Property management unlawful Entry and theft or Not?

Question

Greetings BP family,

I hope I’m asking this question in the right forums, if not please don’t hesitate to let me know.

So the situation is that a friend of mine was breaking her lease to travel overseas on military/contract orders. The break in the lease was initially accepted by the prop manager. My friend had to pack and leave so quickly, she had to leave some of her things there in the property. So she left the key with family and asked them to finish moving the things that were there into storage & mail a few things to her. She explained to them to ensure no trash was left before the end of that month so she could get her deposit back.

This is where the question comes in.

The prop manager entered the property before the end of the lease (probably showing the property to potential renters) and actually went through and took some of the things that were left in the property and tossed the rest in the trash. When my friends family arrived they were astonished to see what had happened.

Now the prop manager is not only saying my friend broke the lease early and will be charged for that but for also abandonment of the property, and leaving the “trash” (her personal property that they went thru and took what was valuable) in the property.

They have billed her over 2k in frivolous charges and sent the bill to a collections company.

Is there anyone here that can help point us in the right direction to get this settled?

Mike Cumbie · Answer

Hi @Kevin Parsley

I guess to me it would depend on the communication that went back and forth.

If it was "I am terminating my lease because I have orders to leave on May 15th Thanks, gotta run".

Is completely different from "I am leaving on June 1st due to orders, my family is picking my stuff up and you will have the keys before the end of my tenancy on July 1st, I am paid until then, please send any remaining deposit to..."

So I suppose where was she paid up to and what did she communicate? Also is this around a military post (before the trolls jump, there are recruiting posts all over the place)? There are base housing people that can correct all of this if so. Most landlords don't want to get blacklisted, but if she was in the wrong they will ensure she corrects it on her end.

Chris Martin · Answer

I would get an attorney. In addition to the SCRA link provided above, see this link for details on landlord/tenant law https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t27c040.php and this link to a SC Bar description of the landlord/tenant law.

Disclaimer: I see that my post has at least one report against it, so let me add that I am not an attorney so treat my post as entertainment only, not legal advice.

Randy E. · Answer

@Kevin Parsley,

How long was it from the time the tenant departed to the time the PM declared the unit abandoned?  I ask because there is a difference (to me, not necessarily legally) between the PM clearing out the unit two days after or the PM doing it after three weeks.

You said the tenant asked her family to move her stuff out.  Did they immediately start going over to do that?  Or, were they too busy with life (like many of us) and were waiting for some weekend three or four weeks away?

Another question is, at the time the unit was cleared by the PM, was the rent paid?  Here is my line of thinking: Tenant tells PM she will be moving out immediately because she is being deployed.  Tenant clears out a few things, calls the electric company to shut off the electricity, and leaves the country.  Before leaving, the tenant asks family members to go through the unit to retrieve the good part of the remainder of her belongings.  A couple of weeks go by, a new month starts with the rent not being paid for that month, and the landlord has received not communication from the tenant nor her family/friends.  The apartment is uninhabited, the rent is unpaid, the electricity is shut off, and ... the PM assumes that's it.

I think the biggest problem here is lack of communication between the tenant/tenant's family and the PM.  I have a couple of friends in the military and it is true that when they are deployed that their domestic cell phones usually do not work.  However, both can call me from military phones whenever they choose.  I can't call them but THEY CAN CALL ME.  The tenant could have called the PM to make sure things were moving smoothly.  She could have called her family to spur them into quicker action.  The family members could have called the PM to let the PM know they planned to retrieve more belongings at a certain day in the near future.  But there was apparently no communication.

Legally, I can't tell who is at fault.  On a personal level, it looks very much like lack of communication was the reason for the current unhappiness.

Katie Stewart · Answer

I would recommend reading through the lease to see if the process/costs of breaking the lease are outlined.

Milton Rivera · Answer

@Kevin Parsley

I will privy all this with the standard, it depends (in this case what the lease says).   Based on the information provided, it sounds like the property manager went through their checklist and followed standard procedures.  The termination of a lease most likely needs to be in writing like all contract documentation to ensure both sides are covered. If there was a discussion of terminating the lease early, that would have triggered the move out procedures (including when the property would be vacated, the turn over conditions, assess the wear/tear vs. damages, and completion of the move out inspection).

A few things that may help from the tenant's perspective:

• Is there a copy of the move-in and move-out inspection?
• Did the PM provide a copy of the estimate for "clean up and damages"?
• Did the PM put the tenant on notice of being in default (in this case, did they notify the tenant in writing that they were breaking the lease and/or other lease violations?)

Kevin Parsley · Answer

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses. I spoke with the tenant and it does sound like it was miscommunications by both tenant and PM, but the pm has never denied  the rents were paid in full until the 1st.

The tenant would like to be reimbursed for her belongings and the PM wanted to get the property rent ready and, may have entered the property prematurely.

Thanks for the links Account Closed & @Chris Martin . I’ll definitely check those out.

Kevin Parsley · Answer

Thanks @Katie Stewart, she is currently reviewing the lease.

Property management unlawful Entry and theft or Not?

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