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I just have to wonder about someone who would open up trash bags left by a tenant in the first place -- eeeeww. Could have been really icky stuff in there, lol
As someone who is privy to someone's personal information given to you in good faith in your position as an apartment manager, you are of course required to properly keep sensitive information in a secure place and, when that information is no longer needed, properly dispose of it.
Properly disposing of personal garbage is the responsibility of it's owner and, once left as garbage, is not protected property.
Not true. It's called the expectation of privacy. You lose the expectation of privacy once your garbage is on public property. In this case, it was left in the house.
Even still, she certainly had the expectation that at worst, her garbage would be thrown away in closed bags. She certainly wouldn't expect her landlady to not only go through her garbage, but to publicly display her private information for the world to see, deliberately.
And as a landlord who is governed by the federal laws above, it could be argued that she had a duty to secure or even to shred that private information, once she was aware of what was in her custody. She sure as hell, being someone in the position to know she has a responsibility to safeguard a tenant's confidential information, should be held liable for publicly displaying this information with all intentions of having the tenant's identity stolen.
And she doesn't get to claim that she didn't know the law. If she breaks a law, regardless of her knowledge of the law, she's guilty. Ignorance of the law is not a defense.
I just have to wonder about someone who would open up trash bags left by a tenant in the first place -- eeeeww. Could have been really icky stuff in there, lol
Might not have just been paper - and some garbage companies won't take bags if they hear "clinking" going on in the bag.
Not true. It's called the expectation of privacy. You lose the expectation of privacy once your garbage is on public property. In this case, it was left in the house.
Even still, she certainly had the expectation that at worst, her garbage would be thrown away in closed bags. She certainly wouldn't expect her landlady to not only go through her garbage, but to publicly display her private information for the world to see, deliberately.
And as a landlord who is governed by the federal laws above, it could be argued that she had a duty to secure or even to shred that private information, once she was aware of what was in her custody. She sure as hell, being someone in the position to know she has a responsibility to safeguard a tenant's confidential information, should be held liable for publicly displaying this information with all intentions of having the tenant's identity stolen.
And she doesn't get to claim that she didn't know the law. If she breaks a law, regardless of her knowledge of the law, she's guilty. Ignorance of the law is not a defense.
This LL was apparently vindictive in her actions and is a real piece of work!
At the same time:
The tenant should have had her mail forwarded to her new place of residence immediately and absolutely not left any trash that contained so much personal information behind to begin with (buy a shredder, buy a clue - even my 70 year old family members KNOW to shred before they toss), but the law is the law - and common sense evaded both the tenant and LL in this situation.
"Don't trust anyone" seems to be the moral of the OP's story, and the lesson learned seems to be "don't leave garbage bags filled with personal info anywhere, and forward your mail to your new addy the second you have one".
You clearly don't understand. This isn't a situation where some sensitive papers were thrown away by the landlord not knowing what they were. This is a landlord DELIBERATELY creating a situation that could easily result in a case of identity theft for their tenant. That is actionable under civil law and possibly criminal law in the OP's jurisdiction.
I do understand. Had you read the specific portion of the post which I quoted you would clearly have seen exactly the generalization I was disputing. I specifically did NOT address what the LL did with what she found in the garbage.
I agree that it was wrong for tenant to do that, but to tape things to the front of bags so that this woman will probably get her identity stolen seemed a bit extreme to me. The landlord is always bragging about how religious she is but this seemed like a very wrong thing to do.
Why do you care? It isn't your information, your renter, your property and basically none of your business.
The renter chose to leave it behind, it is now abandoned.
The landlord can do whatever they want with abandoned property left by a renter.
If the renter's identity gets stolen that is their problem not the landlord's.
Why do you care? It isn't your information, your renter, your property and basically none of your business.
The renter chose to leave it behind, it is now abandoned.
The landlord can do whatever they want with abandoned property left by a renter. If the renter's identity gets stolen that is their problem not the landlord's.
See topics like this always bring out people's true colors.
This is a public forum and I started a topic on it because I wanted to hear other's opinions. That ok with you?
I can't believe some posters see nothing wrong with the landlords actions. Even if considered legal (which I doubt) her actions were morally wrong on so many levels.
As for throwing out the tenants mail, that is beyond mean and petty. I can't help but wonder what the relationship was between a 20 year tenant and this landlord.
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See topics like this always bring out people's true colors.
