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We made a real mistake not having renter's insurance. My husband and I were the victims of a fraud that we had never heard of before. My husband's company sent him overseas to manage their European office, so we decided to rent out our house in Ohio while we were away. We cleared out all our personal things and left our good furniture, drapes, kitchenware and so on, rather than pay storage. We were also careful to ensure that our mail was redirected (which turned out to be a good thing). A property-letting agency managed our home while we were away. We had to draw up an inventory of all the items we were leaving in the house so that, when the renters vacated, the agency could check the furniture and fittings against it. The cost of any damaged or missing items would then be claimed against the deposit. We thought this was a secure way of protecting our property and we never thought any more about it.

After our first renters of one year bought a home of their own, our property was empty for four months as the rental market had slowed down. The letting agent asked if we would consider a short let of one month for an out-of-state couple who wanted somewhere to stay while they were looking for a home of their own. We didn't really want such a short let, but we still had the mortgage to pay, so, why not?

The couple seemed respectable, according to the agency, and the end of the month, the agency checked the furniture and fittings, against the inventory we had agreed, and everything seemed in order. The renter's deposit was returned and they left. The house was empty again. A month later, the agency emailed us to say they were having problems letting it and suggested that the property was looking rather neglected and needed some work to make it more appealing. My husband was surprised at this and decided he needed to fly in and visit the house. He thought he had walked into the wrong house! He was shocked to discover that, yes, the inventory had been correct, everything tallied with what was on the sheet, but this wasn't our furniture!

They had taken our stuff and replaced it. Gone were our drapes, carpets, rugs, light fittings, refrigerator, oven, microwave and solid pieces of furniture, replaced by junk. There had been a changeover of personnel at the agency and they only had the inventory to go on. We could prove some of what had been in the house, as we still had the receipts and delivery notes, but without renter's insurance, there was no way we could make a claim. Added to which, we had to pay for all that junk to be taken away and then refurnish the house so it could be let again.

The police were involved, but these low lifes had used false ID and credit cards, stolen from their previous short let, where the owners had been careless about their mail. We have learned our lesson. Now we have renter's insurance and my husband made sure that he photographed every piece he left in the house and attached copies to the home inventory. It was a hard lesson, but we won't make that mistake again.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth Coughlan.
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