Someone down the street from me just got evicted!

[zzyzzx]

No picture to post yet. I should probably take pictures of the pile of stuff on the street on a daily basis just to track the stuff as it disappears. My question as if it's OK to take stuff from the pile if I want it. I was thinking that if I see anything that looks like it might be OK to drop off at the local thrift store, why not? I mean, aren't I doing the neighborhood a favor if I do that? Of course, I would save all the thrift store reciepts for tax purposes.

I saw this a lot where I used to live in apartments as well, and am not sure what the appropriate protocall is.

[MackemX]

I don't think it's OK as it's still legally theirs

I suppose if you reported it to the police, maybe take it to the police station even. If it wasn't claimed and they couldn't find the owner then in time you would legally own it wouldn't you?

[adam]

Are you being serious? They still own the property. Eviction doesn't mean you lose your stuff it just means you can't keep it there anymore, so the owner of the premises had the right to throw it on the streets if he/she wanted. But its no different than if you see a suitcase fall out of someone's car when they are driving. Its still their stuff and obviously they didn't intend for it to wind up there. If it sits long enough than they can be deemed to have abandoned it but if they come after you later for taking it then you'd be the one that would have to prove it.

You can take the stuff and hold it for them and if they do not collect it then you can keep it as yours after a certain amount of reasonable time, but you've got to be responsible about it. If you take it you've got to genuinely hold it for them and at least try to get in touch with them to let them know how they can reclaim their stuff. If people are stealing it then this would actually be a nice thing to do for them, though it might be a little embarrasing to go out there with your wheelbarrow and take it all in front of your neighbors.

[Treebeard]

lets see some pics!

[zzyzzx]

I'm at work right now. The stuff has been there for at least 2 days, and appears to be intact. Would make for an interesting photo essay to take pictures of it on a daily basis.

[zzyzzx]

Are you being serious? They still own the property. Eviction doesn't mean you lose your stuff it just means you can't keep it there anymore, so the owner of the property had the right to throw it on the streets if he/she wanted. But its no different than if you see a suitcase fall out of someone's car when they are driving. Its still their stuff and obviously they didn't intend for it to wind up there. If it sits long enough than they can be deemed to have abandoned it but if they come after you later for taking it then you'd be the one that would have to prove it.

I would only take stuff at night, and if nobody is looking. And while I'm sure that Adam is correct, I am thinking more along the lines of the practical aspects of this. I doubt anyone is going to come after you for what I consider to be junk. That and it is taking up a space where someone could park.

[Supreme2k]

Not to threadjack, but I just noticed that zzyzzx's and MackemX's avatars look like nefore and after (that must be some excellent brew!)

[Doramius]

What's the property hold time in your area? My father owns rental properties and has had to evict people himself. He usually holds the stuff far longer than required by law. I think he has hope that the person will come for some of the important stuff and pay the storage fees to get it.

Many times the stuff is junk, or we believe it to be "HOT", but can't prove it. WHat he'll do is videotape the apartment before removing the items, List the items but bulk up items like clothing and itemize more important items like furniture and electronics, have 2 witnesses to help him remove the items & have his documentation viewed by an attorney and a legal document made to be notarized.

Often the are TVs with power cords cut, horribly damaged furniture, broken or non-functional equipment, ratty old and worn clothes.
When it comes time, we'll go to a storage unit and figure out what to do with the stuff. The clothes we'll often pick through and find decent things to drop off at a thrift store and get the tax deduction. If its too ratty looking we'll junk it. Decent equipment & furniture we'll either use if it's nice enough, or sell. Otherwise take it to the thrift store or junk it.

I got a nice Cal.King bed frame from stuff like that. My dad has a 52" TV, and quite a few other things. There have been a few times where people have paid the storage fees and past due balances to where we've returned their stuff, but in 15 years of my father being a landlord, I could count the times on 2 hands. Such a shame.

[ZAPPER]

I am too proud to steal from someone less off than myself, but I have seen others go through the stuff like it was Christmas morning. I never knew the law about it, but it never seemed right to take anything. (Hmm, I got morales, but don't know how or why) I have on a couple of occasions covered the pile with plastic sheeting on the pretense that I was trying to protect the stuff from the weather, when actually I was trying to stop the looting. I lived in apartments for a long time and saw a few evictions. It always kind of struck a nerve that I could be in the same boat if I got hurt and couldn't work for a couple of weeks.

