Roomate What are my rights over my personal belongings?

[laurenmikell]

My jurisdiction is: California

I sublet my apartment to my previous roommate for 7 months before he was added to the lease. Though on the lease, I have reside elsewhere for the . past 9 months. On Jan 25th I faxed a letter to him, giving the landlord permission to take me off the lease. As of Feb. 13th, the landlord had not processed my request and no new lease had been created or signed. I took a copy of the lease with me to get my belongings that still remained in the apartment. I was let in by someone not on the lease and then was asked to leave by my previous roommate on the grounds that I had no right to the apartment and no right to my personal belongings because I had not lived or payed rent there in 9 months. He now wants to sue me for trespassing with false pretenses. Could he win? What are my rights to my apartment and my personal belongings if I'm on the lease but haven't resided there for 9 months?

 

[jacksgal]

Had you had any contact with roomate about your belongs in last 9 months if so when. CDW can explain better than I but I believe there is a time frame in which to collect property before it is considered abandoned

 

[CdwJava]

I was let in by someone not on the lease and then was asked to leave by my previous roommate on the grounds that I had no right to the apartment and no right to my personal belongings because I had not lived or payed rent there in 9 months. He now wants to sue me for trespassing with false pretenses. Could he win? What are my rights to my apartment and my personal belongings if I'm on the lease but haven't resided there for 9 months?

Ugh. Well, I am not entirely sure your items would be considered "abandoned" as you were still the only person legally permitted on the property if the lease had not been changed to reflect the reality of the situation. The current landlord could actually have that person kicked out should they choose to ... unless, of course the landlord has known they are present and has opted to do nothing in all this time.

Whether a court would view the items you left as "abandoned" or not would depend on a number of factors, not the least of which would be your 9 month absence with apparently no effort to retain the property or to make arrangements for it. It's that 9 month disappearance and lack of communication that might make a judge decide that you had indeed forfeited a claim to the property. It is likely - but not guaranteed - that you will be considered to have abandoned any claims to the property. Rented apartments or motel units might be considered "abandoned" either because the rental term has expired and/or because it appears from all the circumstances that the tenant has permanently departed. (Parson (2008) 44 Cal.4th 332, 345-346; Ingram (1981) 122 Cal.App.3d 673.) I'd say that a 9 month term of being away would qualify as "abandoned."

That being said, it is generally the LANDLORD that has the legal right to dispose of abandoned property, not a tenant not on the lease.

From CPOLS:

A landlord also has a right to dispose of personal property that remains on the premises after a tenancy has terminated and the tenant has vacated the premises. Civil Code section 1980 et seq. govern the disposition of the former tenant's property and set forth strict procedures for storage, notice and sale of the former tenant's property.

Generally, the landlord may either leave the personal property in the vacated premises, or may put it in safe storage. Either way, the landlord must give written notice to the former tenant, describing the abandoned property, informing the tenant (or other owner) where the property may be claimed, and advising him that he has 15 days (in the case of personal delivery of the notice) or 18 days (in the case of mailing the notice) within which to pay for the storage and take possession of the property.

This notice also informs the former tenant (or other owner) that if he fails to reclaim the abandoned property within the specified time, it will be sold at a public sale or, if its resale value (probably referring to garage sale prices) is less than $300, that it may be kept, sold, or destroyed by the landlord. (Civ. Code, §§ 1984-1986.)

If the tenant or owner pays the reasonable rental costs and reclaims the property within the specified time, the landlord must release the property to him. In fact, even if the deadline has passed, the landlord still must release the property--assuming it has not yet been sold or destroyed--provided that the former tenant pays all reasonable costs of storage, advertising, and preparation for sale, if any such costs were incurred.​

I'm not sure what this "trespassing with false pretenses" mumbo jumbo thing is, but unless he has the money to hire an attorney and sue you in superior court, that's a lot of hogwash. However, YOU might want to consider a small claims action against him for withholding your property. You might even consider calling the police and asking them to accompany you on a standby while you go to retrieve your property. While the police might not be able to decide who owns what (not their job) they might be able to tell the former roommate a thing or two about the situation if there is something glaringly obvious to them.

- Carl