Gaming PC missing from locked attic in rented-out property — what should I do?
I’ve been renting out my property for the past two years while working abroad.
My first tenants didn’t work out and moved out after around eight months. One half of the couple had some mental health issues, and following advice from our estate agent, we released them from their two-year contract early.
When they left, the house was in a poor state. We kept their deposit, but that only covered roughly a third of the damage. They didn’t challenge it, and we decided not to chase them for the rest — just chalked it up to a bad experience.
Fast forward a year, and we now have two really good tenants who are looking after the place very well.
Here’s the issue: we left a number of our possessions in the attic. All tenants were made aware that the attic was out of bounds, and there is a padlock in place to stop access.
On my first return to the house, I went into the attic to retrieve my gaming PC, worth around £2,000, only to find the box completely empty.
So my question is: what do I do now?
I don’t want to unfairly accuse the current tenants, especially as they’ve been great, but the PC has clearly gone missing from a supposedly locked and off-limits area.
Has anyone dealt with anything like this before? Should I contact the estate agent, police, insurance, previous tenants, current tenants — or all of the above? No, I do not have contents insurance.. 😭