Kind of on the same page, my brother does repo work. I have rode shotgun a few times and I may talk a mean game, but I really don't like it. I mean I know that there are two sides to it all, but not everyone deserves what they get or gets what they deserve.

[lordsmurf]

I was under the impression that anything left in the street, in the form of trash, is public property. Not the best of references, but CSI digs through trash all the time, and it's because it's not on private property.

If the landlord has trashed the stuff, and the owner has clearly failed to remove his property before eviction date (eviction notices, right?) then it's considered junk and tossed to the curb for weekly trash pickup.

If you see good trash by the street, take it. One man's trash is another man's treasure, right?

[ZAPPER]

I don't know? I have heard that as long as it is still in your can it is still yours and that the cops are supposed to wait and or get it from the trash company or have a warrent. It could all be urban legend though.

I kind of think of dumpster diving as being along these lines too, I mean I have seen keep out stickers that site some ordinance before too.

[adam]

No lordsmurf, only the owner of the property can abandon it. Failing to pay your rent and getting evicted just means you can no longer store your property there, its still your property regardless of what the landlord decides to do with it.

You can take trash because its owner, presumably, left it there and abandoned it. This is not the case with a landlord who just has no obligation to store your stuff for you anymore. Of course I'm saying this knowing that the landlord just threw it out. To a person walking by on the street it might look like garbage that someone threw out, so they would not be in the wrong in taking it but if it is not yet legally abandoned than this makes them a bailee. The actual owner of the property can still come and claim it at any time. But if they are not dilligent in doing so THEN it becomes abandoned.

Each state has laws that govern this stuff. The landlord can take your property under certain circumstances and sell it to pay for back rent. But until the actual owner of the property, not the landlord, abandons the items then it is still their private property.

[lordsmurf]

But if they are not dilligent

And how is this determined? I would have thought failing to acknowledge the eviction notice would be sufficient enough to meet this requirement.

[adam]

You can fail to be dilligent in paying your rent and yet still be dilligent in picking up your property when you know it will be thrown on the street. In fact, I would think that most people would be.

There are no hard and fast rules for when property becomes abandonned generally. That is why each state has specific rules governing landlords so they really don't have to worry about it. They usually just have to hold the property for no more than 3 days unless they are able to contact the person and they state they will claim their property. In this case the landlord usually has to hold it for 30 days. If the person has been deemed to have abandonned the premises then the landlord can seize the property and sell it to pay for any back rent, but there are laws governing how much of the proceeds have to be given back to the former tenant.

As for how long it takes after it hits the street before it is anyone's game (actual owner could not reclaim it after the fact) it is a fact and circumstances situation. Did they know the stuff was in the streets, if so for how long, how inconvenient would it have been to pick it up (maybe they were in jail or out of the country), etc... They'd have to sue to reclaim the property. Generally if they would be willing to do that then they would have found a way to pick it up in the first place.

[Treebeard]

So wheres the pictures?

[Doramius]

I can't say this is in all cases, but being around my father for so many years managing rental properties I've yet to be disproven.

Out of people my father has evicted, the people who come back to get their property are usually the ones who have kept their property in good order and the apartment clean and followed the rules. They usually came up on a hard time and they told my father and my father waited an exceptionally longer time for them to do what they can to try and pay back rent. My father even lets them help with regular chores, like letting a tenant mow the lawn, or shovel & salt the sidewalks (in the winter), and other types of minor work for $20 dollars off the rent per task. Sometimes If my father needs help cleaning another apartment after someone has moved out, he'll have another tenant help in the small cleaning duties.

However, the ones that have never picked up their property always seems to have trashy JUNK. It's like they never used a broom for 3 years, but they've been in the apartment 2 months. They never tell my father they have come up on a hard time. There's police calling my father at 3am saying they need to investigate their apartment. My dad gives virtually no chances and follows the law to the letter with those people. They are most often habitual and my father reports them to the local landlord association and virtually blackballs the tenant from that county.

Landlord associations are becoming bigger in NY, but they have to file carefully and provide a lot of paperwork. They are cleaning up slum areas and helping to clear out bad tenants. It's also allowing Landlords to lower rent as they don't have to pay as much for damages, or higher premiums. They get a property insurance premium cost drop of so much if they are part of a landlord association.

It also helps out people living on a very low and fixed income in poverty levels who are good tenants to find a place to live without being around a bad area.

[zzyzzx]

So wheres the pictures?

