Tuesday, November 22, 2011

People abandoned things at my house. legal advice?

I helped out this woman and her 4 kids by letting them stay at my home 2 weeks. Then I change my mind about her and payed for her move to a motel for 2 weeks. She left her two beds, a chest for clothes and some boxes and household things. I've being trying to get her to remove her things for the last 8 weeks. She says she will and i continued to set up dates for her to pick up her things. For the last three weekends she never came even tho she said she would. I told her i will give her things to the salvation army. She continues to make threats and wants to sue me if i get rid of her things. for what i know she moved out of state and I have no idea where she lives. all i have is her cell number. my question is what can i do with the stuff she abandoned?People abandoned things at my house. legal advice?
Dump the stuff she can prove nothing!People abandoned things at my house. legal advice?
There are laws the cover abandoned property. Check with your local government office. You may need to post a notice in a local paper or acquire a signed notice that she was notified.....or wait a certain length of time.......
I don't know the law but.......


Try to document all the previous times you asked her to come get her stuff. Call her one LAST time again and ask when she can come get it. If she does not have a date then tell her to figure it out and in 24 hrs. Tell her if she does not call back with a reasonable date she can pick up her crap or she skips out again it's all going to goodwill/salvation army and give her the address of the shop you will take it to. Also Keep paperwork on the motel you paid for.





Personally, I think 8 weeks goes beyond any obligation, you are not storage she is not paying for space so I don't see why you would be legally responsible for her abandoning her property!
rent a storage unit


put her stuff in it


and let her know





after that its up to her she sounds like trouble
Sorry, but I can't answer this one unless you let me know where you live. It is different from jurisdiction to jurisdicition. It could be a short as 30 days and as long as 180 days before you can get rid of her crap.
Send her a certified letter telling her she has 7, 10, or however many days you want to allot her to get her things out.





Ck with your local magistrate also as to how local law reads


concerning this matter. I believe if she does not respond to your C/letter in 30 days you are now the owner of what she left in your home.
check with your local prosecuting attorney i think its yours after 30 days
Contact a lawyer. You may be able to put the stuff in storage and charge her, but although you'd win in small claims court, I doubt you'd ever see a nickle. Depending on local law, you may have to hold it for a period then you can get rid of it.
It is really a situation where each State will have it's legal definitions concerning landlord and tenant rights. If the woman did not have a change of address and did not attain a legal lease agreement then she may or may not fall under the category of ';Tenant'; and her rights to her abandoned property my also become invalid under the State Codes. However, assuming that the woman does have legal rights as a Tenant then you will have to research the laws within your State, County, City, etc.


Here is a site that offers some information which may give you some insight as to the complicity of these situations. Move cautiously as you will not want to lose your advantage over the woman. You need to stay on top of the situation and have the commanding hand.


Read this: http://www.housingrights.org/renters/pdf鈥?/a>


Also type in the address bar: (housing rights abandoned personal property (your state) and hit enter. That should take you to some other sites that offer similar information.


Good Luck to You!!


As a former landlord I can definitely say ';Never Again';. Tenants can really give you the screws. Next time you want to help someone out make sure you have a detailed legally binding lease agreement.
You can get free legal advice on websites like LawGuru, FindLaw. Check this out for more info http://www.uelp.org/freelegal.html

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