I had a laptop delivered to my house for the occupants of the house over the road from us. I have had it for over a month, but the gentleman who owns the house lives in london and hasn't been to the house since christmas. We have been unable to get hold of him and the delivery company said that they are unable to get in touch?
Where do we stand? How long before we can claim this to be ours?
how would you be able to claim it as yours? It isn't yours. If you had not agreed to "take it until the person came to collect it from you" then you might be in a different position but i presume you duid agree to hold it until the neighbour picked it up from your house. Whether that is 2 hours till he gets home from work, or 2 years, you didnt specify so i think you are stuck with it till he collects it
If you are trying to get an answer here to justify you stealing the laptop ....
Tell the company to collect it or drop it off at the local police station as lost property and tell them the tale.
It's not worth getting a criminal record for a laptop. What are they worth these days ? �200 to �1000
The fact that you signed for it means it was/is in your possession. When they come knocking at your door for it what can you say? I presume your neighbour has been invoiced for it so only a matter of time before he wonders where it is. In 20 years time I suppose it will forgotten about if your conscience can hold out that long.
You're thinking about a law which says you can keep something after a certain length of time if it has been delivered to you without you having requested it AND you have taken steps for it to be collected. This doesn't apply to something being delivered to another person which you happen to agree to take delivery on behalf of.
The law in relation to the retention of property only applies where there are 2 very important principles. the first being that you "found" the property and the second being that you do not know who ownes the property and you have taken "reasonable" steps to trace the owner. Non of which apply to your laptop question....unlucky but you are stuck with it.....you could always charge him storage fees for not collecting it within a reasonable time!!!! Drop a note through his door.....i dare you !!!! LOL
i dont have a clue about the law. if you really dont want to hold onto it, phone the delivery company, explain what you have done here, get a name, and ask them to send you a prepaid returns bag or something similar. then take it to the post office and return it, getting a proof of postage.