New researchby landlord insurer Direct Line for Business reveals that 30% of people who have rented a property in the last five years think it is acceptable to take items that don’t belong to them when they move out.

Some of the more popular things tenants have removed from their rental properties have included fridges, freezers, light fittings, televisions and sinks.

Some of the reasons for taking items from rented properties included believing that the landlord wouldn’t notice that the item was missing, taking items by accident and forgetting that the item was not theirs. However, the most common excuse – given by more than a fifth of respondents who admitted that they had stolen items – was simply that they wanted to take the items.

The cost to the landlord of replacing these items adds up, with tenants estimating that the overall value of items they had taken from a property stands at over £500.

Nick Breton, head of Direct Line for Business, said: “The range of items that tenants feel that they can take with them when vacating a property is quite amazing. It isn’t even just small items that go missing; our research found that renters are helping themselves to beds, sofas and cupboards once their tenancy agreement comes to an end. These are expensive to replace and could have a knock-on effect for future tenants of that property. Plus a tenant could find that they lose their deposit.”