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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Posts
    4

    Default Landlords Faked an Eviction and Took All My Property

    My question involves an eviction in the state of: California

    This is a bit twisted and long, but very interesting so please bare with me....

    In early January of '08, a portion the ceiling of my top-floor apartment collapsed due to heavy rain and, obviously some bad structural stuff in this "Historical Monument" building. So I didn't pay for January's rent. Come February, the ceiling still wasn't fixed (they were saying "we can't fix anything till the rain season stops).

    So basically I had to find people to crash with for a couple months. Then I went to get some belongings in mid-March and found an abandonment letter on my door, and the lock had been changed (the apartment hadn't been considered abandoned yet, it was just a warning, but STILL they changed the lock)! Basically they were saying that the unit would be considered abandoned in a few days. I protested this and they withdrew this abandonment thing.

    I refused to pay rent for Jan-March because the apartment was uninhabitable. But then they decided to evict me for failure to pay because "no outside vendor had ever deemed my unit uninhabitable."

    So they told me they were evicting me. I consulted a non-profit lawyer, and he told me to let them file the eviction, and I would have an easy time fighting it in court because I had pictures of the nasty roof collapse and water pouring in and ruining my bed, not to mention a giant chunk of ceiling resting right where my head would be if I had been in bed at the time of the collapse.

    The non-profit lawyer told me to wait for them to serve me with the eviction. The landlord/property manager had all of my updated contact info about where I was staying at the time, so I was just waiting for the eviction to come. A couple weeks passed and I had the lawyer check to see if anything had been filed. Nothing. Then a month or two later, after never having been served I finally realized that they must be stalling for some reason.

    So I called up the property manager, asked him what the heck was going on, and he said something like 'oh... well, I've got your eviction notice right here, and the sheriff came, and we took out all your stuff."

    At that time, I figured they found some loophole and defeated me and managed to steal away all my belongings without me even knowing if I had been evicted or not. But it just recently occurred to me: If they had indeed evicted me and therefore had the right to claim everything that was in my apartment, wouldn't there be some court judgment floating around that says I owe the apartment building those 3 months rent plus attorney fees? After all, they know where I live, they have known all along, I'm an easy guy to find, so after all this time, if there indeed WAS an eviction, wouldn't they be after me for these 8 thousand dollars?

    I now tend to think that they never pursued an eviction. They just tried to scare me away, and not let anything go to court 'cause they were afraid of me exposing some building code violations and shady roof/ceiling construction.


    Now my biggest question is: If they never evicted me, were they allowed to take all my stuff? I had about $30,000 worth of property in my apartment, and I want it back. What can I do? I know it's been a little over a year since this all went down, but I've just now realized that there probably was no eviction in the first place, and by taking my property, they may have done something highly illegal.

    Please, please, please someone give me advice.

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: Landlords Faked an Eviction and Took All My Property

    They weren't allowed to take all your stuff, whether they legally evicted you or not.

    Go find yourself an attorney. You need one.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Landlords Faked an Eviction and Took All My Property

    Thank you very much for the encouraging news. I assume you suggest i find a landlord-tenant lawyer, right?

    And do you know if there is some sort of statute of limitations that would protect the landlord since a year has already passed?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Officially across the country from where I've been all my life
    Posts
    4,494

    Default Re: Landlords Faked an Eviction and Took All My Property

    Quote Quoting LawResearcherMissy
    View Post
    They weren't allowed to take all your stuff, whether they legally evicted you or not.

    Go find yourself an attorney. You need one.
    I may disagree depending on the circumstances. If the Sheriff's did a lockout, the landlord is required to hold the property for a certain amount of time (and can charge storage), then it is declared abandoned.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Landlords Faked an Eviction and Took All My Property

    What exactly is a Sheriff's lockout? And what are the prerequisites for a sheriff's lockout?

    Also. If they never actually went to court and got a judge to approve the eviction, are they allowed to do this lockout?

    And sorry if I'm naive, does a court or some sort of legal authority actually have to make an eviction official?

    Thanks

    Also... If they did do a legal sheriff's lockout, are they required to tell me that this happened? Are they obligated to tell me that they are holding my property and for how long?

    Because in my last conversation with them, the landlord told me he didn't know where my stuff was... he said maybe the owner of the building had my stuff... he said he'd find out and let me know. He never let me know.

  6. #6

    Default Re: Landlords Faked an Eviction and Took All My Property

    Well, you can go online in most counties and search the court records to see if there is a court record against you. Alternatively, you can go to a courthouse in that area and find out as well. If there was one, they would have had to legally serve you to get it though....

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