Landlord destroyed and stole my property

By Brian

I gave a 60 day notice I was moving out on 10/15.   I spoke to the Landlord (Mgmt company) twice and exchange several emails.  I indicated that I wanted to return the key and do a walk through when I moved out, but they refused to meet with me and indicated they did not want me to come to their office either.  The isntructions were leave the key on the kitchen counter with house cleaning and carpet cleaning receipts, we willmail your 1200 deposit after 30 days. 

I had moved out almost 95% of my property but I needed to pick-up a couple of pieces of furniture and finish cleaning the kitchen and the garage on 10/15.  I drove to the house at 630PM after work with a cleaning person and my wife, the locks were changed and there was a lock box on the house. 

So I called the landlord and they indicated that they thought I had abandoned the property, responded kind of nervous and gave me the lock box number.   I told them I did not understand why they would not simply call me if they had questions.  I wnet into the house and found the following:
– All of my proerty had been dumped in piles in the garage and had been rifled though
– the furniture was damaged
– Several property items were missing and my personal documents and files had been tampered with
– All of the food in the house was taken

I tried to reach the landlord and they no longer answered.   So I picked up all of my jumbled property and damaged furniture, finished cleaning and left the keys and receipts where I was told before I locked up.   I also took pictures of the condition I found my property, as well as the condition I left the house in.

I filed a police report as well

The same day just before midnight I sent the landlord an email with copies of all the pictures and stating that I wanted to meet with them and resolve the issue.   There has been no email response.  I also called several times and left messages, but received no call backs.

I did receive a text message on my cell phone that stated that they had the keys, garage door openers and the receipts and that they would get with the owner to determine if further cleaning or repairs were required.  they did not acknowledge any of the events I stated in the email.  I texted them back asking them to acknowledge the emails but they are not responding

Its clear to me that they are not going to address the stolen or damaged property and that they are going to try and keep all of my deposit.  This is not acceptable and I can’t believe that these people wont even meet with me.  What can I do via the Rental Protection Agency

Edited on: Monday, October 21st, 2013 7:35 pm

3 Responses to “Landlord destroyed and stole my property”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

We need more Tenant Rights in Maine!

October 17th, 2012 3:55 pm

Check with your laws in your state. Type in the name of your state in google and then “tenant law” and the law for your state should come up. Read through exactly what rights you have etc and what should be done. You may have a place that helps with tenat rights like we do in Maine (Pine Tree Legal). If not, after reading the law and following the procedures, request in small claims court that you want the money for damanged property, your deposit etc. Make sure going forward, instead of calling, emailing or texting, you send your landlord all requests by mail and that it’s certified (meaning they HAVE to sign for the mail before getting it.) Then you can prove in court that indeed you have discussed this with the landlord owner and got no result. Normally if you sue in small claims court and the landlord knows he’s in the wrong he’ll pay up. Sometimes though, landlords aren’t that bright and will go to court, make a fool of themselves and then end up having to pay you the money + court costs, and costs for you to file. Good luck! I hate when landlords think they are God and can do as they wish because they are dealing with renters!


Mitchell Butterfield

January 6th, 2013 10:29 am

I have the same problem except that the renter locked my personal property in his garage then evicted me. He has had my property for 3 months. I received a phone call that he had been evicted also and was loading a U-Haul truck. I went to the house to find the garage all but empty, what was left was a pile of trash and his refusal acknowledge my owenership of anything in the garage. I went to the police only to be told “its a civil matter”, the police did get him to agree to let me have my property but he took the truck to a gated storage further deneying me access to my property. We found in the trash, in the rain our medical and financial records, personal property and articals that held no value for him. I can not begine to tellyou how this makes me feel. The laws need to be changed to protect tenets from this kind of treatment. personaly I intend to prosecute to the full extent of the law while he sells and or gives away the rest of my property, everything I own is subject to his whims of disposal and there is nothing I can do except bend over and take it like a man because “its a civil matter”


kim

April 17th, 2015 11:53 pm

This also happened to me. My stuff was taking and gave away by the management.. they waited 48 hours to tell me then evicted me.. when will someone help us fight these landlord/managers


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