Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Washington

I left town, to visit family. When I returned I found that my locks have been changed, my personal possessions were pilfered through and what wasn't stolen, was thrown into a storage unit. Many very valuable things were stolen, and old family possessions had been smashed. I was told (via text, my calls were not returned), that I was not welcome on the property and the police would be called for trespassing.

When I inquired about my belongings, I was told they had "no idea". This person then proceeded to tell me I was a "drug dealer", and that I should not even bother calling the police, because I "don't have any rights" because of my probationary status. They have since begun trying to extort money from me for a number of things, that the value of, has been completely fabricated.

I wasn't on the lease.

Neither was the room mate from upstairs who "evicted" me.

I had paid my rent for the month.

Please help! They stole my Grandfathers guitar, as well!


Asked on 11/14/11, 11:37 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Amir John Showrai The Pacific Law Firm, PLLC

If you were renting a room in a home, I am going to assume you are not going to be able to hire an attorney at any hourly rate, so I suggest you head down to the nearest King County Courthouse, and talk to the housing advocates there about what your options are. You can also google low income legal aid attorneys and see what can be done for you.

Alternatively, if you have documentation of the items that were stolen or damaged, you may want to file a police report. That said, if you do have a criminal record, not that they should behave this way, but I suspect the police will take you less seriously.

On the eviction issue, the one thing that concerns me is that you are not listed on the lease, yet you pay rent. That puts you in a precarious position to prove that you have any renter's rights. If you pay rent by check each month, that would help to prove the tenancy, especially if you wrote "[month], [year] rent" on each check's memo line and can get copies of the checks from your bank. If you paid in cash and have signed receipts indicating you paid rent, that's o.k. too. If you pay in cash and have no proof of payment nor what it was for, that may be a problem. Again, that is something you'll want to go over with an attorney if you can.

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Answered on 11/14/11, 12:53 pm


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