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Hey everyone. My roommate has recently gotten in trouble and will not be back for a long time. He is from out of the country and I know nothing about his family.
Now his room is a complete mess because the police completely thrashed the entire apartment. I am still in shock from the whole thing. He has an incredible amount of stuff for how small our apartment is. He was really good at tightly packing everything away (I guess his previous apartment was much bigger).
I don't think I could ever fit everything back where it was after the horrible mess the police made. Even if I could I need to put his stuff somewhere so I can get a new roommate to pay his half of the rent, because I only have so much money saved up for emergencies.
I really don't want to throw his stuff away because he has really nice things - plus these are his life possessions and he was my friend. I really don't know what to do. Any suggestions for hiring someone to clean up, pack and put his things into storage? Has anyone dealt with something like this before? I think I'd be willing to pay for the removal and storage until I can contact their family or at least hold it until I can't afford it anymore.
Seriously though, contact him or visit him in prison if you can and ask him where you can reach his family. Or ask for the money to put it into storage, after all it is his stuff not yours. How much time is he looking at and was he already found guilty or just arrested?
You should probably send him a letter. Usually a person will spend time in jail before and even after a conviction since it takes time to determine which prison he'll be sent to. He might authorize you to sell something expensive like a vehicle to pay for storage, but you'd need to get everything in writing. He might be happy to give you power of attorney to get access to his money to pay for storage as well. Or he might say keep what you want, sell the rest for rent. You won't know until you ask. You should also notify your LL in the near future and let him/her know that you'll be roommate shopping.
There's a difference between what you're required to do and what you're willing to do as well. Do you want contact with this person when he resolves his legal problems? If yes, ask what things are most important to him and put them away if it's doable.
Actually to be honest the issue is a bit more complicated. He hasn't been caught yet, but has a warrant for his arrest (shown to me by the police when they were here destroying my apartment). So contacting him is out of the question because I want no involvement. I have no idea how long he'll be on the run before being put into custody.
I guess my question is more about services that will help me pack the stuff and put it in storage. I don't have a car and don't know many people in the city. I figure that the cost of paying someone to help me move the stuff into storage will outweigh the cost of paying double rent for the next few months which is how much time it would take me doing this by myself, given my work schedule. I have strong beliefs about respecting people's property regardless of alleged wrongdoings, and want to do the right thing until the situation stabilizes.
Anyone have any recommendations for such services in the bay area? I was even looking into movers who specialize with hoarders...
call a moving company. Call a few. They do packing and moving it into storage as well as moving the stuff out. Have them give written quotes.
There are several nationwide moving companies such as United Van Lines, Bekins, Mayflower and several others I can't think of at the moment.
You would need to find a storage unit and rent it and pay monthly rent. Then get the movers to pack and take stuff to the storage unit. You better check costs for storage...shop around. It might be a couple hundred per month. I really have no clue.
Some good suggestions but almost all will cost the OP money.
I really have no recommendation other than to pack his stuff up yourself and store it for him. He may never come back, anyway. And, if he has some heavy charges that will lock him up for quite awhile, do you really want to be that guy who threw out/sold his stuff when he does get out?
It hadn't occurred to me that it may not be my legal responsibility. We are both on the lease, and we just made it past one year and so we are month to month. I already talked to the landlord about it and i told him I could cover a few months likely, but i will look into seeing where my own liabilities are. He seemed very sympathetic though, which was a relief.
Thank you for the suggestions. I feel like I have a better idea of where to start going about solving this. Very much appreciated!
How long ago did this happen? I would think that in a short time someone from his family will contact you about his stuff. I would not take his calls if he is on the run, that could get you into trouble, and you'll have to report his calls to avoid getting into trouble. I'm sure the police already told you that.
If he gets arrested he may try to call you collect from jail I would take a call from jail, just so that you can ask him about selling his stuff and sending him the money. Sort of a mess for you it sounds. Is there somewhere the LL has to store things?
Usually when someone gets arrested they get to have a chance to prove they are innocent, even bail themselves out..That way if he has things of value, perhaps you could sell it then if he needs the funds if you've stored them.
If his rent is paid up, I'd wait until at least then before doing anything permanent.
You might want to try to pack things up and store at least for a couple months after that. Good luck on this.
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