Question - Pistol left behind

[MrExel17]

Asking for a good friend of mine,

So here's the story I have a good friend that rented out a room to a person, please keep in mind there was no securing deposit nor a contract. For the last 2 months this person has not showed up and has not paid rent. There personal effect are still in the room clothes, dvd, desk,etc...My friend has left dated notices which he slipped under the door, also a letter to contact my friend to discuss the matter of rent or even work something out.

2 weeks ago he went to the County Court house to seek legal advice in the best way to handle this issue because he needs the room back and does not want any type of repercussions if the renter returns and decides to sue him for going into the room. The lady mentioned a form to fill out and mail to the person, which she provided to him. Mailing this form accomplishes 2 things 1. If the renter has a forwarding address he can be located if he decided to reply 2. If the rent is nowhere to be found the postal date stamped on the envelop with start the 14 days legal document form and will be return/delivered to his address , which it did. After the 14th date
"everything in the room" is considered abandoned and basically means that its my buddy's to keep or do whatever he pleases.

Question: Heading towards 3 month give or take a day ( 14 day legal statement included) he decided to open the door to start cleaning the room, during his findings he located a pistol still in the case locked. After stating everything above does that mean that its is his pistol to keep, and if so how would he go about make it legally his OR he cannot keep it and must turn it in to local PD??

My apologizes for and inconsistencies in the story hope it makes sense but the question is the just of the post what does he do with a pistol left behind??

Thanks in advance, Calguns!

[RTE]

Wow where to start....

How does a person not show up in 2 months and the renter of the ROOM not have a phone number or contact info?

Is your renter illegal/prohibited person?

The pistol still in the locked case has a serial number (run the number and see who owns it)

[Teamwoody]

Any chance the person might be deceased?

[fighterpilot562]

Better lawyer up

[Hooligan]

Did you friend check local obituaries or the sheriff/cop booking log? Maybe check a facebook or simply googling the name might reveal what happened. Maybe something bad happened to the roomie.

[RTE]

Umm, get legal help. Asking here, with a bunch of know-it-alls will not do you any good. It's your neck.

Not true
His buddy should have asked some questions before he rented a room out and got a little contact info.

Good thing he didn't find a 2 month old body.

It's not his neck........it's his buddies.

[Scout2Diesel]

The courthouse does not give legal advise. Although they may mislead you.

Its best to read the law yourself and if needed hire an attorney.

How many rooms does he rent out? If it is more that one. He better do everything per the code.

gl

[PEZHEAD265]

1 question you said the lady at the courthouse said to send this form to the renter.If he didn't know the renters new address where did he send it?Did he address it to Joe Blow[renters name] living under the bridge in SF??I would like to know how he addessed it.

[dwtt]

Asking for a good friend of mine,

So here's the story I have a good friend that rented out a room to a person, please keep in mind there was no securing deposit nor a contract. For the last 2 months this person has not showed up and has not paid rent. There personal effect are still in the room clothes, dvd, desk,etc...My friend has left dated notices which he slipped under the door, also a letter to contact my friend to discuss the matter of rent or even work something out.

2 weeks ago he went to the County Court house to seek legal advice in the best way to handle this issue because he needs the room back and does not want any type of repercussions if the renter returns and decides to sue him for going into the room. The lady mentioned a form to fill out and mail to the person, which she provided to him. Mailing this form accomplishes 2 things 1. If the renter has a forwarding address he can be located if he decided to reply 2. If the rent is nowhere to be found the postal date stamped on the envelop with start the 14 days legal document form and will be return/delivered to his address , which it did. After the 14th date
"everything in the room" is considered abandoned and basically means that its my buddy's to keep or do whatever he pleases.

Question: Heading towards 3 month give or take a day ( 14 day legal statement included) he decided to open the door to start cleaning the room, during his findings he located a pistol still in the case locked. After stating everything above does that mean that its is his pistol to keep, and if so how would he go about make it legally his OR he cannot keep it and must turn it in to local PD??

My apologizes for and inconsistencies in the story hope it makes sense but the question is the just of the post what does he do with a pistol left behind??

Thanks in advance, Calguns!

No, no, no. Everything is not his, and your friend does not own it. I can tell you from my experience as a landlord that the contents do not belong to your friend and he cannot do whatever he wants with it. Assuming your friend went through the proper method to end the tenancy and evicted the renter, then the contents has to be put into storage to allow the tenant to come pick it up. The landlord has to send a letter to the last known address of the tenant, even if it's the landlord's house, informing the tenant he has 21 days to pick up the property. After this period, the landlord can sell off the property or dispose of it, and any proceeds gained will be held for the tenant to claim if/when he comes back to claim his property. Do it by the book or risk getting sued by a former tenant who knows the law and how to use the system.

As for the pistol, it is just another piece of property left behind. Your friend can use the cost of the pistol, if it were to be sold, to reimburse against storage costs. Since it's been 3 months already, and if storage costs were set at $100 per month, then I would think a $300 price for the gun would be a reasonable reimbursement for storage expenses incurred by your friend.

[FalconLair]

he said there was no contract...I would assume he means a rental contract...if there is no rental contract then tenant/owner laws may not apply...this could just be a simple case of abandonment...spending $100.00 bucks or so to consult a real estate attorney would get your friend the legal answers to your problem. Some states consider possession as good as tenancy. That would require an eviction process starting with a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit. Lack of security deposit would be irrelavent.

might not be a bad idea for him to check with local law enforcement either to rule out him being a victim of a crime or maybe him being in lock up...checking some local hospitals would not be a bad idea either.

seems like alot of stuff to do but all these recommendations would surely strenghten his case, showing he made honest efforts to local this guy, in the event he does come back and wants to take court action against him.

most people just dont leave all their crappola and disappear...something is amiss here.