Ask Me Help Desk - Everything lost in storage

:mad: @:confused: I dated this guy for 2 yrs only to find in the end that I was being taken. We ended up losing our apartment and with my 12yr old son, and no where else to go, we moved in with my parents. Everything my son and myself owned was unknowing put in storage by this man. (he told me he was storing it in a friends building) Anyway, we moved in to my moms and lived there for 5months when he told me he was going to the store and would be back later. As it got closer to midnight I started thinking something was wrong and when the next day came around he still was'nt there I knew something was not right. As I went about my morning routine getting my son ready for school, brushing my teeth, and that's when it hit me - his toothbrush was gone! So I started looking around and everything looked normal except for most of his clothes were gone from the dresser. I started calling people and ended up at his parents where he was. Found out everything I needed to know about this mess and found out that the storage place that had my stuff knew this man and his whole family. They let him put this stuff in a private storage that the owner usually uses and did'nt have him sign a contract. So when I went there to try and get my things they would not let me and said I needed to sign this contract because they did not have a contract on that unit. They also said it was going to cost me $675.00 plus a fee to break the lock since Ronnie still had the key! I have explained to them what has happened and even suggested just letting me get out only myself and my sons property. They said they would have to talk to someone else and get back to me. I never heard back so I called them back and they said our stuff was still there but I would have to pay the total balance of $675 to get it or they were going to put it in an auction. Can they legally do that?? Can they really sell my things in an auction knowing it was frauduantlly placed there by another. PLEASE HELP it was EVERYTHING me and my son had!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephanie M

:mad: @:confused: I dated this guy for 2 yrs only to find in the end that I was being taken. We ended up losing our apartment and with my 12yr old son, and no where else to go, we moved in with my parents. Everything my son and myself owned was unknowing put in storage by this man. (he told me he was storing it in a friends building) Anyway, we moved in to my moms and lived there for 5months when he told me he was going to the store and would be back later. As it got closer to midnight I started thinking something was wrong and when the next day came around he still was'nt there I knew something was not right. As I went about my morning routine getting my son ready for school, brushing my teeth, and thats when it hit me - his toothbrush was gone!! So I started looking around and everything looked normal except for most of his clothes were gone from the dresser. I started calling people and ended up at his parents where he was. Found out everything I needed to know about this mess and found out that the storage place that had my stuff knew this man and his whole family. They let him put this stuff in a private storage that the owner usually uses and did'nt have him sign a contract. So when I went there to try and get my things they would not let me and said I needed to sign this contract because they did not have a contract on that unit. They also said it was going to cost me $675.00 plus a fee to break the lock since Ronnie still had the key! I have explained to them what has happened and even suggested just letting me get out only myself and my sons property. They said they would have to talk to someone else and get back to me. I never heard back so I called them back and they said our stuff was still there but i would have to pay the total balance of $675 to get it or they were going to put it in an auction. Can they legally do that??? Can they really sell my things in an auction knowing it was frauduantlly placed there by another. PLEASE HELP it was EVERYTHING me and my son had!?!?!?!?

I don't know what State you are in but in NYS it is not the responsibility of the storage unit to determine the true ownership of the belongings. The unit "belongs" to the person who rents the storage unit. Until someone pays for the unit they can hold onto the belongings. Whether it is fraud is not up to them. In fact, you have no legal relationship with the storage facility and I'm surprised they are offering to let you claim it for the balance due.

Legally they cannot allow you into a unit that is not yours to obtain what you say is yours. You can't go in and pick without paying.

When all of this happened - everything missing - did you file a Police Report? If so, call the Police and tell them you've located your belongings and see if they will talk some sense into the owner of the facility.

If not I think I'd pay the storage bill, get your belongings and then sue your ex-boyfriend (I think he's your ex-boyfriend) for the storage bill.

If you don't move soon your belongings could and possibly will be auctioned off and you might not win at auction.

As far as the owner being a friend and providing a free unit, at this moment in time that isn't terribly material. It isn't fair but it has little to do with the total picture.

I agree with Judy. The storage facility has a unit that is being used without payment. They want to be paid or they will auction off the contents. There eis probably some sign somewhere that states if the facility rental is not paid for x amount of time, they can dispose of the contents.

So you really have limited options. You can either get Ronnie to use hois key to let you in and recover your belongings, or pay the fee to get access to the unit and clean out your belongings.

Its possible they might not let you pay since you didn't contract for the unit in the first place. If you do have to pay, you certainly can sue Ronnie for the cost of recovering your property.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

I agree with Judy. The storage facility has a unit that is being used without payment. They want to be paid or they will auction off the contents. Ther eis probably some sign somewhere that states if the facility rental is not paid for x amount of time, they can dispose of the contents.

So you really have limited options. You can either get Ronnie to use hois key to let you in and recover your belongings, or pay the fee to get access to the unit and clean out your belongings.

Its possible they might not let you pay since you didn't contract for the unit in the first place. If you do have to pay, you certainly can sue Ronnie for the cost of recovering your property.

Right, and I forgot to add that depending on how overdue payment is the storage facility may not allow ANYTHING to be removed from the unit. In fact, the unit may be padlocked.

The owner doesn't want you going in and emptying the place, piece by piece, when he has not been paid.

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Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

I don't know what State you are in but in NYS it is not the responsibility of the storage unit to determine the true ownership of the belongings. The unit "belongs" to the person who rents the storage unit. Until someone pays for the unit they can hold onto the belongings. Whether or not it is fraud is not up to them. In fact, you have no legal relationship with the storage facility and I'm surprised they are offering to let you claim it for the balance due.

If you do this, you may want to see if you can get Ronnie there at the same time. I can just see some fun lawsuits coming out of this, if Ronnie comes back and says some of his stuff is missing and the storage unit did not have his authorization to let you in.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question, you have been very helpful.

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Originally Posted by Stephanie M

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question, you have been very helpful.

If you get a chance will you come back and let us know how it worked out for you?

Good luck -