Legally. neither neutron star nor the landlord can do that. Since someone has come forward to claim Dave’s property, the landlord must make all reasonable efforts to get that property to the woman.
I’d actually go a step further and ask the constable to be there when she comes over. The constable is responsible for things like supervising evictions and is able to act as an official third party. I say this because the landlord’s property is involved, too, and it’s possible that Dave or the relative can come back later and claim that some of Dave’s stuff went missing. You’re also going to want to get a written receipt detailing what was turned over.
I would want some kind of evidence that this person is actually acting at Dave’s behest. What if it’s some scummy “friend” of Dave who realizes there’s a bunch of free stuff for the taking at Dave’s place.
So I would agree with MsRobyn, having a cop present is a very good idea.
How would that work? Just call the cops and ask one to pop over? I agree that it would be good to have an officer present, but what would compel them to do so? It’s not an eviction. It’s not a civil dispute, or a criminal case. Do cops monitor the transfer of possessions every time someone is arrested and moves out of a house or apartment?
There would be absolutely no reason to compel a constable to come over and witness the gathering of Dave’s stuff. However, the cops involved with the criminal case may very well arrange such a thing as a courtesy.
I should point out that, in Pennsylvania, the constabulary is charged with things like service of process and overseeing evictions. This is their job.
Maybe I missed something, but I thought I read upthread the cops had to do more investigating of Dave’s stuff to see if he had done anything else illegal. I think they’d be less than pleased if the potential evidence had been handed off to a relative.
I wasn’t saying an officer had to be present, just that neutron star call first to make sure they’re done with what they need to do.
That’s a god point, but I would at least call the cops and talk to whoever is in charge of Dave’s case. Ask if there is if police need acccess to look through his stuff for more evidence.
Actually, I take that back. neutron star, you really should stay entirely out of this issue of what to do with his stuff. It’s not your business, and I can imagine there are legal risks involved.
Especially don’t let this woman into the place to take his stuff away. Refer her to the landlord, and leave this to him.
I suppose. They seem to have been a bit less than reliable so far, at least with regards to showing up when they said the would.
Neither of which situation applies here.
It seems to me that, as far as the police are concerned, they’ve done their job. What is neutron star supposed to do? Tell them that some unknown person slipped a note under his door and he wants them to come by “sometime next week” to oversee the transfer of what is by all accounts virtually valueless property? Why is it even the OP’s problem? He should give the note to the landlord and forget about it.
According to the sample lease I cited (item number 22), in the case of abandonment, the landlord isn’t even obligated to return personal property if there is a debt owed to him at the time the property was abandoned; he may dispose of it as he sees fit without incurring any liability. He can keep it, sell it or give it to Dave’s Aunt Sally.
However, given that Dave was more or less forced to abandon the premises, the decent thing to do would be to arrange to give his stuff to a friend or relative and let Dave know where it is, provided that the police are finished with it.
Finally, and this has been bugging me for the past few days, I think y’all need to cut the cops some slack. They did what they said they were going to do, which is arrest Dave for the crimes of forgery and theft. For all we know, there may have been good reason to delay the arrest and perhaps picking him up at work was easiest for all concerned. He was on probation, so his PO had to be involved. So what if they didn’t give neutron star daily progress reports. He’s been made whole, more or less, and he got what he wanted. It’s annoying not to know, but c’mon. At least they arrested Dave, which is more than some departments might have done.
I’m pretty sure there’s no bar to neutron star replying to the relative’s request in the negative. And if I were the landlord, I’d ensure the person requesting Dave’s property had the legal right to do so before giving the stuff to that person.
I don’t think (and others have said) neutron star should get involved in handing over Dave’s property at all, including responding yea or nay to such a request, so that, whatever the outcome of any eviction proceedings, everything is done by the book and through the landlord and other legal channels. Ns has no authority to give Dave’s stuff to anybody or respond to anybody’s request, even if there were to be a *notarized *note from him.
I’m not really sure what I’ll do when the relative comes over. It seems like such a petty thing to bother any kind of official about. I don’t know. I’ll think about it. She didn’t leave any way to contact her.
In the meantime, I got the video up. It was still uploading when I left for work, so I had to remote into my system to get the link for it, but here it is.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you; it’s pretty dull.
The “interesting” parts are:
0:45 Friend walks over and talks to the cop that was covering the front
2:33 Some kid goes by on a skateboard
6:25 Cops discuss things outside
7:00 Friend goes back over and talks to all three of them
9:00 I come outside to give the chief that license plate number he didn’t want
9:50 Cops drive away
