Norton 500 sitting at the property we just bought.
Discussion
We have recently moved home to a rural location with some land. Several outbuildings included, some in pretty poor shape. Along with an abandoned 1972 VW Beetle completely surrounded in blackberry bushes we have found a Norton 500 single sitting in a concrete byre under a cover which clearly hasn't been removed for a very, very long time. We contacted the estate agent and the property has been sat idle and un lived-in since 2009. The last known owner moved abroad and cannot be contacted.
Anyone know the legal position as to whether i can restore the bike and car and keep them? If nothing else the Norton is worth plenty in spares alone i would think, although not my kind of bike at all i have to say. Engine actually turns over, incredibly. I assumed it would be seized up by now. (Starting the thing will be a whole new game mind you!) The Beetle is literally surrounded by bushes but the car looks in very good order considering it's been outdoors for a decade and more.
Is it finders keepers as they say? Is possession nine-tenths of the law as they also say?
Anyone know the legal position as to whether i can restore the bike and car and keep them? If nothing else the Norton is worth plenty in spares alone i would think, although not my kind of bike at all i have to say. Engine actually turns over, incredibly. I assumed it would be seized up by now. (Starting the thing will be a whole new game mind you!) The Beetle is literally surrounded by bushes but the car looks in very good order considering it's been outdoors for a decade and more.
Is it finders keepers as they say? Is possession nine-tenths of the law as they also say?
I believe that if you buy a house, you buy everything in/on the property. The converse of this is that this is why you have to clear it out before a sale and not leave junk behind. I guess it partly depends on what your purchase contract says.
Surely your solicitor/conveyancer can confirm or deny this? I suspect the vehicles are now yours.
Surely your solicitor/conveyancer can confirm or deny this? I suspect the vehicles are now yours.
Presumably the proceeds of the sale were transferred to someone, even if a solicitor acting on the vendor’s behalf.
That is who you need to contact.
You might get lucky - 40-odd years ago, some friends of my parents bought a large country house from the estate of its last owner. When the completed on the sale and moved in, they found that about £50k worth (at mid-seventies prices) of art and Persian carpets had been left behind. When they contacted the executors of the estate who had sold the house, they were airily told “oh, they go with the house!”
That is who you need to contact.
You might get lucky - 40-odd years ago, some friends of my parents bought a large country house from the estate of its last owner. When the completed on the sale and moved in, they found that about £50k worth (at mid-seventies prices) of art and Persian carpets had been left behind. When they contacted the executors of the estate who had sold the house, they were airily told “oh, they go with the house!”
There has been no effort made to clear anything. For example a team of 3 gardeners did 14 hours of work yesterday and they will be back all this week and some of next, such is the state of the bushes, grass, trees and weeds.
The loft, now empty, had a vast collection of vases and books and photos and child's toys and even 2 1950s cash registers! This will take a long time to sort and get tidy, but the land that came with the house was too cheap to turn down.
I will ask srob about getting the Norton going, but i'm guessing it will need a professional rebuild on the engine. The VW is pretty good.
The loft, now empty, had a vast collection of vases and books and photos and child's toys and even 2 1950s cash registers! This will take a long time to sort and get tidy, but the land that came with the house was too cheap to turn down.
I will ask srob about getting the Norton going, but i'm guessing it will need a professional rebuild on the engine. The VW is pretty good.
ClaphamGT3 said:
You might get lucky - 40-odd years ago, some friends of my parents bought a large country house from the estate of its last owner. When the completed on the sale and moved in, they found that about £50k worth (at mid-seventies prices) of art and Persian carpets had been left behind. When they contacted the executors of the estate who had sold the house, they were airily told “oh, they go with the house!”
I have a similar story; my parents purchased a large property back in the late 80's and there were a number of items there upon viewing that were clearly valuable but were due to be removed before sale. The sale completed and my parents found the items all still there. I can't remember the detail but my parents put them into secure storage and contacted the solicitors who eventually came back with the answer that they were included in the sale of the house. The vendor was a well known sports personality and the items themselves were of not insignificant value (around 20% of the purchase price), although none of them had registered ownership in the way a car or motorbike does. I hope your experience is similar. A Norton 500 is a nice thing to stumble upon ownership of!
)Sounds interesting!
No idea about the legal side of it, but do you know what era the Norton is? No idea how much you know about them (so apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs!) but it'll be either a side valve (16H), an overhead valve (Model 18 or ES2) or if you're very lucky an overhead cam (CS1, International or Manx). Their value escalates in about that order too assuming it's 'classic'. If it's really early (ie pre-1930) then the overhead valve ones are very desirable.
As for getting it going, if it's not seized it must've been relatively well put away. Would need a good clean, drain the oil and put fresh in and see if it's got a spark (may be unlikely), new fuel and see what happens. If it starts, just make sure the oil's returning to the tank!
No idea about the legal side of it, but do you know what era the Norton is? No idea how much you know about them (so apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs!) but it'll be either a side valve (16H), an overhead valve (Model 18 or ES2) or if you're very lucky an overhead cam (CS1, International or Manx). Their value escalates in about that order too assuming it's 'classic'. If it's really early (ie pre-1930) then the overhead valve ones are very desirable.
As for getting it going, if it's not seized it must've been relatively well put away. Would need a good clean, drain the oil and put fresh in and see if it's got a spark (may be unlikely), new fuel and see what happens. If it starts, just make sure the oil's returning to the tank!
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