Landlords responsibility or liability for tenant's belongings during tenancy

[Robsudol]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? oklahoma

I have been renting an apartment and paying my rent on time for several months now. at the beginning of my rental stay, before signing the rental agreement,I exlpicitly told the landlord
that I would move if my nearby job were terminated in the future. So when when my job terminated towards the beginning of this last month, I immediately informed the landlord that I would be
out by the end of the month. Then I left for a couple of weeks to a distant city for job hunting and UI benefits filing before returning to retrieve my last paycheck from my former employer
and to ready my belongings for moving from the rented apartment at the end of the month. But when I returned, to my disgust and shock, I discovered all my stuff was cleared out from my rented apartment.
The day before I arrived, the landlord had hired some clearly untrustworthy people (drug addict types) move my things to a storage shed on the other side of town. In the move, a number of items came up missing.
So I recovered what I could from the storage shed and managed to recover a few more items: one moved to a nearby utility shed, on the rental property, and a couple tool boxes that someone led me to that had
ended up at another property across town. The landlord stated that she thought I had abandoned the property in my approximately 2 weeks absence, leaving all my stuff behind. She also stated she had texted me,
but I didn't receive any communications from her. I filed a police report and visited the local pawn shops in town to inform them of the most valuable missing item, a professional, gas-powered weededater(string trimmer)
in like-new condition worth hundreds of dollars as the last remaining item of significant value. The question is whether the landlord is liable for my missing valuables. I am still planning to to try and negotiate a
compensatory settlement with the landlord, but should that fail, what would be advisable? Is small claims court or arbitration a viable alternative or should I just take the loss
and walk away with another bad learning experience?

 

[justalayman]

Did you inform the landlord you would be out of the apartment for an extended period of time when you left for those 2 weeks?

 

[adjusterjack]

Is small claims court or arbitration a viable alternative or should I just take the loss

May I assume from your story that your rent was paid through the end of September and all this happened in September?

If yes, then the LL had no business considering your apartment as abandoned and she acted illegally.

I think that arbitration needs the agreement of both parties so it's probably easier and faster to use small claims court.

Understand that you are only entitled to the used value of your missing property. A "like new" item is a used item.

Anyway, serving her with a summons and complaint may elicit more of a willingness to settle for an amount you can both live with. Until you sue, she's really got no incentive to give you anything. If you are going to threaten to sue, make sure you are willing and able to follow through.

 

[FarmerJ]

during the time you were away was your rent current ? reason I ask is if it were me and my rent was still paid - current and even if I had not told the LL I was going to be away Id be leaning into suing the LL for illegal eviction and for the full value of every thing that is still missing! your LL had no right to go in with out a court order and self help -illegally evict you , Your LL has zero excuse in this!!!

 

[Robsudol]

Notice to leave for extended time

Did you inform the landlord you would be out of the apartment for an extended period of time when you left for those 2 weeks?

The day my job ended on Sept 5, I told the landlord I would be out by the end of the month, as that was the last day of the already paid-for rental term. I didn't inform her when I left though.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my post and responding.

 

[Robsudol]

Tenant responsibility and response

May I assume from your story that your rent was paid through the end of September and all this happened in September?

Yes, I had paid my rent, on time, through to the end of September when this happened.


If yes, then the LL had no business considering your apartment as abandoned and she acted illegally.

I think that arbitration needs the agreement of both parties so it's probably easier and faster to use small claims court.

Understand that you are only entitled to the used value of your missing property. A "like new" item is a used item.

Anyway, serving her with a summons and complaint may elicit more of a willingness to settle for an amount you can both live with. Until you sue, she's really got no incentive to give you anything. If you are going to threaten to sue, make sure you are willing and able to follow through.

Thanks for the point about arbitration, something she probably wouldn't agree to if given the choice.

Yes, I would expect to receive fair-market used value, or about 1/2 of new, for the missing item(s).

Hopefully, we can settle out of court. But if not, I am seriously considering taking her to small claims court, motivated at least partly, aside from my loses, by my desire to strongly discourage her from doing this to a future tenant. So if she doesn't offer something "reasonable" , I may file a complaint, but only if I intend to really do it, as advised.

Thanks for your time and the awesome, saintly help!!

 

[Robsudol]

Self-help eviction for paying renter

during the time you were away was your rent current ?

