Property Possession after apartment move-out (Chicago: appointed, rental, home)

[ferrarif545]

Hello all- my apartment lease was up on August 31st and I moved everything out except for my bed and desk (i moved out on August 15th). I happened to know the new people moving in, so I e-mailed them the week before moving out asking them if they wanted to buy the bed and the desk, I got a response saying that they might be interested, and that they would let me know. Turns out they just wanted to have their lease start and claim the possessions for themselves. I know some states have a law that the landlord has to contact the prior tenant and hold the possessions for a certain number of days, and then they can do whatever they want with it. Is this true for Chicago?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[SCCP]

See Municipal Code of Chicago 5-12-130(f):

(f) Disposition of Abandoned Property. If the tenant abandons the dwelling unit as described in subsection (e) hereof, or fails to remove his personal property from the premises after termination of a rental agreement, the landlord shall leave the property in the dwelling unit or remove and store all abandoned property from the dwelling unit and may dispose of the property after seven days. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the landlord reasonably believes such abandoned property to be valueless or of such little value that the cost of storage would exceed the amount that would be realized from sale, or if such property is subject to spoilage, the landlord may immediately dispose of such property.

It looks like you waited too long to assert a legal claim against your landlord, especially if you didn't inform him of the arrangement with the new tenants. I can't guarantee that state law doesn't provide some other kind of remedy - feel free to research it yourself. But the Municipal Code of Chicago often affords stronger protections to tenants than state law.

You might be able to make an argument that you acted in reliance on the incoming tenants' interest in purchasing the personal property (I am just speculating here). But your best bet is just to talk with the new tenants (who are friends/acquaintances you said, right?) and try to get them to give you your bed and desk back voluntarily.

[ChicagoMeO]

Your lucky if the landlord will not charge you for stuff you left behind - for his cost to get rid of it. Although if your lease was up on the 30th, you had time between the 15th and 30th to get it out.

never trust people with your stuff - those other tenants didn't sound too reassuring they'd take your stuff - they did not commit, so the ball was in their court. next time take care of your own stuff and dont trust anyone - unless they put cash in your hand and actually remove it before your lease was up. Take responsibility for your own stuff, that way no one else is in control.

[rparz]

I can't even fathom how this makes sense. If I had anything of value I had an inkling of keeping, I'd make sure to take it with me. You might have had half a gripe if your stuff was gone before the end of August, but, here it is three weeks after your lease expired expecting your old apartment to be a free storage unit?

[ferrarif545]

they were not closest of friends but I definitely knew them more than just an acquaintance. This was on the Northwestern campus where most of the time you leave your bed and sell it to the next tenant. The guys told me that they would get back to me when they moved in to the apartment (I was assuming because they wanted to see the bed in person). Also- classes at NU don't start until September 27th, but a majority of the apartment leases start September 1st (which forces you to basically pay an extra month of the apartment that you won't be using.) So most people move in on the 15th because its the weekend before welcome week. So I e-mailed them asking them when they were moving in, and they responded by saying that they already had and all the stuff was theirs now. I wasn't planning on taking the bed or the desk home so that is why I left it, thinking these were honest kids. Also- the apartment left the beds there with notes saying "For next tenants" on them since August 1st. I might think about taking legal action, but only if I have a good chance of winning (which it doesn't look like). Thank you guys for the help

[ChicagoMeO]

sorry that happened to you.. this happens to people when they trust others. i have had things like that happen to me. so I dont leave it up to anyone to get done what i want to get done. especially with furniture. i have tried to depend on people for things, and then to be disappointed, people mean well but things happen to change plans to suit THEM. so lesson learned, next time I'm sure you will be more in control of things and not let good will determine what you'll do next time

[gomexico]

You're out of luck. No claim against the Landlord for your actions.

[ferrarif545]

forgot to mention I live in evanston, not chicago. therefore, different rules! Here is the law for evanston: http://www.cityofevanston.org/pdf/Re...tOrdinance.pdf

States that the tenant must notify the owner of the property and must store it for at least 15 days AFTER the notice has been sent to the owner of the property. Since the property was well worth over $500, they are also not allowed to simply dispose of it because of it "not being worth the storage costs".

I never received a notice, so we will see how this goes

[ChicagoMeO]

Ferrarif - well thats stupid. So that means you are leaving your stuff rent free for a half month? that means you expect your landlord to give you free rent for that month. lets say your rent for one month is $1,000. That means you expect him to give you $500 freebie? Thats ridiculous and i'd say you have an entitled sense of what you demand.

In either case it would have been better if you were more responsible for your own stuff, its called "taking personal responsibility".

Also, if you have a lease, that spells out exactly what rights you have to lease your apartment. if it says an exact date, then you have no case if you leave your stuff past that date. Now your original post says your lease is up August 31. It does not say August 31 plus 15 days. You therefore have had to get your stuff out of there by August 31. period. What if a new tenant wants to move in September 1st.. does that mean the new tenant has to pay September rent with your junk there, is that fair? so i think what you cited is ridiculous and untrue.

I cannot believe that alleged tenant law you cited is true. That goes against common sense, both legally and practically. I dont' believe thats true what you wrote there.

What would Judge Judy say?

[ferrarif545]

Read the link for yourself instead of saying you don't believe it. Page 5