M
manis
Guest
I think this is an interesting situation I'm in. This is coming from Olympia, WA.
I was housesitting for a couple weeks for a friend who had some business up in Tacoma, a half hour away from here. My boyfriend and I, friends of his of course, went with the tenant, Jerry, to get a copy of the key to use while he was away. He failed to tell us that his rent was overdue. Before Jerry left for Tacoma, we stayed with him for several days, in the course of which we were introduced to his friend Randy, who also happened to be apartment security. He was informed that we were indeed staying in the apartment with Jerry.
After we'd been house sitting for about 2 weeks, at 2am on a Saturday night we heard a knock on the door. I answered it and found myself face to face with Randy. I found that rather strange, seeing as it was 2 am on a Saturday, and he knew that Jerry was up in Tacoma.
He asked for mine and my boyfriends names. I frowned, and asked him why he needed them, since we'd already been introduced. When I didn't give him the answer he was searching for, he stated that he was apartment security (and I should also mention that he was in no uniform of any sort- he was wearing jeans and a studded leather jacket), and that the apartment showed signs of forced entry, and that if we didn't vacate the premises immediately, he would call the cops. We verbally disagreed for several minutes, but my boyfriend ended up breaking up our argument and telling me to just grab a bag and that we would return the next day for our belongings. I didn't like that idea in the slightest, mostly because instinct told me that if we left our belongings there that night, we'd never see them again.
Randy, the guard, and I continued to argue, and he started to threaten physical violence when I began to discuss conditions of our returning to retrieve our belongings. I quit arguing with him and instead pursued answers to such questions as when we would be allowed back in, whether he was going to change the locks, whether or not we had to be accompanied by the tenant, etc. Finally, he grabbed ahold of the back of my head, gripping my hair, and slammed my head into the door jam, twice. I in turn attempted to grab him and punch him in self defense, but my boyfriend intervened, and convinced me that getting out of the apartment before the cops were called was the best idea for the moment, so we gathered our sweatshirts and his sleeping bag, moved the car to a hospital parking lot, and slept in the freezing cold, having no other place to turn at that time of the morning.
The next day we returned to the apt complex early to retrieve our belongings. The blinds were open, the lights were on, and the door knob had been replaced. Looks like I was right. I was furious. We walked over to the complex office, but being Sunday, we didn't expect it to be open, and it wasn't. We were completely frustrated, as we had just gone grocery shopping 2 days before, had a refrigerator stocked with food, and other problems plagued us also: my school books were inside, my work clothes were inside, our toiletries were inside, EVERYTHING. Even my personal notebooks, computer workbooks, etc. We had been storing our things with Jerry until we found a new place to live prior to our stay there, so all of our belongings were in that apartment.
Sunday night came and again we found ourselves sleeping in the car. Keep in mind, these are the winter months, and it's COLD at night when you're sleeping outside in a car. Also, I should note that the car was a 2 door Hyundai from the late 80's- a TINY car, and when we laid down the backseat and crawled into the small space it created, his 6'06" frame and my 5'09" one didn't exactly have room to even breathe. Plus, we only had the one sleeping bag for covers, as I hadnt planned on sleeping outside for more than one night. We weren't even allowed to go back in to get our blankets and my other sleeping bag.
Finally Monday morning came, and we were at the apartment office as soon as it opened. We explained to them that our belongings were locked inside the apartment (which they had plastered papers stating that it was "abandoned" on the door) and that we would like to retrieve them. They told us that we would have to be in the accompaniment of the tenant to retrieve our items. Though we knew this would be difficult, seeing as he worked full time a half hour away and didn't have a car, we agreed. Unfortunately, when we called the place he was staying, we found out that he had gone to jail on an old warrant. When we approached the complex office again they laughed at us when we asked if there was anything else we could do to retrieve our belongings. We finally decided to give up for the moment and pursue our legal rights, if we had any.
We later found out that Jerry was out of jail. We failed to reach him in Tacoma, though we were told that that was indeed where he was still residing. We approached the complex again about our belongings, and they informed us that Jerry had been in to retrieve his belongings, had denied that he had allowed us to occupy the apartment, and stated to the guard that he was planning on throwing out our belongings.
Our attempts to contact Jerry have been futile. We have given up approaching the apartment complex, as we got absolutely nowhere with them. Our only chance to retrieve our belongings now, or some sort of retribution for them, is to pursue our legal options.
Please, if anyone has any info regarding what kind of options or rights I have, please let me know asap. It has been quite some time since the situation happened, as I felt that any effort to retrieve my belongings would result in failure. I really appreciate your advice, and thanks for wading through this.
