A third of tenants canvassed by insurer Direct Line for Business think it is acceptable to take items that don’t belong to them when they move out.

And it’s not small items such as clothing hangers. Items pilfered from flats include fridges, freezers, light fittings, televisions and sinks… and even a beehive, the survey revealed.

Reasons given for such covetous behaviour include believing that the landlord wouldn’t notice that the item was missing and 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 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 stands at over £500.

Nick Breton, (of Direct Line for Business), said, “The range of items that tenants feel that they can take with them when vacating a property is amazing. It isn’t even just small items that go missing; renters are helping themselves to beds, sofas and cupboards once their tenancy agreement ends. 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.”