Landlord Threw Out Belongings While I Was Still in the House

[Mike924]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New Jersey

Hi, I signed a lease last year for a house with 5 of my friends from June 1st to May 29th. I renewed the lease again this for year and I am currently living in the house while I am waiting for 5 new guys to move in. I work in the town that I rent, so I emailed my landlord and asked if it would be acceptable if I continued to live in the house for the two days until June 1st. He replied that it was fine for me to continue to live there. I went to work and when I came back I went into the kitchen and discovered that the land lord had gone through the cabinets and thrown out almost all of my glasses, dishes, frying pans, baking sheets, Tupperware containers, deep fryer, toaster oven, spice rack and pasta maker. He threw out some of my food as well but left most of it alone. He also went into my room (by climbing through the window) and threw out my shower mat. The total is over 250.00 worth of items that are now missing. I emailed him and asked him to either return, replace, or provide compensation for my things with a detailed list of the makes, models and prices of the ones he threw out. If he declines, do I have any legal ground to stand on or am I completely lost?

[Mr. Knowitall]

What was the landlord's excuse for disposing of your belongings?

If you can show that you were still in residence and that he discarded about $250 worth of your property, should you otherwise be unable to work things out you can attempt to recover that money in small claims court.

[Mike924]

For the Tupperware and Pasta maker he did not give a reason for disposal. For the glasses and dishes all he said was that I only need so many glasses and dishes and I had too many. As for the toaster oven, deep fryer and spice rack he said that they were not clean enough and would present a fire hazard. The spice rack was fairly clean and could have been easily wiped off if it was dirty, also the deep fryer had been emptied of oil. The toaster oven may have had crumbs in it, but that would have been a very quick fix. He didn't mention that any of these things were a problem to me prior to disposing of them and they were all packed away in cabinets or moved off the counters and onto a table so the counters would be clear.

[markk1pe]

I don't know the laws in MI but this seems to be a case of illegal eviction. Your landlord will owe more than the $250 damages.
Refer to "Blank 25 and 26"
http://www.legalaidwestmich.org/libr...-30.4461562308


Entering the home and throwing out your items is illegal in most states, even if the lease had expired. Did he send you a 30 day notice that your lease was expiring, etc.?

In many areas you may have free LEGAL AID OFFICES which may be able to assist you if you feel the eviction is improper.