College Basically Stole My Possessions

[GabbyF]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey
Disclaimer
I sincerely apologize for posting this again. I deleted the first posting since it was in the wrong section, and the second one I had to close because someone kept harassing me and ruined the integrity of the entire issue. Anyway...


(Issue)
While in the process of moving from one apartment complex to another Monday, 5/28/12 on my college campus (The College of New Jersey), they unlocked all the doors that following Wednesday, 5/30/12 which has resulted in several of my items still in the room going missing. Also, unlocking all the doors and when exactly residents had to have their stuff moved out because this was going to be happening was something residents were never notified of. Additionally, the only people around at the time my stuff went missing were other college employees, making them the prime suspects for either stealing/throwing away my things.

(Question)
I would like to know what legal course of action I should take because I want to be reimbursed/sue for the items I lost. I have receipts and bank statements for all the items lost in case I need to go to court, but I really just want to know what legal course of action I should pursue, if any.

 

[las365]

What property do you allege was taken? If you moved on the 28th, why was your property still in the apartment on the 30th? By what date were you supposed to vacate the premises?

 

[GabbyF]

Response

1-I have a list of things, that I'm not going in to detail now, but they were all things that I could prove that I owned, like I stated, and were a vacuum cleaner and several fairly expensive statues just to give a brief mentioning of the items.
2-They gave us an extension on how long we had to move, but to be perfectly honest, they have been very capricious with most of the deadlines and sticking to them, so it's hard to tell when they actually mean anything.
3-We had to start moving by May 28, but after that there was no clarification as to when we were expected to have everything vacated from premises, the time frame we had to work with, or what would happen after said time frame.

 

[las365]

They gave us an extension on how long we had to move

When were you supposed to vacate under your lease agreement? And how long was the extension?

It makes no sense that a landlord would give a date that a tenant has to "start" moving out. They don't care when you start. They give you a date by which you no longer have a right to the property under your lease. So, what was that date?

 

[GabbyF]

Reply

When were you supposed to vacate under your lease agreement? And how long was the extension?

It makes no sense that a landlord would give a date that a tenant has to "start" moving out. They don't care when you start. They give you a date by which you no longer have a right to the property under your lease. So, what was that date?

That's the thing, we, we being all the other residents, were never official or unofficially given such a date, which is why I only have the 'start' date to give you. That's why I'm having such a tiffy now, because they never gave us a time frame or final vacate date of any form, just the 'start' moving date.

 

[justalayman]

C. Occupancy shall be subject to all rules and regulations of The College,
including those in A Guide to Residence Living and the Social Agreement,
which are available for inspection in the hall offices and available online.
D. Residence halls are closed during semester break and other college closings.
Residents are required to vacate the residence halls during the periods. Dates
and times that residence halls will be closed are listed in A Guide to Residence
Living and available online

from that document:

Spring 2012
Residence Halls Open – Monday, January 16, 10AM
Spring Break (Residence Halls Close) – Friday, March 2, 8PM
Spring Break (Residence Halls Re-Open) – Sunday, March 11, 2PM
24 Hour Quiet Hours Begin – Thursday, April 26, 11PM
Residence Halls Close – Friday, May 4, 8PM
Commencement – Friday, May 11

End Of The Year Closing
All residence halls close for the summer on Friday, May 4 at 8:00 PM. Students must completely vacate their housing assignment within 24 hours of their last final or Friday, May 4 at 8:00 PM, whichever comes first. Students living on campus but staying for Maymester are allowed to stay in their current assignment until Sunday, May 6. More specific instructions will be e-mailed out to those students during finals week.
In addition, students with a MicroFridge will be sent separate instructions on how to ensure your fridge is picked up properly.
For complete information on the closing of the halls, student responsibility, and the opportunity to donate your belongings, please download the documents below. Good luck on finals and have a great summer!

from: http://housing.pages.tcnj.edu/living-on-campus/important-dates/hall-closing-instructions/

is this the same College of New Jersey?

 

[CdwJava]

When you contacted the college and asked about what happened to the belongings left in the room, what did they tell you?

Have you made a claim to the college for the lost items?

 

[justalayman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Jersey
Disclaimer
I sincerely apologize for posting this again. I deleted the first posting since it was in the wrong section, and the second one I had to close because someone kept harassing me and ruined the integrity of the entire issue. Anyway...


