Torts Notice? We Took Notice

The shop’s last months

The shop at 68 Tredegar Street, Risca, was the small high street unit she called “Little Risca” and later “Risca Roo”. Public activity there had largely stopped after the middle of December 2025. Her own posts tell the story:

There were attempts to recruit volunteers to reopen the shop, but they came to nothing. In one case, a prospective volunteer reportedly explained that they could only help if they were allowed to bring their dog, as it could not be left alone. On 9 March her page posted: “Just for customers to be aware – one of our pet rescue dogs will be at Risca shop for the time being” (archive). The volunteer later disputed this publicly, saying the claim was untrue. After that exchange, public activity at the shop seems to have tailed off.

The notice

Following the repossession on 8 June 2026, a notice under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 was reportedly served. According to information from anonymous sources, it gave the occupiers at least 14 days to remove their belongings before further action could be taken.

Our understanding is that no arrangements were made with the landlord to clear the premises, despite the notice.

Clearance begins

On Wednesday 1 July 2026, a clearance team attended the property to remove what was left. According to those involved, every room was packed with donated items, leaving very little usable space anywhere in the building.

They also reported that the designated rear fire exit was blocked by bags of clothing. The rear of the shop could not be reached from the front, and the rear door would only open a short way, so nobody could get in or out through it.

As the clearance went on, members of the Exposed group began reporting several vans outside. As a precaution, and so as not to disrupt the people doing the work, we held that information back until the job was well under way.

What she said

Once word of the clearance got out, her page posted this at 15:11 on 2 July:

What happening here then….

I do hope no one is doing anything silly like emptying a shop because we are a CIC and you can not sell, donate or bin or damage anything that belongs to a CIC. You will also be in receipt of stolen goods belonging to a CIC if you accept anything. Thank you to the business in Bedwas that kindly informed us and made a landlord pick items back up from him the day after he was told they were “abandoned “. That is not the case.

I have warned and warned and warned people. I also warned everyone that after Blackwood shop – I am not emptying another shop. You are welcome to contact me , pack up a shop and drop it to the donation centre at a designated time but that needs to he arranged in advance.

Her page, 2 July 2026 (archive; spelling as published)

The business in Bedwas relates to a different shop. In her post of 11 July it appears in her account of the landlord who changed the locks on her: the Caerphilly landlord, who had taken back the Pentrebane Street unit in May.

That evening she published a video going further:

We’re not a normal tenant with a registered CIC. So you cannot dispose, sell, clear… you’ve got to put it into storage and claim the storage costs. You can’t sell, give away, damage any of our stock or equipment in any of our shops because it belongs to the CIC and is classed as a CIC asset and not my personal stuff.

The landlord is fully aware that we were a registered CIC which legally you need a specialist court order to dispose, sell, gift, or damage, or bin anything that belongs to them which they haven’t got.

Yes, you’re 100% right, under tort law the landlord has to give you X amount of time to collect your belongings, but maybe what the haters don’t realise is that the landlord stopped us from collecting in the designated time period.

You can’t just dispose of it. You can’t just chuck stuff out that belongs to a charity or a CIC. You can’t just sell it on to a clearance firm. You can’t just pass it on to somebody else… So it has been reported as theft in progress and criminal damage.

Her video, 2 July 2026 (transcript)

The legal position

This section deals with the legal claims in her post and video. It is not intended to decide the outcome of any civil or criminal proceedings. (We are not lawyers and this is not legal advice.)

Several of those claims do not reflect the law.

A CIC is a type of limited company. A Community Interest Company’s assets belong to the company rather than its directors, but a CIC has no exemption from landlord and property law, and needs no separate legal process simply because it is a CIC. The CIC “asset lock” limits what the company itself may do with its assets; it places no duty on a landlord. This one was incorporated on 7 November 2025, two years after the Risca shop opened.

Goods left behind. Under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, where goods are left behind after an occupation has ended, the person lawfully in possession of them may, after giving reasonable notice, exercise their legal rights if the goods are not collected. On information from several independent sources, such a notice was served after the repossession, giving at least 14 days to remove the contents.

No “specialist court order”. We know of no provision in the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977, the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 or the Community Interest Company Regulations that requires a landlord to obtain a “specialist court order” before dealing with uncollected goods just because they belong to a Community Interest Company.

No blanket storage rule. The Act does not require goods to be put into storage first. The obligation is to give reasonable notice and to act within the rights and duties of a bailee.

“Stopped us from collecting.” She says the landlord prevented the organisation collecting its belongings during the notice period. We have seen no document that supports this, and nine days later she gave a different account.

“Stolen goods.” The claim that anyone accepting items from the clearance would automatically be “in receipt of stolen goods” is not supported by law. Whether any offence has been committed depends on the facts of the case and any findings by the authorities, not on the goods having once belonged to a Community Interest Company.

How her account changed

Set side by side, in her own words:

What happened next

• 3 July 2026: “If anyone knows the clearence firm that has emptied Risca shop can you message me please. Correct procedure has not been followed ont he part of the landlord unfortunately and they may not be unaware of this. But we now have an open police case on the removal of goods and equipment and it will proceed to a court case from us.” (archive)
• 11 July 2026: the Risca landlord “didn’t give us notice” (above).
• 27 July 2026: “We have packed up all the nappies before the landlords dump them like Risca and Caerphilly landlord did.” (archive)
• 28 July 2026: on her Pontypool shop: “legally Landlord has been informed they have to pack up the shop and put it into storage for us … That’s what Risca and Caerphilly should have legally done. Gives us presidence for our court cases.” (archive)
• 18 October 2026: still “I’ve got to take them to court now” (above). We know of no court case brought over the Risca clearance.

The dossier records the Risca repossession and clearance in Finding 31.

The images

These photographs were taken during the clearance and show the state of the premises and their contents at the time.

Sources