What to Do if a Lodger Leaves His Property Behind
My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Virginia
For about a year I had an acquaintance who rented a room from me. We only had a verbal agreement of 50 dollars a week, which he rarely paid. Finally I got fed up with his mooching and told him he needed to go. He's been gone about a month now, but all of his stuff is still in my room.
He is couch surfing with other people now with no address and his phone is shut off. I really don't know how to contact him. I ran into him at the store a few days ago by chance and he told me he would sue me if I put his stuff on the curb. I told him I needed it gone and he told me he wasn't ready to come get it yet because he has no place to put it.
What can I do? Can I dispose of his things legally? There are a few things I could probably sell - maybe get 100 dollars total - can I do that? What responsibility do I have to store his stuff?
Re: What to Do if a Lodger Leaves His Property Behind
The Virginia landlord tenant act doesn't apply to you but does have a section about disposal of property abandoned by a tenant:
http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/t...on55-248.38:1/
It's a common sense approach that I recommend using. Otherwise, you'll have to go to court to get a writ of possession for your own home in order to dispose of his property without liability.
The alternative to is just treat it all as trash and toss it and just ignore the deadbeat's threat of a lawsuit.
Don't sell anything and don't keep anything because then you can be sued for money that he could claim belongs to him.
Either do it with proper notice or take your chances and toss it all.
Re: What to Do if a Lodger Leaves His Property Behind
Quote:
Quoting
adjusterjack
The Virginia landlord tenant act doesn't apply to you but does have a section about disposal of property abandoned by a tenant:
http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/t...on55-248.38:1/
It's a common sense approach that I recommend using. Otherwise, you'll have to go to court to get a writ of possession for your own home in order to dispose of his property without liability.
The alternative to is just treat it all as trash and toss it and just ignore the deadbeat's threat of a lawsuit.
Don't sell anything and don't keep anything because then you can be sued for money that he could claim belongs to him.
Either do it with proper notice or take your chances and toss it all.
Thanks adjusterjack. Can you tell me why the landlord tenant act doesn't apply to me? It seems like it should. Except I didn't have to evict him. He left willingly.
Re: What to Do if a Lodger Leaves His Property Behind
Here are some definitions:
Quote:
Quoting Code of Virginia, Sec. 55-248.4. Definitions
..."Dwelling unit" means a structure or part of a structure that is used as a home or residence by one or more persons who maintain a household, including, but not limited to, a manufactured home....
"Roomer" means a person occupying a dwelling unit that lacks a major bathroom or kitchen facility, in a structure where one or more major facilities are used in common by occupants of the dwelling unit and other dwelling units. Major facility in the case of a bathroom means toilet, and either a bath or shower, and in the case of a kitchen means refrigerator, stove, or sink....
"Single-family residence" means a structure, other than a multi-family residential structure, maintained and used as a single dwelling unit or any dwelling unit which has direct access to a street or thoroughfare and shares neither heating facilities, hot water equipment nor any other essential facility or service with any other dwelling unit....
"Tenant" means a person entitled only under the terms of a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others and shall include roomer. Tenant shall not include (i) an authorized occupant, (ii) a guest or invitee, or (iii) any person who guarantees or cosigns the payment of the financial obligations of a rental agreement but has no right to occupy a dwelling unit....
Here's the key exception from the Landlord-Tenant Act:
Quote:
Quoting § 55-248.5. Exemptions; exception to exemption; application of chapter to certain occupants.
A. Except as specifically made applicable by § 55-248.21:1 [early termination by military personnel], the following conditions are not governed by this chapter:...
10. Occupancy in single-family residences where the owners are natural persons or their estates who own in their own name no more than two single-family residences subject to a rental agreement....
I have not found clear authority for this type of situation, and I find the definitions reasonably clear (even if the exemption statute is not clear without reference to the statutory definitions), so I would take the conservative position and argue that under the definitions, even if we assume that you don't exceed the threshold number of properties, your renting of a room does fall under the landlord-tenant act because a rented room with shared facilities appears inconsistent with the definition of "single-family residence".