A homeowner in England in the United Kingdom made an extraordinary discovery in their house months after moving in, uncovering a large sum of money and gold hidden behind a wall.
The incident was detailed in a post on Reddit shared by user u/Humble_Macaroon8055 in late October. The post, titled “Found a significant chunk of money and gold behind a wardrobe,” was shared in the r/LegalAdviceUK subreddit, and has since garnered 2,100 upvotes.
In the post, the homeowner explained that they moved in about seven months ago after buying it from a family who was “upsizing.” While redecorating, they decided to move some furniture—and that’s when they made the discovery.
“When I moved the wardrobe there was a safe behind it embedded into the wall. I opened it and it had about £40,000 [over $52,600] worth of notes, a lot of coins, and a small bit of gold,” the user wrote.
They added that some of the banknotes appeared to date back to 2015.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the families I bought it from,” they noted, adding that they were seeking legal advice: “I’m contacting a lawyer who specializes in housing tonight and seeing how that goes. This seems like a big deal that I don’t want to risk getting myself in trouble…”
Under Section 1 of the Theft Act 1968 in the U.K., “A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.”
That means even finding money does not necessarily make it yours. Back in 2017, a woman in England was convicted of theft after picking up a £20 note (around $26) that belonged to another person.
Lawyer Sean Joyce, managing partner at the U.K. law firm Stephensons, has previously explained that the act of taking found cash without attempting to locate its owner could constitute theft.
“Picking up cash found on the street… making no effort to establish who it might belong to or why it has been left there… and then keeping it, fulfils this definition and means that the finder may well be guilty of theft. The same applies to finding any property which might have been lost, accidentally left or misplaced by its owner,” Joyce wrote in an August 2022 blog post for the law firm.
He added that the correct course of action is to hand the money to police or otherwise make reasonable efforts to find the rightful owner.
Joyce said: “So in effect the law requires someone who finds property (including cash) to make enquiries as to who the owner is and then make efforts to return it to them where possible. The most obvious way of discharging this responsibility is to simply hand the cash in at a police station.”
Under U.K. law, any items that might be classified as “treasure”—such as gold or silver—must be reported to a local Finds Liaison Officer within 14 days of finding it or within “14 days of realizing an item might be treasure, even if you’ve had it for longer.”
“There’s an unlimited fine or up to three months in prison for not reporting treasure,” according to the U.K. government.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme notes that the local Finds Liaison Officer can help determine whether a find qualifies as treasure and report it to the coroner on your behalf.
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.
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