Landlord removed property and dispute over definition of apt possession

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besclavon

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I had an issue where i scheduled to move out of my apartment on a sunday. On sunday evening, i couldnt finsih moving all my property out in time. I had to leave a $2000 salt water aquarium for one more night because of its complexity. I tried to notify the complex office, but they closed early that day. Upon trying to retrieve the aquarium the next afternoon, i found out the apartment complex had entered my apartment and started to prep to flip it. They took the extra key i left on the counter, then one of the employees realized the value of the corals and took the contents to his home system. I confronted them on the issue and they started to change their story and say "i dropped off the key" and turned over possession, thus indemnifying them. I have gone ahead and filed a small claims court suit for the value and spoke to the complex about the issue in depth. They have offered to settle for $800, but that is nowhere near the cost of $2200 to replace the life. The question is not of the culpability, but how i can prove that they did not have possession of the apartment, entered, and then destroyed my property. It has basically boiled down to a he-said/she-said argument. I have asked multiple times in the past weeks to finalize my paperwork, get a damage walk through, and finish off my lease right. They are basically ignoring me now because they have already flipped that apartment (2 weeks later) and they have not gone through the proper procedure. Does anyone have any advice or experience on how the judge might decide on an argument where i am in 100% good standing on payments, I still have the original key, and i say they entered and took my key and they said that i put the key in a drop box, and they didnt follow proper move out procedure. Basically, i dont want to go to court and get nothing, if i can settle for something. But then i also dont want them to strong arm me and only give me $800 for a $2200 aquarium. Also, i live in Georgia and there have been disciplinary actions taken against the employees involved.
 
If you go to small claims court it's a question of credibility. Why are they offering to settle with you for $800? How do you know the employee took the corals to his home system? These issues are telling. Perhaps you may want to inform them of your potential need to involve the police if you can't get your property back...
 
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