I want my clothes!

June 9, 2007 10:22 AM

Landlord authorized the removal of my suitcases from front porch with no notification - possibilities for reimbursement?

A cleaning service authorized by my landlord recently removed two of my suitcases, packed primarily with clothing (most of my wardrobe), from the front porch. They are not in the backyard's trash area nor in the communal basement shared by the tenants; I am thus assuming that they have been disposed of. The building is housed solely by college students, and the front porch is a communal space where we have set up couches, a table, and where people keep their bicycles. It is not generally clear of items. The day on which the cleaning occurred was within one day of graduation; many students were moving in and out and there were boxes and other suitcases about (though I do not know at the moment if others are missing items). The landlord gave no notification that there was to be a cleaning on that day. There is no set schedule for the cleaning, either; the landlord (according to the cleaning people) calls the service at random. How can/should I approach the landlord? If my stuff has indeed been thrown away, do I have an argument for reimbursement?

posted by youarenothere to human relations (17 comments total)

How long were the suitcases sitting there?
posted by k8t at 10:23 AM on June 9, 2007

Also, how many days after your lease ending did it occur?
posted by k8t at 10:23 AM on June 9, 2007

Where are you? Local laws vary.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 10:25 AM on June 9, 2007

I also wouldn't rule out that the stuff was taken by the cleaning people (not stolen of course, but, they were told to throw it away, it was nice stuff so they took it home instead, why not?), so maybe the service could help track it down?
posted by tristeza at 10:47 AM on June 9, 2007

The suitcases were there for two days; my lease wasn't ending - I was moving in, but have lived in the building before and had been sleeping there almost every night for the past month and a half. I am in Swarthmore, PA.

Thanks for the answers thus far!
posted by youarenothere at 10:56 AM on June 9, 2007

Normal lease provisions, at least in State College, state that you aren't allowed to keep -anything- on the communal porch and they reserve the right to dispose of anything that you do keep there.

Check your lease.
posted by Loto at 11:12 AM on June 9, 2007

how do you know it was the cleaning service that removed it? it really sounds like your clothes were stolen.
posted by lester at 11:23 AM on June 9, 2007

I hate to say it, but leaving suitcases on a porch for 2 days... well, it isn't shocking that they were taken. I would venture a guess that your landlord had nothing to do with it.
posted by k8t at 11:34 AM on June 9, 2007 [2 favorites]

Other people were moving out at had their suitcases on the porch? Perhaps someone took your suitcases by mistake.
posted by sbutler at 1:42 PM on June 9, 2007

Can you contact your college's off-campus housing division and ask for advice? (it sounds like you're at college).
posted by ejaned8 at 2:00 PM on June 9, 2007

I once walked by a porch with suitcases on it, and while I am not proud fof it, my first thought was "I could steal that!" Of course, I didn't, but if the thought occurred to a person who normally does nothing worse than jaywalk, I am sure it might have tempted some people in your neighborhood.
Of course I don't know anything for certain about your particular situation; if the cleaning people say they moved it, ask them where it went.
posted by Juliet Banana at 2:13 PM on June 9, 2007

I think Juliet Banana makes a good point here; you cannot assume that your belongings are safe if not under lock and key, even if they have not been taken in the past. Whether it was the cleaning people, another tenant (or now ex-tenant), a person wandering by or visiting...doesn't really matter, because you have no way of knowing unless the cleaning people take responsibility for it (which they will not, and rightly so, if they didn't take it.)

I personally know a person who left her apartment door unlocked to grab her laundry out of the machine on the same floor -- this was in a building with many units -- and five minutes later when she got back, her stereo and one speaker was missing. Due to the nature of the building's layout, that can only mean one thing: someone on that floor regularly goes around checking for open doors, grabbed 2/3 of her stereo in that short time window, and would have likely come back for the other speaker if she hadn't returned. Likelihood of a person like that being one of her neighbors on that floor: EXTREMELY high.

Also extremely high: anyone who leaves their stuff out in a common area and expects it to stay there. You really have no recourse here, sorry.
posted by davejay at 2:53 PM on June 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks again for the answers.

Admittedly, it may have been stupid to leave the stuff out on the porch. However, we live in a tiny town, where we leave all of our doors constantly unlocked (both to the building itself and the six individual apartments inside) whether we are there or not. None of us use keys. If there were a risk for theft, all of our laptops, electronics, and other valuables would have disappeared long ago. We all leave stuff in both the front and back yards as well as on the porch in question. Having spoken to people through the day, it seems as though other people are missing items from the porch as well that disappeared at the same time and were missing after the hallways and porch was cleaned. I plan to ask, but it seems almost certain that the suitcases were removed by the cleaning service. If it turns out that this is indeed the case, is it the case that I have no hope for asking for reimbursement of any sort?
posted by youarenothere at 5:28 PM on June 9, 2007

We had stuff stolen by a maintenance man that my landlord had hired ( including a queen size bed, who the hell steals a bed?). To cut a long story short we had to report it to the police and go after the maintenance man ourselves, my landlord did not have to become involved, despite the fact that it turned out he had a loooong criminal record and my landlord knew about it.

Only one of many asshole-ish things that jackass did.
posted by fshgrl at 5:56 PM on June 9, 2007

Assuming your stuff was removed by the cleaning service and this is verifiable, I don't know why you couldn't find out what was done with it. Your state and/or lease may specify the landlord's rights in this matter. In my state we couldn't get rid of it without a lengthy process and would have to surrender property on demand, but that's not true in all states.

I think you need to start by verifying that they know what happened to it and what rationale they had for disposing of it in whatever manner they did. We're just guessing here.
posted by dhartung at 6:19 PM on June 9, 2007

The cynic in me is saying that in the unlikely event you get the landlord to cough up the money it is going to come out of your security deposit on the back end. There's some slight hope that if you can get them to offer you a reimbursement they won't feel like taking it out on you later. Good luck.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:09 AM on June 10, 2007

Oh, and document everything, including taking pictures of the condition of your place as near to move in as possible (so you don't get dinged for existing damage).
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:10 AM on June 10, 2007