Teenagers breaking the law inside my home when I’m gone

Michelleee

New Member
Jurisdiction
Utah
I allowed an 18 year old neighbor to house sit for me. I said no parties. The cops called me one night while I was gone to inform me that 20-30 kids were hiding inside my home. The cops could see drugs and alcohol inside the house and kids passed out on the floor. The cops broke up the party. No arrests were made. I kicked out the 18 year old house sitter the following day. I returned home to a filthy house with some minor damage that will cost me time and money.

What recourse do I have for the damage done to my home? What recourse do I have for minors and under age drinkers breaking the law inside my home? What recourse do I have for the 20-30 trespassers inside of my home?

I will be talking to the cops soon and am trying to figure out how to prepare myself.

Thanks for your help.
 
I allowed an 18 year old neighbor to house sit for me. I said no parties. The cops called me one night while I was gone to inform me that 20-30 kids were hiding inside my home. The cops could see drugs and alcohol inside the house and kids passed out on the floor. The cops broke up the party. No arrests were made. I kicked out the 18 year old house sitter the following day. I returned home to a filthy house with some minor damage that will cost me time and money.

What recourse do I have for the damage done to my home? What recourse do I have for minors and under age drinkers breaking the law inside my home? What recourse do I have for the 20-30 trespassers inside of my home?

I will be talking to the cops soon and am trying to figure out how to prepare myself.

Thanks for your help.
What do you mean you "allowed an 18 year old neighbor to house sit" for you? Did she ask YOU to housesit and you said yes or did you ask the 18 year old to housesit?
 
What recourse do I have for the damage done to my home?

You likely could successfully sue the adult house sitter that you hired for the damages caused — i.e. what it costs you to fix what they did. Whether you could collect on that judgment is another matter. As for suing the other people there, that's more of a problem. You have to be able to prove which of them did each part of the damage to place. If you don't have the evidence to pin the damage to a particular person, you'll be out of luck there.

What recourse do I have for the 20-30 trespassers inside of my home?

They might not technically be trespassers. You had appointed the house sitter as your agent to watch the home for you and gave him permission to be in the house. The others were there with his permission.
 
You likely could successfully sue the adult house sitter that you hired for the damages caused — i.e. what it costs you to fix what they did. Whether you could collect on that judgment is another matter. As for suing the other people there, that's more of a problem. You have to be able to prove which of them did each part of the damage to place. If you don't have the evidence to pin the damage to a particular person, you'll be out of luck there.



They might not technically be trespassers. You had appointed the house sitter as your agent to watch the home for you and gave him permission to be in the house. The others were there with his permission.
What are your thoughts regarding illegal activities inside my home? Underage drinking and drugs. Also, if I told him no parties, is that trespassing? Or something else. I'm angling for the house sitter to do community service and some financial consequences…thanks for your thoughtfulness!
 
I have installed security systems in my homes.

Our homes are insured by a well established insurance company.

Perhaps you might wish to investigate installing a good security system.

You should also reevaluate your homeowners insurance and liability policies.

Make sure your coverage is sufficient to cover any losses.

Life is so much simpler when you obtain the proper amount of insurance and you have an excellent security system.
 
What are your thoughts regarding illegal activities inside my home?

That's for the police and prosecutors to sort out. At least where I am the police would have made any arrests or issued any citations for the underage drinking, illegal drug use/possession, etc at the time they broke up the party. But the police where you are might do things differently.
 
That's for the police and prosecutors to sort out. At least where I am the police would have made any arrests or issued any citations for the underage drinking, illegal drug use/possession, etc at the time they broke up the party. But the police where you are might do things differently.

Thank you for your response!
 
What recourse do I have for the damage done to my home?

You can sue. Did you really not know that?

What recourse do I have for minors and under age drinkers breaking the law inside my home?

None, because you suffered no damage as a result of this (beyond the damage done to your home mentioned above).

? What recourse do I have for the 20-30 trespassers inside of my home?

They weren't likely trespassers. They were there with the permission of a person lawfully in charge of the premises. That the person in charge acted in excess of the authority given isn't relevant.

I'm angling for the house sitter to do community service and some financial consequences.

If you want financial consequences, then you sue him. Since the cops didn't make any arrests, it's unlikely that any other consequences will result (unless you can convince the cops to change their minds about arresting.
 
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