Roommie Moves Out - Locks and Belongings (Maryland)

[Pherion]

I'm looking for some advise on how to secure my apartment after a room mate has moved out. He lived with me for aproxomatly a year, and I had asked him to move, which he did volentaraly last week. I was under the impression that we would stay on good terms, and allowed him to leave some things at my apartment whcih he did not have room for yet. I also forgot to get the keys from him.

Now things have gone down hill even more, and I need to have his items moved out of the apartment, and get the keys back or the locks changed.

If someone could help me with the necessary leagal procedure to do this I would apreciate it. The sooner I can secure my apartment the better.

Edit: His name never was on the leasing agreement. So I suppose he was "sub leasing" from me?

 

[FarmerJ]

do you have a basement secure storage area or a garage ? First do your self a favor and take pics of the things left behind (create a inventory list to go with the pics ) I would tell you if you change the locks now you risk him attempting to claim you have illegally evicted him. I think you may well be better off removing the things he left to a secure place outside of the apt and sending to him a notice via certified mail to his last known address , even if it is the address from when he lived there and tell him his property is secure but not in the apt any more and to contact you to pick it up other wise it will be treated as abandoned property. With the lock change its purely a matter of chance if he will make a issue of it or not. Youll have to weigh it out. ( exactly what did he take with him that would be convincing enough if you had to try to show a court he had moved out and was not living there anymore)

 

[Pherion]

He took quite literaly all of his essentials. His TV, game systems, pillows, cloths, blankets, etc, etc.

Whats left is several boxes of misc items, a few bags of cloths, and some books/movies/cds. It's not much, but it wouldn't fit in the secure storage that the apartment complex provides me with. If I moved it out, I'd have to get an outside storage facility to rent me a spot for a month or two.

When you say mail him a letter, even if its his old address, could I address this letter to my apartment (since I don't know his new address)?

What is a good time frame to give him to pick up the stuff? How long would I need to wait before chaning the locks to avoid a possible Illegal Eviction?

 

[confused14law]

She wont be able to change the locks without first consulting the apartment complex though. At that point, they might just bring in their own locksmith and charge her for it which I assume you would be OK with it you are really afraid of him trespassing.

 

[FarmerJ]

Pher you wrote > He took quite literaly all of his essentials. His TV, game systems, pillows, cloths, blankets, etc, etc< yes send the letter to his last known address even if it is your address which is the only one you know , Ask your LL flat out if he /she has a extra storage unit you could use for a month , other wise if you can empty your own out, put your things into your apt from storage and use it to store the things he left so be it. Yes its best to have LL arrange for lock change since likely the LL has extra locks on hand already that may be part of a master key system. My own opinion is you should be fairly safe changing the locks since clothes , bedding , electronics are gone but its no promise that He still will not claim illegal lock out so thats why the inventory , then if he attempted to claim he was still living there in a court the court might not agree with him when they see pics and inventory of what was left behind.