!

Many many years ago, I did what I always used to do and took some sheep to dads for winter (he'd have the ewe lambs to keep friendly). I would leave him several bags of feed. One day, he phoned and asked if I had been and taken some without letting him know!

Charming! To start with to get to the sheep you have to go through 12ft steel gates and through a vehicle yard etc.

The next day, another bag of feed had disappeared. We assume that 25kg bags get heavy after a while as the remains of the bag was found top of a fence stuck right with corn eitherside. The culprits had left a trail too as it had been dry and their prints went off towards a neighbouring property!

Dad even knocked on their door and asked if "pilferers" had nabbed any of their feed for their pet sheep! Needless to say they were stunned BUT no more feed disappeared!

Dad doesn't get bags of feed off me now, he gets it neatly measured in tubs!

It's where I get MY paranoia from. We've had cctv since the 90's for lambing but even so, I'm one of those that KNOWS my shippon. I know where stuff is. If someone has been, I'll know, CCTV just proves it! We had a milkchurn nabbed and we waited patiently for the culprit to own up. It was a relative. He didn't think he'd have to ask, thought it was ok just to take.

[Kiran]

@Kiran i didn’t realise I could do that. I know what I’m doing this morning! Thank you

It is dodgy. It was a young couple that had the place as a livery yard. They split up. I kept my horses at the yard.
They’ve left thousands of pounds worth of their things here. The only contact I now have won’t talk to me to arrange the things being removed (they weren’t hers). So I’m stuck with their stuff I can’t get a definite answer too if I’m legally allowed to get shot of it all.
I’ve got pigs coming at the weekend. They have their boat stored in the paddock I wanted for the pigs.
I’ve been here since the end of September. They’ve had long enough

@Melias farm  When you buy a property they should be empty other than anything you have written into your sale to be left behind. Beyond that you are entitled to get any additional items disposed of at the vendors cost. Where this may slightly fall down is the time that has passed since you moved in.

I had a horse left in the field on the day we moved in. The owner said he needed a couple of days to get it moved to a new place, didnt see a huge issue with that. The couple of days turned into a couple of weeks and he was then asking if he could leave the horse there but he would pay for its vets bills etc. The horse only finally went after it charged my wife and friend. Not the horses fault, but not the point.

I ended up with shed of junk left, I still havent cleared it all 3 years later. Every now and again I end up with a skip full of scrap which pays for a skip full of rubbish so I do feel for you.

If you wanted to be kind to them you can offer them 7 days to collect all remaining items otherwise they will be sold to cover the cost of storage.

[doganjo]

When we bought our croft in 1994 the previous owner held a roup (disposal sale) and anything left over was included our purchase.  There's a clause in every contract to give you 'vacant possession - certainly in Scotland anyway

The legal position is as follows:

"Unless stated otherwise, the seller will be responsible for ensuring that all rubbish is removed from the property (including from the loft, garden, outbuildings, garages and shed), and that the property is left in a reasonably clean and tidy condition"

If the seller fails to meet with their responsibility then the buyer has a right to pursue the seller for the costs of removing the rubbish."
HTH

[Backinwellies]

on the subject of buying smallholding where 'stuff' could be left,  it is advisable to hold back say £5000 until said removal is done (within a stated timescale)  ..... all legally contracted ofcourse.   

  I know local people who got left with a flock of sheep who stayed for a month (agreed a week!)  ... ate all grass leaving incomers nothing to feed their stock .... and sheds 6 inches deep in muck which they had to pay to have removed (not mentioning the rest of left stuff!) . 

[sabrina]

Report to the police. I am also sure your neighbour cannot have CCTV watching your place.

[Melias farm]

Police weren’t interested in the feed (such a shocker!)
I had to drive 45 mins each way to get feed to tide everyone over and order more in. It’s as much the inconvenience of it all that’s such a pain.

I spoke to a solicitor about the things left. I have to pin a notice on them and say 14 days and I will be listing them on eBay.
It’s a catamaran and a wood burner the 2 big things. I’ve binned the rest as it was 6 boot fulls of general rubbish. I haven’t started on the burnt dog food tins. There must be over 1000 half hurried here!
I’ve bought this holding to sort it and sell it on in a few years time as a functional holding. Previous people showed me the state they bought it in and they definitely made a huge improvement. But, pretty much all bodged.
Electrics were bodged the lot. Hole in the roof covered so I could see it. I’m ticking through the list rather quickly I think. I’ve been here 5 months.

The things left had a notice out on it yesterday morning. I have text the previous owner. I’ve been told he’s changed his number. Nothing else I can do to be fairer I think.

I have pigs arriving Saturday and a flipping catamaran in their paddock that I can’t fence until it’s removed.

If anyone knows what a small catamaran is worth I’d be greatful. This is sooo out of my knowledge it’s unreal. Having a daughter that allergic to water we don’t go near the sea even though we live 5 mins from it