Roomate Co-signed Roomate left leaving all her stuff.

[Thanksabunch]

My roomate and I had a lease together that ended a while ago and then proceeded on a month to month basis. She gave me two months notice that she would be leaving Dec 1, 2008. I found a new roomate in that time. The only problem is that she has left all of her stuff from bed, shelves, couch, rolling storage, chairs, and boxes of books. She sent me an email saying she bailed on me and does not intend to come back. I need to get this space cleaned for the next roomate. The land lord is no help saying that I just got screwed. Can I hire a junk removal and cleaning service to clean this up and file a small claim with her to try to get my money back. I expect the cost to be about 320$ to clean her place up.

The landlord offered to have some guys come in the spring and haul it out but that does no good to me or my new roomate. I have a hunch that he is not refunding her deposit and trying to keep it.

Any help in this matter knowing my rights would help so much.
Thanks a bunch!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Send a notice to the former tenant saying she has a certain number of days to pick up the things she left behind and if she doesn't comply, they will be discarded.

Keep a copy of what you send her if she ever shows up down the road and claims she didn't know you were tossing out her valuables and she now wants to sue you for her lost heirlooms.

Once the deadline is past, you are free to do what you want with the stuff. Put it on Craigslist and sell it.

Gail

 

[Thanksabunch]

I have already gone through this process. She has no problem with whith her stuff being discarded. My problem is that no one will come pick the stuff up for free! I tried free-cycle, craigs list, as well as Salvation Army and Goodwill. Her stuff is just junk. (Which of course is why she left it behind, i imagine) It's to much to just throw in the alley. The only thing I can think of is a junk removal service. But I really want to know if I have the right to file a small claim for the cost of the removal service or am I just screwed?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Yes; you can file a lawsuit against her for the cost of you removing the things she left behind.

Take pictures, keep a log of what she left behind and, of course, get receipts from the removal service to use as evidence in court.

Gail