Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

First, I would advise not doing anything that you and your roommate don't both agree upon. Getting into a dispute with your roommate isn't worth it.

Next, if neither of you gave the visitor permission to leave her personal property in your garage, you may legally give her "reasonable notice" to come and get it before you dispose of it, and if she doesn't remove it, you can dispose of it in any reasonable manner.

OK, let's try to define "reasonable notice" and what is a "reasonable manner" of disposing of the property.

Reasonable notice would require that you try hard to make sure she gets the notice -- by using mail, certified mail, phone calls, FAXes and e-mail, whatever is likely to work. Try HARD to get the notice through, and keep a record of what you did. Reasonable notice also requires that you give her enough time to "come and get it" - probably 30 days unless you know she is on a world cruise or on board the space station. Also, reasonable notice requires a fair opportunity to have access - for example, you can't insist that she come to pick up on Monday through Friday between 10 and 4 if you know she's required to be at work those hours.

If despite "reasonable notice" as described above she still doesn't make an appointment and follow through to pick up her stuff, we move on to disposing of the stuff in a reasonable manner. What's a "reasonable" disposition depends upon many factors, including what the stuff is worth, how it is usually sold, whether there is a market, and so on. Possibilities may include yard sales, eBay, Craig's List, pawn shops, newspaper ads, flea markets, and so forth. If none of these methods makes sense because the stuff is crapola, take it to the recycle center or what we used to call the "dump." I would also make an exception for stuff that has personal or sentimental value like photo albums - it may have no market value, but it would be "unreasonable" to dump things that don't take up a lot of space.

From the proceeds of selling off the stuff, you can deduct youyr costs for advertising, etc., but the rest of the money still belongs to the roommate's friend, and must be turned over to her at the earliest opportunity.

No, I don't think you can charge for storage. Only licensed warehouses can do that. But, you are also not obligated to keep stuff left with you forever, and if you follow the above steps you should be within your rights. Just remember you need to act REASONABLY in all steps and not hastily or unfairly.

I agree with Bryan, but I would also suggest that you tell her that if she doesn't come pick it up you are giving to move it to a self storage facility and she will be responsible for the costs.

I also think reasonable notice in this circumstances would be a couple of weeks since she only stayed for one night. The key here is getting an agreement with your roommate and locating her to give her the notice.

Hope this helps and good luck in the new year.