Stuff left behind by previous occupier - who legally owns it?

That’s died back has it @billybutcher ? I mentioned it because I saw some Brits doing that sort of thing recently but I can well believe it’s more difficult now… (Good old Brexit)

Lots of reports in UK media that it’s just about stopped - it’s a nightmare to deal with VAT and duty and it takes away all the profit.

That makes sense, I suppose… I had a friend who was an antique dealer and used to make regular trips across. She’s no longer with us, so it won’t affect her, but must have caused a lot of people to change their business model if that is so!

You take something that is past its best, or maybe just no longer fashionable, paint it, then distress it. Shabby chic - because the view is that’s how the French live! Look at old shutters and you’ll see how many of them need a good lick of paint. I suspect your mother would be horrified!
I googled shabby chic and came up with this one as an example…

They’re all at it now. Fender will sell you this Strat, messed up as seen, for a good deal more money that the same thing as new.
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David Gilmore’s ‘Black Strat’ sold for just over US$3m. It too has been turned into a Ltd edition replica, warts 'n all. But this guitar is like the woodsman’s axe.

" 'ad it man and boy 50 year now. 'ad 3 new 'andles 'n 7 new 'eads. Good old axe, mine".

There is no part of that guitar apart for one or two insignificant bits of hardware that has not been swapped out several time, including the neck, the pickups, the frets, the tuners … the guitar, essentially, has been rebuilt several times.

And someone paid US$3m for it.

E. Clapton’s ‘Blackie’ sold for just under US$2m. It went under the microscope and every scratch and scrape was faithfully reproduced on a run of 100. Even the cigarette burn on the headstock between low E and the nut, where guitarists who smoke tend to stuff their fags, was replicated.

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People are suckers for this stuff

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We had that added as a requirement when we signed the compromis, as when we viewed the place the barn and outbuilding where stuffed to the eaves. The owners (who are now friends) took this literally and there wasn’t so much as a chunk of wood, am elastic band or a bit of string left. Which would have come in handy!

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Have I missed the boat, then? Signed 10 days ago. Although I did discuss the issue with the agent and ask her to talk to the sellers about moving stuff out.

My position is a bit wooly.

I want everything out unless it’s something I want to buy but only if I agree the price, otherwise that has to go, too. :thinking:

That would horrify most people I know for whom chic is chic and shabby is not. Your lovely original Louis xv tambour table will not be prettier because there’s a bit of marquetry missing :grin:

Shabby chic is not the same! Broken and damaged goods do not make shabby chic. It relates more to having an eclectic mix of quality styles, so Louis IV on a kelim carpet because something that links the two - colour, pattern, etc. Throwing things together tends to equal a mess!

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