After terminating the business relationship with a contractor, how do we remove his belongings from

[katejohnson]

Jurisdiction

Virginia

On Friday afternoon, we had a conflict with 2 contractors who were doing work on our townhouse which we are renting in Virginia. They were being disrespectful and careless with our property. Immediately following the incident, we terminated the working relationship and asked them to leave. They collected some of their equipment and left.

However one of them left some of his personal belongings and work equipment behind, as it was too much to take in his vehicle. We texted him the same afternoon asking him to remove his belongings by this Sunday and return our spare key. He did not reply or come by to collect his belongings. We texted him again earlier today, Sunday, to remind him to pick up his things. Again, we did not hear back from him. We are planning on changing the locks asap.

We texted him that if he does not pick up this belongings by next Friday we will consider them abandoned and we will donate them to charity.

Are our actions legally sound or do we need to do anything differently to remove his belongings from our townhouse?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[army judge]

Selling that property is the worst thing you can do, legally, unless you provide 24 hour written notice to the contractor before you dispose of the property.
However, I could only find how to address "abandoned property" within the context of landlord-tenant law in your state.

If you sell the property, or give it away to a charity, you could be sued by the contractor.

On the other hand, you could counter-claim against the contractor if you are sued for the cost to replace your locks (or for rekeying your home).

Before we get too bogged down in legal this,legal that, let's try a little common sense.

In many cities or counties, you can take all abandoned or found property to the nearest city or county police station or the local sheriff's office. You report the property as found or abandoned. The police will accept it placing it into safekeeping until the owner arrives and proves ownership.

I suggest you quickly take it as instructed above, notifying the owner f the address of the facility. I'd send him notification via email, fax, FedEx or UPS overnight letter at least 48-72 hours before taking the property to the authorities.


Closest statue on point that I could find.
§ 55-248.38:1. Disposal of property abandoned by tenants.
If any items of personal property are left in the premises, or in any storage area provided by the landlord, after the rental agreement has terminated and delivery of possession has occurred, the landlord may consider such property to be abandoned. The landlord may dispose of the property so abandoned as the landlord sees fit or appropriate, provided he has: (i) given a termination notice to the tenant in accordance with this chapter, which includes a statement that any items of personal property left in the premises would be disposed of within the twenty-four hour period after termination, (ii) given written notice to the tenant in accordance with § 55-248.33, which includes a statement that any items of personal property left in the premises would be disposed of within the twenty-four hour period after expiration of the seven-day notice period, or (iii) given a separate written notice to the tenant, which includes a statement that any items of personal property left in the premises would be disposed of within twenty-four hours after expiration of a ten-day period from the date such notice was given to the tenant. Any written notice to the tenant shall be given in accordance with § 55-248.6. The tenant shall have the right to remove his personal property from the premises at reasonable times during the twenty-four hour period after termination or at such other reasonable times until the landlord has disposed of the remaining personal property of the tenant.
During the twenty-four hour period and until the landlord disposes of the remaining personal property of the tenant, the landlord shall not have any liability for the risk of loss for such personal property. If the landlord fails to allow reasonable access to the tenant to remove his personal property as provided in this section, the tenant shall have a right to injunctive or other relief as provided by law. If the landlord received any funds from any sale of abandoned property as provided in this section, the landlord shall pay such funds to the account of the tenant and apply same to any amounts due the landlord by the tenant, including the reasonable costs incurred by the landlord in selling, storing or safekeeping such property. If any such funds are remaining after application, the remaining funds shall be treated as a security deposit under the provisions of § 55-248.15:1. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable if the landlord has been granted a writ of possession for the premises in accordance with Title 8.01 and execution of such writ has been completed pursuant to § 8.01-470.

(1984, c. 741; 1995, c. 228; 1998, c. 461; 2000, c. 760; 2002, c. 762.)

 

[adjusterjack]

Are our actions legally sound or do we need to do anything differently to remove his belongings from our townhouse?

Taking common sense a step further, presumably you have a written contract and business cards of the contractor with an address of the contractors location/address or can look them up on the state's contractor's license website or business registration website to find out where to take their property and drop it off.

On the other hand, if you had these guys working on your house without a contract, without a license and without any idea of where they are located, then maybe common sense has already gone out the window.

Anyway, if you can figure out where they are, I suggest you just take the items over there and drop them off.