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View Full Version : Do I have to allow a roommate back in my home to collect her things


hacosta30
Jun 30, 2010, 08:06 AM
I allowed a friend in need come stay with me for a few weeks. To make a long story short it has been almost three months and she help in no way. I told her to get out and she left taking all of her personal belongings(clothes, perfume, makeup, etc.). Do I have to allow her back into my home to collect her furniture or can I put it outside for her to collect? And if she damages my property can I sue her?

Fr_Chuck
Jun 30, 2010, 08:34 AM
You should arrange to have a officer present at a certain time to allow her to get her belongings. Some departments will furnish a officer, other times you may have to hire an off duty officer to be there.

AK lawyer
Jun 30, 2010, 08:47 AM
Do I have to allow her back into my home to collect her furniture ... ?

No. But she has a right to get the furniture. So you can come up with some other way to have her pick it up without coming into the home. If you leave it out in the yard be sure it doesn't get rained on. Cover it with a tarp, maybe?


And if she damages my property can I sue her?

Of course. How do you imagine she might damage it?

hacosta30
Jun 30, 2010, 09:28 AM
She said she was going to kick in the door to get back into my house

ScottGem
Jun 30, 2010, 09:36 AM
Well there are a few factors here. You had no right to tell her to just "get out". She was there long enough to establish residency and needed to be formally evicted. If she had refused to leave you would have had no choice but to accept it.

But she did leave, but not completely and she is entitled to return to get her furniture. Because she left voluntarily, you can make sure she comes only when you agree. There is the possibility that she could show up with an officer, tell them she lives there and be allowed to return.

ScottGem
Jul 2, 2010, 11:39 AM
Comments on this post
AK lawyer disagrees : There is nothing wrong with asking someone to leave. But if they refuse OP would have to have taken other measures. If she tells the police that she lives there she would be saying something that is not true. She no longer lives there, as I unders

The OP didn't say she "asked" the friend to leave, she said she told her to get out. She had no right to do it. She had a right to tell her she had 30 days to move out. The OP had no right to terminate her residence arbitrarily. Therefore, she would not have been lying if she claimed she was a resident.