Manfred-Klose
ok so last year august, someone brought me their amp to fix, as i could not get the parts locally and needed to import them, i phoned the guy and told him to take it to another tech, which i know has the parts, to have it fixed.
so i dont hold up the guy too long.
so the amp is still standing here, i phoned him about 3 times in the last couple of months to come and collect his amp.
so does something become your property if no one collects in 6 months?
AlanRatcliffe
Legally you have to post a classified ad saying that if the item(s) are not collected by X date, then they will be sold to defray expenses. When that date expires, it's yours to do with what you want.
I had half a dozen uncollected guitars that I sold to Cash Converters when I stopped repairing. A year later an owner swore out a charge of theft against me for a guitar he had left with me for two years without collecting. I gave the police the details of the ad and when it was posted and they went away happy.
Riaan-Combrink
Be careful of this. I think Alan's advice is solid, and should please most reasonable cops, etc.
May have been different if it ended up in a court. From a pure legal perspective, you can only acquire 'ownership' of another's property through acquisitive prescription. This happens if you use the item as if its your own for three years or longer; ie you hold out to the outside world that you are the owner, and the owner does nothing to assert his right for the three year period. This will mostly be inapplicable in the workship scenario, because the repairer doesn't act with this intention (ie as would-be-owner).
The selling to defray expenses thing is also complex. If you've repaired someone else's property, you've increased its value. You have the right to hold the item until you've been paid. Its called a common law lien. It gets technical from there, but if you sell it to defray expenses, thats exactly that - expenses. So the cost of the repair and whatever is reasonable storage in the particular trade. Not the full value of the item! Simple example - you do a R500 repair on a vintage guitar that is sold for a R 100 000. How have you defrayed your 'expenses'? By law, the profit accrues to the owner.
On a practical level, many repairers sell to defray and keep the full sale - but legally because in almost every case they have a contract (or quote/invoice term) in place that provides for that. If customer signed a slip that includes such a provision, sell it. Its legal. If not, you gonna have to rely on proving an implied term in a verbal contract if ever disputed - and that's tough.
So if I was doing repairs, I'd draw up a little sheet/form that includes the price for labour, etc - and include that uncollected repairs will be sold after 60 days to defray etc. Customer signs your copy, and your fine. To be 100% legal, you should include a place for customer to provide a contact address (domicilium citandi) - and then you send a registered letter there (as opposed to ad in newspaper). On day 60, eg, you send registered letter. No response, sell.
