Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Can I Sell and Remove Ex-Boyfriend Items Left in My House?
9 years ago I rented a house with my former boyfriend which 3 years ago I bought, in my name only. We had a verbal agreement that he would pay 1/2 the living expenses. However, there were numerous times during the last 4 years that I fully supported him, because he had become jobless and had run out of money. We always kept separate bank accounts, and paid for personal items separately. This relationship ended and he moved out 6 months ago, but most of his furniture and personal possessions are still in my home. He is once again without a job, penniless, living on a friend's couch, and doesn't know when he will be able to move to a place and get his stuff out of my home.
I would like to rent out a bedroom, but cannot do this until he removes his possessions. I feel this situation will go on forever if I don't take action to remove his items myself. What legal rights do I have regarding selling his furniture and removing his items from my house?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Can I Sell and Remove Ex-Boyfriend Items Left in My House?
Well, here's a starting point. If your ex can be regarded as a former tenant, and you the landlady, there is a procedure set by statute, and you should buy or borrow a paperback book on how to be a landlord (or look at the Civil Code) and follow the instructions for notice to a former tenant precisely.
If the relationship was clearly something other that landlady-tenant, you may be stuck with the less clear-cut rules covering what are called gratuitous bailments. Since I'm at home, I can't recite the rules, but among other things you owe only a 'slight' duty of care to the bailor (you are the bailee).
One possibility that should meet the 'slight care' and other duties of an involuntary bailee such as yourself is to store the things is a mini-storage. This should cost less than the rent from the vacated space in your house. In the long run, your ex is liable for the storage costs and if they approach the value of the things you could sell them and apply the proceeds to the cost of storage.
If you choose this alternative, contact me directly for details.
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