Can a Landlord Sell/Trash my personal property after I have been evicted?

Question

I was evicted/Locked out by the sheriffs department from my apt. The sheriff gave me 5 minutes to gather a bag of clothes and what else I could of my personal effects. It has been 2 months since this incident, I have no heard anything in the form of letters or calls from the land lord regarding my possessions. During this time I have mustered up enough money to if nothing else bargain for my belongings. I contacted the landlord and he stated that my stuff has been trashed. I find this very difficult to believe since the majority of the stuff was high end sound equipment. As it seems I feel the landlord has sold my stuff with out notifying me. I am in Philadelphia PA. There was a coalition named T.A.G. (Tenant Action Group) which assisted normal folk, but apparently they are now defunct, which is why I am posting here. Thanks in Advance... P D P

I suppose I should not made it seem as though I were the tenant in question here, but rather a friend who isn’t as versed with using a computer as I think I am. However it’s interesting to see how some choose to answer the question but favor ridicule instead. Person in question was in a terrible state, husband passed away quite suddenly and tragically 2 children one of them autistic. Having been but a home maker for 12 + years was making a valiant effort, holding 2 jobs and returned to school to advance herself in her new found employment. But then was Sexually assaulted then beaten and left for dead now her right arm is paralyzed. Prime example of a free loader I'd say

Answer 1

James is a dimwitted idiot who does not deserve his whatever back because this ding-a-ling ignored everything that was sent to the ding-a-ling

Answer 2

Do you have a copy of your lease? You should have read it. In Texas, as a landlord I have the right to lock out a dead beat tenant, take his belongings and sell them, and certainly evict him. What you may think is high end, may have looked like junk to him. Anything left in an apartment after it has been reasonable vacated by a tenant can be donated to a nonprofit or junked. The only thing I can't do is keep anything for my own use. When you left did you give your landlord a forwarding address? How was he to notify you? There are steps that have to be taken to do the things above but if you don't pay, why do you think a landlord must keep your possessions for you until you muster up enough cash to redeem them. You should have paid your rent or moved your stuff out. You just stayed there and sucked up the free rent and were too lazy to do anything to protect yourself and now you want to b*tch. If you screw me and I have an address, I'll be glad to pass it on to all the utilities and telephone company so they can catch up with you too. Why do people that steal-and that's what not paying your rent is-think they should have all these rights? You are a deadbeat and there are consequences.

Answer 3

Ok, you're not going to like this, but here's a restatement of what you said...

You moved into a rental property and agreed to pay rent. You did not. Yet you still somehow think you have a right to keep your property there.

The landlord notified you that you were about to be evicted. (Deputies don't show up unless this is done.) You had a choice: Get your stuff out or have it thrown on the street. You did not choose to get your stuff out. You made your choice.

The deputies showed up with a court order to get you and your stuff out of the house. In other words, the court ordered that the landlord could have possession of his property, cleared of any of your crap. Again, you chose to keep your stiff there, knowing it would be tossed.

Now you think that some law should protect you when you failed to act for months to protect yourself? No. Courts do not protect your stuff in this instance.

Your poor landlord. Not only is he out the rent for the time you freeloaded. Not only did he have to spend even more money because you decided not to pay. But you also expect him to, at his own expense, babysit your stuff.

You are responsible for your rent, the well being of your belongings, and everyting that is yours. If you didn't do the minimum amount to make sure your belongings were cared for, why should you expect others to lift a finger?

In Philadelphia, by law, the deputies were required to remove your stuff and dump it at the edge of the property on the street. The landlord is not given possession of your crap. The deputies remove it from the property. Once on the stree, anyone, including your landlord, can take it since you're not stopping them. Sounds like the deputies did exactly what they were supposed to do.

I'm sorry - did the landlord kill her husband? Was he the real father of those children? Did he assault her? I'm very confused...how is any of this his problem? Yes, he could have elected to let her be late on the rent one month, but even that would be generous. The landlord has expenses. He is not a charity, nor should he be expected to act like one. If there was a justifiable reason for her not paying rent, the court hearing where he got permission to toss her stuff out would have been the time to bring that up. The landlord acted correctly here. You "friend" is a very troubled soul, but she is still a deadbeat.

Oh, and next time, try a more believable tale of woe.

