I had a roommate we had an verbal agreement on the rent and bills. She packed her stuff a day before rent was do she kept saying she was going to payand she never did so I told her she couldn't live here anymore and needed to get the rest of her stuff. Well she never answered me so I went to my landlord and she told me my roommate was just a guest in my house she wasn't on the lease. I tried contacting legal people yo see what I need to do they couldn't give me any answers. So I was wondering what should I do with her stuff because she has ran off to Texas and no longer talks to me

Call your police non-emergency line and ask what the time for abandoned property is (generally 30, 60, or 90 days). Send her a certified letter to her last known address, even if it's your house, stating that she has that amount of time to get her property. State also that she owes you rent for each day she has left it there, prorated.
If you were her landlord you would have to follow the tenancy laws of your state, but I see no reason to consider you her landlord.
She will probably abandon it. But don't lose that unopened letter if you have to address it to your address, just in case she comes back some day. Make sure you have a copy of it. I would save it 3 years. Some people really do come back, believe it or not.
It is not your responsibility to track her down.

I don't believe you can try to charge her a storage fee of her abandoned property, as you don't have a contract for providing a storage service (not even a verbal one). But she does owe you for the rent she promised to pay, and so in addition to what joypulv suggests you can sue her in small claims court for the rent she owes for the time she lived there. Do you have any evidence that such an agreement was in place - such as as old emails in which she says she would pay rent?

ebaines, many people who have sold large items online (furniture, cars, etc.) have successfully charged storage when buyers didn't go get the item, even after paying. I forgot to add that the charges can't start until 30 days after the postmark.
I think those cases translate pretty well to roommates. It's a huge inconvenience (been there, many years ago).

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Originally Posted by ebaines

I don't believe you can try to charge her a storage fee of her abandoned property, as you don't have a contract for providing a storage service (not even a verbal one). But she does owe you for the rent she promised to pay, and so in addition to what joypulv suggests you can sue her in small claims court for the rent she owes for the time she lived there. Do you have any evidence that such an agreement was in place - such as as old emails in which she says she would pay rent?

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I do have multiple text messages with her saying that she will pay me her have of the rent.

Good - then what she owes you more than offsets what she might claim in value when you finally get to dispose of her stuff. Keep records of what you do.

If she was on the lease as a guest. Then you were her landlord and she was your tenant. You now have to deal with the situation like that. You can sue her for what she owes (or will owe), and probably win, but then collecting is going to be difficult.