-Becky, [email protected]
I was housesitting for a couple weeks for a friend who had some business up in Tacoma, a half hour away from here. My boyfriend and I, friends of his of course, went with the tenant, Jerry, to get a copy of the key to use while he was away. He failed to tell us that his rent was overdue. Before Jerry left for Tacoma, we stayed with him for several days, in the course of which we were introduced to his friend Randy, who also happened to be apartment security. He was informed that we were indeed staying in the apartment with Jerry.
After we'd been house sitting for about 2 weeks, at 2am on a Saturday night we heard a knock on the door. I answered it and found myself face to face with Randy. I found that rather strange, seeing as it was 2 am on a Saturday, and he knew that Jerry was up in Tacoma.
He asked for mine and my boyfriends names. I frowned, and asked him why he needed them, since we'd already been introduced. When I didn't give him the answer he was searching for, he stated that he was apartment security (and I should also mention that he was in no uniform of any sort- he was wearing jeans and a studded leather jacket), and that the apartment showed signs of forced entry, and that if we didn't vacate the premises immediately, he would call the cops. We verbally disagreed for several minutes, but my boyfriend ended up breaking up our argument and telling me to just grab a bag and that we would return the next day for our belongings. I didn't like that idea in the slightest, mostly because instinct told me that if we left our belongings there that night, we'd never see them again.
Randy, the guard, and I continued to argue, and he started to threaten physical violence when I began to discuss conditions of our returning to retrieve our belongings. I quit arguing with him and instead pursued answers to such questions as when we would be allowed back in, whether he was going to change the locks, whether or not we had to be accompanied by the tenant, etc. Finally, he grabbed ahold of the back of my head, gripping my hair, and slammed my head into the door jam, twice. I in turn attempted to grab him and punch him in self defense, but my boyfriend intervened, and convinced me that getting out of the apartment before the cops were called was the best idea for the moment, so we gathered our sweatshirts and his sleeping bag, moved the car to a hospital parking lot, and slept in the freezing cold, having no other place to turn at that time of the morning.
The next day we returned to the apt complex early to retrieve our belongings. The blinds were open, the lights were on, and the door knob had been replaced. Looks like I was right. I was furious. We walked over to the complex office, but being Sunday, we didn't expect it to be open, and it wasn't. We were completely frustrated, as we had just gone grocery shopping 2 days before, had a refrigerator stocked with food, and other problems plagued us also: my school books were inside, my work clothes were inside, our toiletries were inside, EVERYTHING. Even my personal notebooks, computer workbooks, etc. We had been storing our things with Jerry until we found a new place to live prior to our stay there, so all of our belongings were in that apartment.
Sunday night came and again we found ourselves sleeping in the car. Keep in mind, these are the winter months, and it's COLD at night when you're sleeping outside in a car. Also, I should note that the car was a 2 door Hyundai from the late 80's- a TINY car, and when we laid down the backseat and crawled into the small space it created, his 6'06" frame and my 5'09" one didn't exactly have room to even breathe. Plus, we only had the one sleeping bag for covers, as I hadnt planned on sleeping outside for more than one night. We weren't even allowed to go back in to get our blankets and my other sleeping bag.
Finally Monday morning came, and we were at the apartment office as soon as it opened. We explained to them that our belongings were locked inside the apartment (which they had plastered papers stating that it was "abandoned" on the door) and that we would like to retrieve them. They told us that we would have to be in the accompaniment of the tenant to retrieve our items. Though we knew this would be difficult, seeing as he worked full time a half hour away and didn't have a car, we agreed. Unfortunately, when we called the place he was staying, we found out that he had gone to jail on an old warrant. When we approached the complex office again they laughed at us when we asked if there was anything else we could do to retrieve our belongings. We finally decided to give up for the moment and pursue our legal rights, if we had any.
We later found out that Jerry was out of jail. We failed to reach him in Tacoma, though we were told that that was indeed where he was still residing. We approached the complex again about our belongings, and they informed us that Jerry had been in to retrieve his belongings, had denied that he had allowed us to occupy the apartment, and stated to the guard that he was planning on throwing out our belongings.
Our attempts to contact Jerry have been futile. We have given up approaching the apartment complex, as we got absolutely nowhere with them. Our only chance to retrieve our belongings now, or some sort of retribution for them, is to pursue our legal options.
Please, if anyone has any info regarding what kind of options or rights I have, please let me know asap. It has been quite some time since the situation happened, as I felt that any effort to retrieve my belongings would result in failure. I really appreciate your advice, and thanks for wading through this.
-Becky, [email protected]