Visitors from the past and their rights.

[Racerbear02]

I just had a very strange visit today from a lady who was the mother of a former owner of my property.

Her son and his family lived at our place until about 8 years ago when he was killed in a farming accident, his widow sold the property and land to a local farmer who subsequently sold the farm buildings to me after they had been unoccupied for some 6 years.

This lady arrived today and announced that she wanted back some of the property that was left in the house by her daughter-in-law when she left, an old oil painting done by her sister and some 'antique' furniture which was in the barn.

The painting is a reasonable copy of a Rembrandt and the furniture is such rubbish that it was only lack of time and the availability of easier kindling that had prevented it from forming a part of our winter heating.

When I bought the house, the farmer, who is a good friend now, had told me that I was buying everything in the property at the time, I did specifically ask this as I had heard tales of houses being gutted after viewing and prior to sale.

The lady claims that she had told the farmer I bought from that the items were merely being left until they had time to collect them.

The items were not specifically listed in the sales papers when I bought the property.

Anyone got any idea where I stand under French law? My initial reaction is to tell her to go away, the furniture is rubbish as I said, but I quite like the painting although I doubt it has any commercial value.

Anyone had any similar experiences?

[Val_2]

To be honest I think I would let her have the items if they were of no use to me. Just check on the painting though if you know any art galleries or antique dealers nearby as it has been known for people to know where there is a valuable piece and try and get it back by telling porkies about it's origin (learned that from watching Lovejoy) Otherwise think of it as someone taking some rubbish away that you would only have to get rid of and there might be a load of woodworm lurking in it ready to infest your place. I always understood too, that in France if anything is left in the property after the sale it belongs to the new owner,however laws do change.

[Colombier]

When we bought our house the vendor (who was in the U.K. at the time)was very slow at arranging removal of her furniture and we doubted that she would ever get it sorted so the notaire told her that she MUST remove everything she wanted prior to the final signing. When we came to sign, he reiterated this saying that once we had all signed everything in the house would belong to us; (this was July 2003).

I agree with Val_2, if the furniture is of no use to you, you could offer it to her as a good will gesture. I would give your notaire a call first and see what he says. I expect he will say that they are your property which you can dispose of how you like.

BTW, my vendor is still in contact with us and regularly talks about the house as if it was still hers. As she lived here for over 30 years I think it's understandable and will take a while for her to acknowledge that she doesn't own it anymore and is not entitled to have a say in changes we make. I don't mind really but was grateful when she visited with a friend recently and was talking about her land, the friend pointed out that it was not her land anymore and she should let "these young people" do what they want with their property.

Hope you sort it out.

[Pucette<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>Pucette<FONT><P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt">"Qui ne connaît pas la campagne lhiver, ne connaît pas la campagne et ne connaît pas]

Everything in the house and on the property when you purchased is yours unless you signed something that states otherwise.