Advice on loan horse (agreement)

[Fame]

Can any legal people give me some advice for a friend? She has had a horse on loan for about five years with no contact/ visits from the owners for the last three. The owners have moved at least twice in that time without giving their new address and changed their phone numbers. They have now moved abroad without telling my friend or checking she is happy to keep the horse with them no longer around. Would she be able to class the horse as abandoned and claim ownership or change the passport into her name? She has been told that for entry into some shows the passport must have up to date ownership details and this is obviously difficult when she has no way of contacting the 'owners'

 

[SusieT]

She must know some way to contact them if she knows they have moved abroad? I'd get in touch and ask them what their intentions are. There is no issue with the up to date passport - its simple. They are still the owners at the moment so the detials re up to date...

 

[GirlFriday]

Yup - she'll almost certainly be able to find them through whoever told her they had moved/facebook/etc

If she wants to buy the horse she can offer to do so; of she wants to return it they will have to make arrangements for someone to receive it. No way is it abandoned - it is 'on loan' the same as with the owners living where they used to!

 

[Shay]

Of course she can't. The physical location of the owner is not relevant. The horse is on loan. The passport has the owner's details and so is up to date for show purposes.

 

[ycbm]

Of course she can't. The physical location of the owner is not relevant. The horse is on loan. The passport has the owner's details and so is up to date for show purposes.

Why not?

The owners have not made any attempt to keep in contact with the loanee for three years through multiple changes of address and phone number. The loanee should not have to have to become a detective and seek out where the people who loaned her the horse are. From what I read, the horse has clearly been abandoned to her care.

Fame I would tell your friend to join the BHS and ask the legal hotline if she can issue an abandonment notice and take ownership of the horse.

 

[Spiritedly]

I don't know the legality of abandonment but as far as owners details on the passport go I know I had a transport question my horses passport details as the owners address was not up to date .....I had moved but not updated the passport....and I was told that I would need to update it before I could travel them again as the details on the passport were no longer correct. So in that respect the op's passport does not have the correct owners details?

 

[chestnut cob]

Her loan contract should contain a clause about abandonment. That will clarify things.
She really should see a solicitor,.that's the only way to get things sorted once and for all.

 

[Cecile]

As there is no contract in place, I would do 2 things
Contact the BHS legal helpline just for some info on how best to proceed and try my best to track down the owners
for a discussion

 

[JillA]

You can't claim abandonment until you have gone through various stages, including posting notices. But TBH what is the likelihood of the owners coming back and claiming the horse, and what difference would it make anyway? The show organisers are out of line, passport are not and never have been proof of ownership.
In her place I would send the passport in to have it changed into her name. Most will serve notice on the address recorded in it and if there is no response, the change will proceed. Job done!

 

[BeckyFlowers]

This is a similar situation to the one I'm in. I contacted an equine specialist solicitor about two years ago for some basic advice and she told me that I need to serve the owners with an abandonment notice and if they don't respond in a reasonable amount of time only then can the horse be classed as abandoned property. Obvs that is difficult if you don't have a current address for them, I suppose you just have to show that you have made reasonable attempts to contact them and maybe send a recorded signed-for letter to the last known address. I would advise you to get in touch with an equine specialist solicitor for a bit of free advice.

 

[LaurenBay]

To be honest it doesn't sound like they want or care about the Horse, but your friend still has to be careful.

How did she know they had moved abroad? have she got their facebook or anything? or any email address?

I would just offer to buy the Horse.

 

[Cecile]

I would imagine if your friend manages to find the owner/s they may possibly sign the horse over after all this time, most people I know who loan out horses just don't really need the money and find it too hard to wonder where they may end up if they sell them....... Your friend has had this horse for a long time so has proved its not a 5 minute wonder for a free horse/not really likely it will be sold on for some quick money, so really worth tracking them down

Slightly off topic but may be useful, I was recently an Executor of a will, one of the people named in the will to receive some money hadn't been heard of for years, no DOB, address, surname or even the country she lived in
When I went along to the solicitor obviously this was one of my questions: What if I can't find her? (I had nothing to go on to find her) this is what he said, I must prove and make every effort to locate her, if I tried everything and still no luck, I would then go back to court clearly showing how much I tried (In this case, not the one you talk of I would of hired someone to try find her as no way was I going to spend 2 years searching for someone and then trot off to court to prove it)

Long story short I did find her living abroad but the fact is if I hadn't found her to safeguard myself I would of had to prove I indeed tried everything to locate her, so I think its a good idea to be able to prove your friend has tried everything to locate the owner, copies of letters to old address, emails to old email address, anything really even an advert in a paper or any messages left on various social media sights

As I say I really would imagine the owner/s will happily sign the horse over if she can locate them, which would make your friends life very easy regarding passport, microchip and peace of mind