Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Hawaii

Roomate

My partner and I are on the lease for our apartment, we were renting the second room to a friend who has not occupied the room since early May 09, we were under the belief that as on june 1st his room would be cleared out since May's rent was paid. It is now June 22nd and after numerous atempts via phone calls and Myspace there has still been no contact with us and he still has items in the room and in the apartment he is still in posession of the apartment keys as well.Today I had the landlord change the locks to the apartment, I had given our former roomate a deadline of Monday 6/22 to clear out the apartment but it has not been cleared out yet. MY question is do I have any rights to dispose or take posession of the items left in the room and apartment?


Asked on 6/22/09, 9:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jon Zahaby Tour bus, scenic and sightseeing, operation

Re: Roomate

No, you do not have the right. This has been an area of many troubles for landlords. Your landlord did not have the right to change the locks either. Abandonment/Eviction proceedure is specific, with specific time lines and the process must be followed. At this time you and your landlord have violated the landlord/tenant statute. I would catalogue his items and store them until you can contact him.

Aloha, Jon A. Zahaby

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Answered on 6/23/09, 2:24 pm


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