Closed on the purchase of a single family residence last week. The seller lives out of state and had, to my knowledge, no rental agreement with her ex-boyfriend who had lived in the house for 3 years. 3 weeks prior to close he moved his furniture indicating he had a clear understanding he must vacate. He now will not move balance of his possessions which fills 3 garages, half of house and 4 non-operating vehicles in driveway. He's insinuated he is going to file suit against seller as he feels entitled to a portion of the sell. Made veiled threats to my husband so we've filed police report. We will contact the sheriff's department today. At what point can "we" move his belongings? What about vehicles as we do not have possession of titles? Thank you.

First, any problem he has with the seller has nothing to do with you or his continued occupancy of the property. However, whether he had a lease or not, he can probably establish residency. That means you have to go through the process of a formal eviction. Once you get the eviction, you can have a sheriff remove him and all his belongings, including the cars

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Originally Posted by propertyowner

Closed on the purchase of a single family residence last week. The seller lives out of state and had, to my knowledge, no rental agreement with her ex-boyfriend who had lived in the house for 3 years. 3 weeks prior to close he moved his furniture indicating he had a clear understanding he must vacate. He now will not move balance of his possessions which fills 3 garages, half of house and 4 non-operating vehicles in driveway. He's insinuated he is going to file suit against seller as he feels entitled to a portion of the sell. Made veiled threats to my husband so we've filed police report. We will contact the sheriff's department today. At what point can "we" move his belongings? What about vehicles as we do not have possession of titles? Thank you.

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Where are you located? I am NOT an attorney... I can tell you that in California, I have filed eviction papers on a similar circumstance... no agreement... and labeled 'tenant' as a 'squatter' on papers, stating no agreement, no rent... it worked.

Good luck to you, Karden

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I went to the County Clerks office (Tennessee) to issue a detainer warrant today and they informed me I did not have a legal right to change the locks and this person can counter sue. We've "allowed" him access but made him aware we'd changed the locks and to call us first. Fearing counter suit we're going to try to finesse this situation further and hope he does the right thing and moves.

We could have told you that. Like I said, he has established residency so you have to go through the formal process of eviction.

Yes, at this point, you don't have to be nice at all, just file formal eviction procedures with him.

** as long as he is living in the house.


If he is not living in the house, don't tell the court that, since I just ran into that here in TN myself, my tenant moved out about 6 week ago but left all of his funitue and even some clothes, dishes and food in the fridge.
Power turned off since he did not pay his power bill.

I went to file a formal eviction, after posting notice on his door ( no way to find him) they would not take the eviction notice since he was not "physcially" living in the house, I had to post notice on the door with a witness, and then after notice he did not move his things, I set them to the curb. ( no sheriff witness)

So as long as he is actually staying in the house you are OK, but if he is not in the house, hire an attorney now, since you will not be able to file a normal eviction here in TN.

Thank you. I am contacting an attorney now. He can prove residency however he is "not" living there so a formal eviction will not work per Fr_Chuck. Sounds like we will need to post notice to remove his property, and go from there. I appreciate your advice.

Update, I contacted an attorney who said I should simply file a court order in General Sessions Court to have him served with a notice to remove his things. But when I called the court their warrants are either Civil Warrants (to recover money), Recovery Warrants (to get possessions back) or a Detainer Warrant (to have him evicted, but he doesn't live in the house.) If the attorney is giving me incorrect directions where do I turn?

Update: I posted same question in another category "small claims" so no need to respond here. Thanks all for assistance. Painful education I've been receiving. :)

Yes, if your attorney can file, let the attorney file, but as I noted I had this exact thing happen, and I got turned down on my filing in every court I tried here. Basically falls under taking possession of your property after they default or desert the property,

But I really hated not having some court order in my hand. No legal standing, but I paid a off duty police officer to just be there as witness and to be security in case the owner showed up and wanted to cause trouble.

But I think this is something that we need to work with and get some news laws passed. I have sold and rented properties for years and this was the strangest thing that ever happened.