Yes, my rent was paid-current through to the end of the month that this happened.


reason I ask is if it were me and my rent was still paid - current and even if I had not told the LL I was going to be away Id be leaning into suing the LL for illegal eviction and for the full value of every thing that is still missing! your LL had no right to go in with out a court order and self help -illegally evict you , Your LL has zero excuse in this!!!

Yes, it appears she helped herself to evicting me.

 

[justalayman]

You said you would be out by the end of the month.

You then disappeared for approximately 2 weeks with absolutely no notice to the landlord your absence was temporary and you would be returning for your personal property.

You can argue it was not abandonment but given the actions, I think you’ll lose.

The problem is you would have owed rent to the end of the month regardless of whether you retained possession or not. The landlord would owe you no refund for any time you didn’t retain possession of the apartment. Given the duration of your absence, the notice you would be out by the end of the month, and the landlords claims they tried to contact you, it looks a lot like abandonment.

So, if you deal with abandonment of a premises. The law requires certain actions on the part of the landlord.

§130. Abandoning, surrendering or eviction from possession of dwelling unit—Disposition of personal property

A. If the tenant abandons or surrenders possession of the dwelling unit or has been lawfully removed from the premises through eviction proceedings and leaves household goods, furnishings, fixtures, or any other personal property in the dwelling unit, the landlord may take possession of the property, and if, in the judgment of the landlord, the property has no ascertainable or apparent value, the landlord may dispose of the property without any duty of accounting or any liability to any party. The landlord may dispose of perishable property in any manner the landlord considers fit.
B. If the tenant abandons or surrenders possession of the dwelling unit or has been lawfully removed from the premises through eviction proceedings and leaves household goods, furnishings, fixtures, or any other personal property in the dwelling unit, the landlord may take possession of the property, and if, in the judgment of the landlord the property has an ascertainable or apparent value, the landlord shall provide written notice to the tenant by certified mail to the last-known address that if the property is not removed within the time specified in the notice, the property will be deemed abandoned. Any property left with the landlord for a period of thirty (30) days or longer shall be conclusively determined to be abandoned and as such the landlord may dispose of said property in any manner which he deems reasonable and proper without liability to the tenant or any other interested party.
C. The landlord shall store all personal property of the tenant in a place of safekeeping and shall exercise reasonable care of the property. The landlord shall not be responsible to the tenant for any loss not caused by the landlord’s deliberate or negligent act. The landlord may elect to store the property in the dwelling unit that was abandoned or surrendered by the tenant, in which event the storage cost may not exceed the fair rental value of the premises. If the tenant’s property is removed to a commercial storage company, the storage cost shall include the actual charge for the storage and removal from the premises to the place of storage.
D. If the tenant removes the personal property within the time limitation provided in this section, the landlord is entitled to the cost of storage for the period during which the property remained in the landlord’s safekeeping plus all other costs that accrued under the rental agreement.
E. The landlord may not be held to respond in damages in an action by a tenant claiming loss by reason of the landlord’s election to destroy, sell or otherwise dispose of the property in compliance with the provisions of this section. If, however, the landlord deliberately or negligently violated the provisions of this section, the landlord shall be liable for actual damages.

Note the use of the term MAY in critical statement. That is hugely different than shall in legal terms. If you believe the landlord did not comply with the requirements of the law, head on down to the courthouse and get things rolling. I suspect if you win the award would be a lot less than you think it should be. Damages are calculated on depreciated value or market value of the item. Most personal items aren’t worth a whole lot (think yard sale value)

 

[LdiJ]

You said you would be out by the end of the month.

You then disappeared for approximately 2 weeks with absolutely no notice to the landlord your absence was temporary and you would be returning for your personal property.

You can argue it was not abandonment but given the actions, I think you’ll lose.

The problem is you would have owed rent to the end of the month regardless of whether you retained possession or not. The landlord would owe you no refund for any time you didn’t retain possession of the apartment. Given the duration of your absence, the notice you would be out by the end of the month, and the landlords claims they tried to contact you, it looks a lot like abandonment.

So, if you deal with abandonment of a premises. The law requires certain actions on the part of the landlord.