Answer 4

Well, this is the typical yahoo answers for you, people can be so mean spirited, assuming, judgemental, you name it!
I'm sorry that happened to your friend, she should be on Extreme makeover, maybe Ty will give her a new home all together, it sounds like she's been played a bad number, I'm sorry that happened to her! I wish there was something I could do. Unfortunately yes the landlord gets to keep the stuff if it was high end they don't care they are entitled to it and selling it if they have to in order to get part of the money back.
Perhaps you can send a letter to the landlord letting him know the whole situation and incident with the abuse, he might be touched if not she is at a loss.
If she reported the incident, and get a copy of the police report, perhaps that will help her.

Answer 5

Consumer law states that when a second party is in control of the first party's belongings through default, the first party (you) has up to 60 days to recover items. After 60 days the second party can dispose of them how he/she may see fit. The second party is under no obligation to contact the first party at said time upon disposal of property. Unless other wise stated on a contract, then it voids this law completely.

I own a repo company, you would not believe the things people have in their cars and never come for. I honestly think they do not know they can get it back. It is not my place to contact them, nor is it a law that I do so.

I have a 160x120 garage that is packed full of unclaimed stuff. 2 or 3 times a year, I call out a 40 foot roll off dumpster and we all take the weekend off for the "great dig" as we call it.

We have found peoples ashes, all kinds of strange stuff. When we get done getting rid of the trash and the unsellable stuff we go the next weekend to the flea market where 2 days will net around 5 to 7 grand depending on the rims, the sound systems. Hell we sell a shoe box of Cd's for 25.00, and sell out of Cd's the first day always.

You may want to check craigslist, eBay or the local flemarket for your things if time has passed.

I hope it hasn't, good luck.

Answer 6

The law in Indiana is a bit different, and kind of sucks for the landlord.

If the tenant abondons the property, the landlord can do whatever with the stuff left behind, with no restrictions.

If the tenant is removed by court order however, the landlord must take the stuff to a storage facility. After 90 days the storage facility is allowed to sell the stuff to recoup their costs. The landlord gets nothing.

Answer 7

First of all,you are given an eviction notice which gives you time to arrange for another place to move and/or store your belongings.After that you will be giving a lock out date and time.When you get the lock out notification (you knew this was coming) you should have at least moved your things to the curbside.Most officers will give you at least an hour to get your stuff out of the house,but they are not required to do so.It sounds like you have a past history with sort of thing.Yes,according to law the landlord can do what he wants with your property,because what is left in the house after lock out is considered "abandoned property " and becomes the property of the landlord.He probably did not trash your stuff,but instead,sold it to recuperate some of the money you owed him.I have had to enforce eviction/lockouts before,but I would always give the person time to get their things out.

Answer 8

First thing you act like you did not know this was comming (Quote: the sheriff gave me 5 minutes). Bull ****!! How many notices did you receive? 4 or 5 and they were all dated and told you what was going to happen. Now you say you left high end sound equipment. You don't pay your rent for months, you wait for the sheriff to lock you out and now 60 day later, your landloard had to clean out all of you crap in the apt, and now you want your so called high end sound equipment back and expect the landlord store it for you and to call you to pick up. What world are you living in?

Answer 9

Way too late (3 years too late to be exact) to file suit over unpaid rent from 5 years ago. Same with the jewelry. Any suit you filed would be dismissed by the Judge for being in violation of the Statute of Limitations, and you would be out the filing fee and service fee. Even if your boyfriend didn't show up you wouldn't even be able to get a default judgment because you filed past the Statute of Limitations, and the Judge would be required to dismiss even without a motion to dismiss.

Answer 10

You knew you didn't pay the rent. You were served notice the landlord was taking you to court if you didn't pay. You were served a summons to appear in court to defend this action. When the landlord got his judgment, you were notified to get out or the Constable of the Court would lock you out. It appears you had plenty of notifications and should have taken your stuff and left before having to be given "5 minutes".

Answer 11

It depends on where you live. Usually a notice is sent to you in the mail advising you of how long you have to remove your things. Here in Georgia, if you don't get your things out in time, they simply set them out on the street and people pick through them and take what they will. It's possible that your things were sold to take care of the debt you owed in rent. If I were your landlord then I would want the monies that were due to me.