Landlord left things on property (tenant, square footage, evict, rental property)

[LLTRICHE]

I’ve been living in a rental property for over a year now and the landlord left two freezers on the back porch with the meat in it which he stated to the family that they can use the meat that’s in the deep freezer if they needed some so now he saying that he had $4000 worth of meat and because my daughter stated that his wife came and took some out he got upset and now he’s trying to say that we use the meat without his permission and he wants us to pay him $4500 for some meat that he has left in the deep freezer for over a year. Is that legal.My daughter is willing to pay or actually replace shall I say the meat that she did use but I don’t feel that we should be held responsible for something that you said you were coming to pick up over a year ago and you have a fix anything in the house that you said that you were going to fix on top of it all do I have any legal recourse on him trying to recoup this money because I have a text message stating that he should not have left that they’re out making me responsible for it I can’t say you know how much meat it was in there because I didn’t go in there and it’s a really check so I feel that he should have to cane and got it. Can someone advise.

[reenzz]

How you feel is irrelevant. Do you have anything in writing that states your free to take what you want from the freezer?

[spencgr]

punctuation, please.

[MrRational]

Originally Posted by LLTRICHE

I’ve been living in a rental property for over a year now and
the landlord left two freezers on the back porch with the meat in it which
he stated to the family that they can use the meat that’s in the deep freezer

Who lives there? Who pays the ~$100 (x2) it costs to keep the power on?

...my daughter stated that his wife came and took some out
and now he’s trying to say that we use the meat without his permission
Is that legal.

Doesn't matter. Is it provable (from either end)?

Can someone advise.

How soon do you and daughter want to move?

[parentologist]

It's definitely time to move. If the LL is running freezers there and the tenant pays the electric bill, that alone in my state would make it legal for the tenant to ask for the electric bill to be transferred into the landlord's name.

I suggest that your daughter look for another place immediately, because whether she wants to or not, she is going to be moving soon - the only question is whether she will be moving with or without an eviction.

If the electric bill was in the landlord's name, not much to be done about it. She should ignore his requests for her to reimburse him for the meat, and stay out of his freezers from now on. And she should give appropriate notice that she is not renewing her lease, and move.

If the electric bill is in the tenant's name, then she can call the electric company, complain that the LL has put two freezers in her unit and been forcing her to pay the electricity for them for over a year, and the electric company will transfer the bill into the owner's name. She should give notice and make plans to move, because he's going to be mad as hell.

Every rental payment from now on must be made on time, in full, and by certified, registered mail, because he's going to try to evict for non-payment of rent, so the tenant must have proof of payment of rent. She should also make a request in writing for various things to be fixed, and send that certified too.

When moving out, take photos proving the condition of the unit, and make your request in writing for the deposit to be returned to you at any particular address you want. Most states have laws that if the LL keeps the deposit, but doesn't notify you by a certain date, he owes you double or triple damages.

But she had better understand - she IS moving. If it turns out that she doesn't want to move because she is paying a ridiculously low rent for a crappy place with a crappy LL who steals her electricity, then she should shut up, pay her rent on time, figure that the cost of paying for her LL's freezers is less than paying market rate rent, and let him decide if it's worth it to him to store meat in unsecured freezers on a tenant's property, from which meat disappears. But she should absolutely NOT replace or pay for the meat she or anyone else used. Even if he is paying the electric bill, the freezers being stored in a place that he's rented out and getting paid for, is essentially taking the tenant's square footage.