In July of 2002, an acquaintence of mine was kicked out of her apartment. She asked if she could come stay with me. I told her she could if she paid me $300/month in rent. She moved all her stuff in. She was never on the lease.
She gave me $100 in cash when she moved in, and said the rest would be coming shortly. After about a week-and-a-half, she disappeared. From her friends, I was able to determine that she had relapsed into her drug habit, and was basically living on the streets.
In November 2002, I finally changed the locks and boxed up all her stuff. I had repeatedly asked her friends to ask her to call me and arrange to pick up her stuff. I have never heard anything from her.
I had a roommate move in last week, and I simply do not have room for her stuff anymore. What are my responsibilities here? I just need the space, and I’m thinking of donating it. I have really no way to contact her anymore, as I’ve lost contact with some of her friends, and her other friends have stopped talking to her. If I donate the stuff, can she later sue me or anything like that?
Have you ever tried to call the LAPD for a non-emergency issue?
It’s just that I know the law doesn’t always have to gel with common sense, so I wanted to check with someone knowledgeable.
Of course, since the stuff has been sitting here for almost a year, and she’s made no attempt to get it, maybe she never will try, and the issue will never come up.
There is undoubtedly a tenant resource center in Los Angeles who would be able to give you a better idea of what if any legal responsibility you have for her belongings. Depending on the value of her belongings it may or may not be worth your time to check with an attorney as well. Maybe it’ll turn out that she’s legally abandoned it and you can sell it or something.
It sounds like a non-issue to me. I can’t imagine that there is a law stating you have to pay or be inconvienced because someone abandoned their stuff at your place.
Judge Judy deals with this alot & usually the people whose property it is wins. Try Tenants Handbook, its in the bookstore or library or nolo.com & its law for California on things like this.