Roommate Arrested - North Carolina

[dunatis]

Our 3rd roommate was arrested on Aug.11 on a fugative warrent from Texas when he was pulled for speeding(We knew nothing of his past until after the fact) He chose to fight extradition to Texas and has been sitting in the county jail ever since. All of his stuff is still in the 3rd bedroom, and we have had to make up the rent difference for Sept. and Oct. He now owes us $838.85 for rent and bills, now here's the kicker, I co-signed on a car loan with him when his old truck died and he had to get a new car(stupid I know, I have learned my lesson) He signed over power of attorney to my bank and I refinanced the car and had the title transfered to my name only. The best price I can get for the car is $9,500 and the loan was for $13,025. He refused to allow us to take his possessions as payment for his debt(he threated to sue us if we did anything to his property). I sent him a letter informing him that he needed to make arrangements to have his property removed then(oh side note, he is a sub-tenant and is not on the lease) if it was not moved, we would move it to a storage facility and charge him for the moving and rent of the facility(not that we will ever actually see any money) He responded and appointed some people to move his stuff. I contacted them and asked them to have it removed by the end of this week because our new roommate would he here on monday. When they learned of the volume of stuff, they refused to take responsibility for any of it.
Ok, after all of that, I guess my questions are, is there any way that we can claim his property for his debt, if not, how long do we have to keep it until we can get rid of it, and what can we legally do to get rid of it.

 

[Tracey]

Rent a storage space & move the stuff. You can impose a landlord's lien for the unpaid rent/damages he owes + storage fees + transportation costs, but not for the car loan. The car loan is your debt, so you'll have to work out payment terms with the bank. Clean it up real nice & burble about the low miles, excellent condition, etc, and ask for the high end of blue book.

NC law says that you need a writ of possession to move T's stuff & sell it if T's stuff is worth $500 or more. Visit T in jail & have him sign a waiver allowing you to remove his stuff, & giving him 10 days to claim it before you sell it pursuant to NCS 42-25.9.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.

[This message has been edited by Tracey (edited October 07, 2000).]

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dunatis:
Our 3rd roommate was arrested on Aug.11 on a fugative warrent from Texas when he was pulled for speeding(We knew nothing of his past until after the fact) He chose to fight extradition to Texas and has been sitting in the county jail ever since. All of his stuff is still in the 3rd bedroom, and we have had to make up the rent difference for Sept. and Oct. He now owes us $838.85 for rent and bills, now here's the kicker, I co-signed on a car loan with him when his old truck died and he had to get a new car(stupid I know, I have learned my lesson) He signed over power of attorney to my bank and I refinanced the car and had the title transfered to my name only. The best price I can get for the car is $9,500 and the loan was for $13,025. He refused to allow us to take his possessions as payment for his debt(he threated to sue us if we did anything to his property). I sent him a letter informing him that he needed to make arrangements to have his property removed then(oh side note, he is a sub-tenant and is not on the lease) if it was not moved, we would move it to a storage facility and charge him for the moving and rent of the facility(not that we will ever actually see any money) He responded and appointed some people to move his stuff. I contacted them and asked them to have it removed by the end of this week because our new roommate would he here on monday. When they learned of the volume of stuff, they refused to take responsibility for any of it.
Ok, after all of that, I guess my questions are, is there any way that we can claim his property for his debt, if not, how long do we have to keep it until we can get rid of it, and what can we legally do to get rid of it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If his stuff is considered legally abandoned you can sell it and use the money. Research the applicable State L/T laws by using the link titled State Resources in the blue column to the right hand side of this page.

 

[dunatis]

On the advice of a lawyer friend, I sent a certified letter to my ex-roommate in jail stating that we would contine to charge him the agreed monthly rent of $373.33 as long as his possessions remained, until such a time that we could aquire another roommate. If his possessions were not removed by that time, we would transport them to a storage facility and charge him the rent of the storage unit plus labor costs of $15/hr for us to move his possessions. I had hoped that this would prompt him to get a family member to make arrangements to remove his possesions. He responded by mail last Saturday, and appointed several of his friends to remove the property. I contacted them and asked them to have it removed by this Sunday since our new roommate is arriving Monday. When they learned of the volume of stuff, the declined to take possession of his property. We moved it to the storage unit yesterday so that we could clean the room. Can we still get a writ of possession for the property? If so, do I go to the clerk of superior court to have it issued? Will I have to take any sort of evidence?
Thanks for your advice.

 

[Tracey]

If he still has keys, he's still in possession of the apt. You can file for a writ. Or you can get him to give you written permission to sell his stuff & apply the $$ to his back rent. Try #2 first, it's cheaper.

------------------
This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.

 

[dunatis]

T is no longer in possession of a key to the apartment. Once we found out about T's history of crime we became concerned about who he might have associated with. We had our landlord change the locks and alarm codes. T refuses to allow us to sell his stuff.