I should be able to take better pictures next week, due to better daylight:

[Guest]

So wheres the pictures?

I should be able to take better pictures next week, due to better daylight:

i wouldnt go thru that shit if you paid me. You trying to get fleas/crabs?

Looks like trash to me. Being at the curb and all. I would take anything you wanted. Looks like trash. I dont think you would get arrested for taking it even if caught.

[Treebeard]

Looks like you were checking things out there Dr.Gee

[thecoalman]

I was under the impression that anything left in the street, in the form of trash, is public property.

I know they have laws in this area where you can't pick through the recyclables. A lot of people were going out on the pick up days for recycling and picking out the aluminum. They passed laws in many of the communities making it illegal. As far as trash goes I still don't see how anyone could legally go through it or take any of it. At what point do you lose possesion of it? Just because it's in a can for the garbage man doesn't mean you don't own it.

In the case above I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole even if it was legal.

[Guest]

Looks like you were checking things out there Dr.Gee

nice! darken CNR and make it animated.

[Treebeard]

Im working w/ paint here.

[Doramius]

Again, Back in NY there is a $.05 deposit on all soft drink & alcoholic beverage cans & bottles. The recycling program will pick them up, but most people won't chuck them away. People usually store them in a separate can and return them for the cash. If people do throw them away, transients will come and pick them out for the cash. It's actually quite good because you rarely see broken beer bottles or crushed plastic soda bottles, or flattened soda cans out in the street or strewn all over the place. Recycling was a city paid program. In Las Vegas, it's not required, and you have to pay for it if you want to have it done. that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. But it's mostly due to the unions. Trash isn't even a city paid program. You either pick your garbage pick-up company or you take it directly to the dumping station. Either way you have to pay out of pocket, rather than through taxes. In figuring out the cost, it was so much cheaper back east through taxes, and you had less people storing their garbage in their houses for 2 years.

-Big thing in the news recently where a guy who didn't want to pay for garbage stored all his garbage in bags in his garage. Odors started coming out of the garage pretty strong recently and the police came with a search warrant and found 3-4 tons of garbage being stored on premises.-

Some places have local laws that prohibit throwing peoples property out on the street like that or it is considered junk. Usually there's a storage requirement for a period of time, just as explained in different posts above, before you can just throw it on the street. You town or city may not have these such laws. But abandonment of property certainly would allow you to sift through whatever you want. Just make sure you have gloves and clean it properly before you bring it on your own property.

That's usually what it looks like out here when a guy gets thrown out of his house by his wife/girlfriend.

[thecoalman]

Again, Back in NY there is a $.05 deposit on all soft drink & alcoholic beverage cans & bottles.

That's a good idea, wish they would do that around here.

[ZAPPER]

That ought to be against the law. (putting the shit out like that) It creates a nuisence (SP) and a possible health risk (none too good for advertisement of the community either) The piles that I used to see where at least in boxes and stacked tight (well to start with anyways)

I could be wrong, but I think in Georgia the sheriff oversees evictions, and trustees (work released or community service inmates) take the stuff to the curb. I only ever saw it at apartment complexes and the stuff was stacked fairly well in one or two parking spots (Usually right next to my spot it seemed)


Anyhow, bummer for the poor bastards that couldn't make the rent

[rhegedus]

i wouldnt go thru that shit if you paid me. You trying to get fleas/crabs?

[lumis]

are these the same people who should have been at work instead of looking for a leprechaun in a tree?

[Doramius]

Again, Back in NY there is a $.05 deposit on all soft drink & alcoholic beverage cans & bottles.

That's a good idea, wish they would do that around here.

It really is a good program. It cleans up a lot of trash from the streets. If they had that here in Vegas, you'd probably see a lot less glass on the side of the streets. And the homeless would probably beg a little less. (maybe not :/ )

[zzyzzx]

The pile is completely gone as of today. They must have picked it up with Monday's trash. It appeared to be fully intact the whole time. I guess nobody else want to touch the stuff either.

[Doramius]

Or the person came by and picked it all up in a large truck. maybe?

For that much trash, you gotta call before your pick-up time and pay extra or the garbage collection will just leave it. Then you get a fine from an association, if you're a part of one. Then you pay some mexican neighbor $10 to pick it up and drop it somewhere you don't even want to know the location of. 6 weeks later you go hunting and find the stuff off the side of the road where you normally park. You then think it'd have been worth the $20 to have the guy take the stuff another 20 miles up the road.