Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
Do I have to return personal property I have held for 15 months?
Hi,
A ''friend'' of mine asked me to take her antique side table and hold on to it for her when she was evicted from her apartment in 10/01. If I did not take it with me that day, she would have had to leave it at the apartment and the landlord had possession of it. She said that when she got another apartment she would take it back. All these months have went by and she has lived and been evicted from at least 3 other apartments since then and she has never asked for the table or called about it. Today she called and left a message saying that she wanted to come and get the table. Do I legally have to return it to her? She never had me sign anything.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Do I have to return personal property I have held for 15 months?
My, aren't you a "special" friend. Return the table.
Re: Do I have to return personal property I have held for 15 months?
Shame on you. If you want to extricate (steal) this table from your friend, and I use that term very loosely, you will have to comply explicitly with the storage lien law. Ask yourself why you think you deserve this table. Sounds like you have a friend who could use some help.
Re: Do I have to return personal property I have held for 15 months?
The short answer is: yes. She owns the table, not you. Merely because you held it for over a year does not make it yours. Also, the facts you recite do not include an agreement that she had to pick the table up by a certain date, that she would have to pay you storage for the table or that the failure to pick it up by "x" date would render the table abandoned.
-- Kenneth J. Ashman; www.AshmanLawOffices.com
This communication is intended for general informational purposes only and is not intended to create an attorney-client relationship, which, under the policies of Ashman Law Offices, LLC, can only be created by the execution of a formal retention agreement.
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