landlord locked us out

dazzzed78 · #1 01-24-2009, 11:54 AM

we have been renting a room in a office four 5 months from a shrink. who's band allso uses the building and runs his business out of. we have allways paid him rent on time. we shoup on friday to practice and the landlord is changing the locks. she said he has not paid rent in four months, and as soon as he pays it we can get in to get our equiptment. I call the shrink and tell him what's going on he said he will take care of it that night. later that night he calls me and said every thing is cool we can get back in and start practicing tomorrow. so we all deside to show up the next day to practice two hours before I leave th house to go practice the landlord calls me and said we can not get in until monday because he post dated the check for monday. I am now scared that the check will bounce and we can't get in to get our equiptment. ***.

has anyone had a problem like this and if so what can we do. we can't pay his rent we don't have that kind of $$$ can't break in the windows have bars.

dmusic148 · #2 01-24-2009, 11:58 AM

Call the cops if you have to. The landlord can't hold your gear as collateral.

fleabee · #3 01-24-2009, 12:03 PM

Chances are the shrink cant sublet space without permission in the first place. On a brighter no there is no chance that you will loose your equipment. Be patient,if you dont have 100 percent of it back by Tuesday go to the police. Bring copies of any checks you made out. Cash will hold no weight whatsoever without a signed receipt.

svenbass · #4 01-24-2009, 12:04 PM

+1 on the cops - I'd get your gear out asap!! Don't wait for anyone's promises. These situations can get screwy very fast and you don't want your gear stuck in the middle.

superfunk47 · #5 01-24-2009, 12:11 PM

I'd have called the cops the second that she was standing between me and my gear. Rent or not, that's personal property, and you have the right to get it. Don't even wait. The longer you wait to do something about this, the greater the chance of some bad **** happening to your stuff.

fleabee · #6 01-24-2009, 01:04 PM

If possible contact the owner of the building{not the person you were renting from}. I would personally be friendly but give a very short amount of time to return your property. If its not returned promptly consider it stolen property.

Rocker949 · #7 01-24-2009, 01:07 PM

I would definitely find a way to get my gear immediately, using legal means of course. Having someone keep me from my gear would be something I wouldn't tolerate under any conditions.

Joe Nerve · #8 01-24-2009, 01:24 PM

+1 on all of the above. It's against the law for him to change the locks. I recently researched this kind of stuff cuz my girlfriend had a potential situation going on - her landlord got upset because she reported him for not giving her heat for 2 months. this helped a lot but it's in regard to NY... I'm sure you can find similar into in your area with a quick search on illegal evictions. this particular link even tells you the code to tell the cops when they arrive

.

http://www.sbls.org/index.php?id=81

dazzzed78 · #9 01-24-2009, 01:28 PM

well we have contacted the owner she is a strict business woman but very nice she will give us back our equiptment but I feel like it will be after the check goes through. I do feel a little better about the situation after talking to her.

fleabee · #10 01-24-2009, 01:29 PM

Remember to do everything in a non-threatening manner so it doesn't get ugly or any claims about threats etc. Do some googling with this. Im sure you can come up with a million threads about landlords holding personal possessions etc.

WHughes · #11 01-24-2009, 01:47 PM

Its good you are on speaking terms with the woman still because it will help. I think the police would call this a civil matter and not a criminal one since there was an agreement with someone who was supposed to pay this woman and did not. She is entitled to her rent as well and depending on the contract can evict, especially if rent has not been paid in four months. You will be lucky if she takes your word at face value since you very well could be a friend of the renter trying to recover his belongings. I know I am not giving you good news here but hopefully the laws in your state are to your benefit.
I have been through this to some degree as well. Be straight with the woman and hopefully it will work out for you. If she does not cooperate, do call the police and see what they can do. Then consider breaking in.

dazzzed78 · #12 01-24-2009, 01:53 PM

we have been very polite to her and I understand her side, I would be mad if some one owed me 4 months back rent but she went out of her way to contact us. she did not know we were subleasing and dosent seem to have a problem with it we are just caught in the middle.

copreus · #13 01-24-2009, 02:12 PM

I'm glad to hear that things are moving forward smoothly and that everyone is maintaining their cool. It sounds like you're in large enough town to have Legal Aid counsellors which you might want to see to know where you stand legally and what to do in the future. If you don't have a written sublet document, you pretty much have no renter's rights so a Renter's Aid will be no help.
If things get sticky and since the manager seems a reasonable person, you might appeal to her sense of fair play and have her unlock the door, watch your band unload your gear, and then lock the door on the shrink.
Good luck.

LowFreak · #14 01-24-2009, 02:26 PM

I had left some equipment in a club here in Norway, and the club suddenly went bankrupt and had to close down immediately.
I don't usually leave gear behind, but I used to play there regularly and didn't bother to take my amp home every time.

Well my gear "appeared" to be part of the inventory, and was legally stuck there for two weeks until I finally sorted it out with the lawyer in charge of the bankruptcy..