(Issue)
While in the process of moving from one apartment complex to another Monday, 5/28/12 on my college campus (The College of New Jersey), they unlocked all the doors that following Wednesday, 5/30/12 which has resulted in several of my items still in the room going missing. Also, unlocking all the doors and when exactly residents had to have their stuff moved out because this was going to be happening was something residents were never notified of. Additionally, the only people around at the time my stuff went missing were other college employees, making them the prime suspects for either stealing/throwing away my things.

(Question)
I would like to know what legal course of action I should take because I want to be reimbursed/sue for the items I lost. I have receipts and bank statements for all the items lost in case I need to go to court, but I really just want to know what legal course of action I should pursue, if any.

for posterity

 

[Ohiogal]

JAL -- I was going to say that usually if you live in dorms on campus you have to be out by the end of the semester. YOu normally don't get a week or two AFTER the end of semester to move. OP may very well be out of luck as she was supposed to be out and therefore the school disposed of everything. School dorms are NOT bound by normal landlord/tenant laws.

 

[justalayman]

JAL -- I was going to say that usually if you live in dorms on campus you have to be out by the end of the semester. YOu normally don't get a week or two AFTER the end of semester to move. OP may very well be out of luck as she was supposed to be out and therefore the school disposed of everything. School dorms are NOT bound by normal landlord/tenant laws.

yep. That's why I posted the move out dates for what appears to be the OP's school.

I live near a prominent school and due to the relationship between my occupation (a lot of my kind of guys do a lot of work at the school) and the school, I see what happens to stuff left in the dorms after move out date.

DUMPSTER TIME!!!

or at least it used to be. They finally got smart and now have a huge yard sale with the proceeds going to charity.

 

[GabbyF]

Response

from that document:





from: http://housing.pages.tcnj.edu/living-on-campus/important-dates/hall-closing-instructions/

is this the same College of New Jersey?

This is the same college, but that particular text only relates to housing during the school year, and does not cover Summer housing, which is way more wish-washy with following their own rules than how it is during the school year.

 

[GabbyF]

Summer Housing Rules, NOT Post School Year

Before everyone goes on a total tangent, I'm here specifically for Summer Housing, which the school offers, and this is NOT a case of my stuff being here after the end of the year. This happened in between the move in/move out time for different summer sessions on campus, since my school decided it would be a great idea to have 2 different places for the different summer sessions, and is NO WAY a case of my stuff being here well after the move out time. I wouldn't be here if that was the case.

 

[justalayman]

This is the same college, but that particular text only relates to housing during the school year, and does not cover Summer housing, which is way more wish-washy with following their own rules than how it is during the school year.

summer session (session A) doesn't have a move out date until June 28. Do you mean Maymester? Their move out date was May 24 from 9 am to 8 pm.

Summer session move IN date was May 28.

http://housing.pages.tcnj.edu/files/2011/06/2012-Summer-Housing-Important-Dates3.pdf

so, please clarify just what session you are speaking of. It would appear due to the dates of concern, it had to be Maymester and the move out date is clearly defined in the document I linked as are the summer semester dates.

 

[CdwJava]

Before everyone goes on a total tangent, I'm here specifically for Summer Housing, which the school offers, and this is NOT a case of my stuff being here after the end of the year. This happened in between the move in/move out time for different summer sessions on campus, since my school decided it would be a great idea to have 2 different places for the different summer sessions, and is NO WAY a case of my stuff being here well after the move out time. I wouldn't be here if that was the case.

Then we return to this:

What were you told when you brought this up to the powers-that-be?

Have you made a claim to the college for the loss of your property?

Did you sign any kind of agreement that they will be able to point to that says you had to be OUT on a specific date?

 

[GabbyF]

Reply to CdwJava

When you contacted the college and asked about what happened to the belongings left in the room, what did they tell you?

Have you made a claim to the college for the lost items?

When I contacted the college, they claimed that all they did was have all the doors unlocked to 'prepare for cleaning in June.' To add on to this, I had to go between two different departments because the ones who unlocked the doors wouldn't respond to my original e-mail mentioning this (Building Services), and I had to contact the Residential Education department to get an answer. That being said, Res. Ed.'s response was basically that, although they're sorry for my losses, they can't account for what happened to my things, and that's the only thing they really said with sustenance at this point. I have since responded basically stating that they are responsible, since the only people around at the time to throw my things away/steal them/what-have-you were people employed by the college itself, so it's basically as if the college stole from me itself.

As far as making a claim to TCNJ, I haven't done so because it seems like my school has no structure to support making a claim, or at least finding out how to do so, because I've looked on their site and have yet find anything helpful as to how to do this, but I have filed a report for stolen items with the campus police.