Stuff found/taken from your new house
Discussion
We bought out current house from a divorcing couple, who had split up after she'd discovered his hobbies included being in nasty Chinese porn.
He was noticeably absent during the purchase and could never be located to sign things etc.
When we moved in all that was left was plastic sheeting and several bags of lime.
Thinking about it the patio is very uneven.....
He was noticeably absent during the purchase and could never be located to sign things etc.
When we moved in all that was left was plastic sheeting and several bags of lime.
Thinking about it the patio is very uneven.....
Davey S2 said:
Family friends bought a very, very expensive house in Cheltenham off a member of the Saudi royal family years ago and he left all of his clothes. There were wardrobes full of almost new hand tailored robes and Saville Row Suits.
They spoke to his representative who just told them to give them all to charity.
Can I be nosey and ask where this was (roughly)?They spoke to his representative who just told them to give them all to charity.
I am from Cheltenham and am just interested. I have friends in some of the nice areas (Battledown, Sandy Lane Road, Charlton P Gate etc.), but can't remember hearing about any Saudi Royals? (I am just ineterested not saying its not true).
I seem to recall a "11 HRH" numberplate in the Benhall area that was given to the owner by a Saudi Royal friend so may have been the same people.
Our house was owned by an old couple who passed away and then it was tenanted by some really scruffy people , you wiped your feet on the way out so as not to take dirt outside.
Anyway we stripped the house top to bottom, replaced absolutely everything, extended out the back etc.
It was when I was stripping out the master bedroom ensuite bathroom that I found the secret compartment hidden inside the cupboard that was built over the stairs. The compartment was really well engineered, and invisible unless you actually climbed into the cupboard.
The secret compartment was constructed so that you had to release the catches and the compartment then dropped down from above the cupboard door. This meant that the solid back of the compartment faced you, but its open side faced the bathroom so that to get access you had to reach from underneath the compartment and search with your hand unseen for the, no doubt, valuable contents.
"Somebody has gone to a great deal of thought and effort to build this secret hiding place" I thought to myself, and started imagining the bundles of cash I was going to pull out of the hiding place. My excitement mounted, car buying plans started to form in my mind.
My hands started blindly searching the hidey hole.......at last I feel an object, something of such value and so precious to the owner that he built a secret safe and took the secret of its existence to his grave.
So well hid the previous tenants hadn't found the treasure.
Have you ever grabbed hold of some dead bloke's false teeth...........?
Cheers,
Tony
Anyway we stripped the house top to bottom, replaced absolutely everything, extended out the back etc.
It was when I was stripping out the master bedroom ensuite bathroom that I found the secret compartment hidden inside the cupboard that was built over the stairs. The compartment was really well engineered, and invisible unless you actually climbed into the cupboard.
The secret compartment was constructed so that you had to release the catches and the compartment then dropped down from above the cupboard door. This meant that the solid back of the compartment faced you, but its open side faced the bathroom so that to get access you had to reach from underneath the compartment and search with your hand unseen for the, no doubt, valuable contents.
"Somebody has gone to a great deal of thought and effort to build this secret hiding place" I thought to myself, and started imagining the bundles of cash I was going to pull out of the hiding place. My excitement mounted, car buying plans started to form in my mind.
My hands started blindly searching the hidey hole.......at last I feel an object, something of such value and so precious to the owner that he built a secret safe and took the secret of its existence to his grave.
So well hid the previous tenants hadn't found the treasure.
Have you ever grabbed hold of some dead bloke's false teeth...........?
Cheers,
Tony
Just picked up the keys to my new place.
Found a Westwood T1200 in one shed, an original G D Rowlandson painting in another, and one of the stables is still locked.
I'm hoping for a 250 California or would settle for an old 911.
Various antique bits of furniture in the house; too big and heavy to get moved I suppose. Looking forward to getting up in the loft.
Found a Westwood T1200 in one shed, an original G D Rowlandson painting in another, and one of the stables is still locked.
I'm hoping for a 250 California or would settle for an old 911.
Various antique bits of furniture in the house; too big and heavy to get moved I suppose. Looking forward to getting up in the loft.
Harry Flashman said:
- Aston Martin V8 Oscar India, P reg. Dad had this car for many years after, used to pick me up from school in it. Eventually, Mr Khan came looking for it, and we returned it. Shame - they're worth a bit today...
I hope your old man charged him storage and mantenance! 
As substantial haul of 60's 70's and 80's porn in a house I bought a couple of years ago, it was in the loft, garage, hidden in the porch ceiling and under floorboards, there's probably stuff still there hidden behind walls. The skip driver was like a kid in sweet shop when he seen it, he stashed loads of it in his cab.
Half of a Grand Prix motorcycle brake assembly (Laverda) in the roof space of the shed (old stable).
Ceriani
Tried advertising it on a Laverda forum but no takers sadly.
A previous owner some fifteen years before my vendor dies and her estate sold the house, had been a Model T enthusiast and dealer so I assume it was his. He had died too, and left a set of Model T magazines in the garage.
The executors nicked a pair of really nice mirrors from the bathroom despite showing them on the agent's web page.
Ceriani
Tried advertising it on a Laverda forum but no takers sadly.
A previous owner some fifteen years before my vendor dies and her estate sold the house, had been a Model T enthusiast and dealer so I assume it was his. He had died too, and left a set of Model T magazines in the garage.
The executors nicked a pair of really nice mirrors from the bathroom despite showing them on the agent's web page.
We bought my girlfriends late grandfather's house, which the MIL had grown up in, so despite the in laws having cleared out a lot of stuff there were still rooms full of stuff that "couldn't be thrown out", but wasn't important enough for them to actually take home.
It has taken us the best part of two years to get to the point where all of the stuff we don't want to keep has gone.
It has taken us the best part of two years to get to the point where all of the stuff we don't want to keep has gone.
Previous owners pretty much gutted the place, took all the light bulbs (apart from one on the landing), light fittings off the walls, hooks off the back of doors (so now nice wooden doors with raw plugs in them) loo roll holder, even took the light pull out of the bathroom.
Really anything that could be unscrewed, taken apart and removed they took it.
Really anything that could be unscrewed, taken apart and removed they took it.
First house I bought she'd left 20+ bin bags of rubbish, old appliances and broken kids toys plus the heating had broken and she hadn't fixed it as I was refurbing it and it was a rising market I let it pass.
Second house I bought from a deceased estate "as is" the family had ransacked it but they missed money taped to the back of a mirror and a coin collection in the garage which included a gold sovereign. They also left an old car on the drive which I managed to sell.
Third house, deceased estate again - they cleared everything and burnt most of it in the garden - thanks for that. However on checking the sheds they'd left me two big air compressors which as I was looking to buy one, was a nice surprise. They also left the expensive wooden garden furniture - I presume they intended to take them but ran out of space / time.
Second house I bought from a deceased estate "as is" the family had ransacked it but they missed money taped to the back of a mirror and a coin collection in the garage which included a gold sovereign. They also left an old car on the drive which I managed to sell.
Third house, deceased estate again - they cleared everything and burnt most of it in the garden - thanks for that. However on checking the sheds they'd left me two big air compressors which as I was looking to buy one, was a nice surprise. They also left the expensive wooden garden furniture - I presume they intended to take them but ran out of space / time.
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