Note the use of the term MAY in critical statement. That is hugely different than shall in legal terms. If you believe the landlord did not comply with the requirements of the law, head on down to the courthouse and get things rolling. I suspect if you win the award would be a lot less than you think it should be. Damages are calculated on depreciated value or market value of the item. Most personal items aren’t worth a whole lot (think yard sale value)

But we are not talking about a personal item, we are talking about a piece of professional grade equipment. Those aren't sold at yard sales.

 

[justalayman]

But we are not talking about a personal item, we are talking about a piece of professional grade equipment. Those aren't sold at yard sales.

For Pete’s sake ldij. The yard sale statement was simply to alert the op that the value he is able to seek is generally not what many people believe it is. If he has 100 shirts and a $50,000 (current value) front end loader, he can seek $50,050 or so in court. The shirts are nearly worthless but of course if he has something major with probavable value, by all means, don’t think you have to accept nothing for the high value item.

Of course you don’t see many $50,000 from end loaders at yard sales so I figured I wouldn’t have to explain every little detail.

But to the “professional” gas powered weed eater (which unless he actually has a weedeater brand trimmer (as in a registered trademark) he should call it either: a line (or string) trimmer or use the actual brand name)

(Damn, now you’ve got me being so anal I’m having to explain minutia)

Anyway, he can research market value and claim that. Regardless of the description I can assure you it is worth much less than a new one costs.


Btw; professional model really doesn’t have a dependable definition.

 

[HRZ]

OP , you seem to be describing a LL who jumped the gun and did a self help eviction ?

In OK that very likely triggers prospect for LL to be liable for TWICE your actual damages ...do some more digging as to OK issues and your options .

 

[Zigner]

OP would have owed for October rent too - just saying.

 

[Robsudol]

What? My rent was paid for

You said you would be out by the end of the month.

You then disappeared for approximately 2 weeks with absolutely no notice to the landlord your absence was temporary and you would be returning for your personal property.

You can argue it was not abandonment but given the actions, I think you’ll lose.

The problem is you would have owed rent to the end of the month regardless of whether you retained possession or not. The landlord would owe you no refund for any time you didn’t retain possession of the apartment. Given the duration of your absence, the notice you would be out by the end of the month, and the landlords claims they tried to contact you, it looks a lot like abandonment.

I paid my rent on-time to the end of the month!

So, if you deal with abandonment of a premises. The law requires certain actions on the part of the landlord.



Note the use of the term MAY in critical statement. That is hugely different than shall in legal terms. If you believe the landlord did not comply with the requirements of the law, head on down to the courthouse and get things rolling. I suspect if you win the award would be a lot less than you think it should be. Damages are calculated on depreciated value or market value of the item. Most personal items aren’t worth a whole lot (think yard sale value)[/QUOTE

I didn't abandon anything. LL did this during a paid rental period - not past it!

 

[justalayman]

You said you would be out by the end of the month.

You then disappeared for approximately 2 weeks with absolutely no notice to the landlord your absence was temporary and you would be returning for your personal property.

You can argue it was not abandonment but given the actions, I think you’ll lose.

The problem is you would have owed rent to the end of the month regardless of whether you retained possession or not. The landlord would owe you no refund for any time you didn’t retain possession of the apartment. Given the duration of your absence, the notice you would be out by the end of the month, and the landlords claims they tried to contact you, it looks a lot like abandonment.

I paid my rent on-time to the end of the month!

So, if you deal with abandonment of a premises. The law requires certain actions on the part of the landlord.



Note the use of the term MAY in critical statement. That is hugely different than shall in legal terms. If you believe the landlord did not comply with the requirements of the law, head on down to the courthouse and get things rolling. I suspect if you win the award would be a lot less than you think it should be. Damages are calculated on depreciated value or market value of the item. Most personal items aren’t worth a whole lot (think yard sale value)[/QUOTE

I didn't abandon anything. LL did this during a paid rental period - not past it!

you aren’t understanding what abandonment means when you refer to an apartment. Leaving it for an extended period without notifying the landlord can be construed as abandoning the unit. Being paid up through the end of the month doesn’t change that. Notifying the landlord of an extended absence from the unit does.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I didn't abandon anything. LL did this during a paid rental period - not past it!

In court this is going to come down to was the LL reasonable in thinking you had abandoned the property. You told him you were moving out and then disappeared for 2 weeks. Many might find that the LL's belief that you had abandoned the property reasonable.