Think I bought a stolen frame... need advice...

blablablacksheep

diy wrote:

Sorry but that is not correct. It may be how plod sees its from his criminal law angle, but when you buy something you enter in to a contract for them to supply and you to pay. If they supply something that is stolen no matter how much of a victim they may also be, they are liable to you for the contract. You cannot sell something you don't own. Slam dunk in any county court, happens on a daily basis. It is for them to pursue the person they bought it from for their damages and so on, either until the trail goes cold or there is no money to be had.

Most law firms will even do fixed price recovery, subject to a credit check of the seller. If the value is less than 5k its even easier to do yourself.

sadly the law doesnt see it that way :?

By selling something person to person there is no actual contract purely verbal and proving it is as you can imagine near impossible unless you record it...and who records.

Point is, morally it is wrong but reality isnt about right and wrong sadly....the only way to claim is if you bought for again a nicked Caravan without knowing with your credit card then your covered, but buying in cash which is how most deals are done you not covered.

MountainMonster

diy wrote:

Sorry but that is not correct. It may be how plod sees its from his criminal law angle, but when you buy something you enter in to a contract for them to supply and you to pay. If they supply something that is stolen no matter how much of a victim they may also be, they are liable to you for the contract. You cannot sell something you don't own. Slam dunk in any county court, happens on a daily basis. It is for them to pursue the person they bought it from for their damages and so on, either until the trail goes cold or there is no money to be had.

Most law firms will even do fixed price recovery, subject to a credit check of the seller. If the value is less than 5k its even easier to do yourself.

But certainly when dealing with laws, what matters most is what the plod say, and how they view it

mat-ster

Sorry to be a "stick in the mud" but personally I could not "own" something I suspected as stolen....

Lets face it - car boot sale, unable to trace original seller, serial number missing = dodgy at best, very likely stolen.

I would go to the Police station and hand it in, as suggested above....

I would feel very strage riding around on a bike that I did not know the history of ..

diy

blablablacksheepI think you mean oral as in one said not written. All you need is a bill of sale, receipt, cheque, advert etc. To show on the balance of probability that A sold X to B and that B did not believe it was stolen. Most normal people find it very hard to lie in front of a county court judge.

Asking for a receipt when you buy second hand goods, or even getting the seller to sign a bill of sale is a precaution that costs nothing.

But certainly when dealing with laws, what matters most is what the plod say, and how they view it

All Plod are interested in is the criminal aspect of the case, who stole what, who bought what and if they could reasonably know it was stolen. They will not care about your civil claim for damages under a contract. Its certainly not their job to help one "victim" pursue a claim against another "victim".

For something like a bike of say under £2000, the easiest way would be to use http://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk for breach of contract.

Also worth noting that if you buy stolen property you deprive the original owner of the benefit of that property and are potentially exposed to them under the general tort of conversion. Its very common with cars, where the "innocent" buyer not only loses the car, but gets sued by the original owner (normally an insurance recovery firm) for the benefit that the owner did not have while the car was in the others possession.