QUESTION
Can I be charged for having someone's house keys and not giving them back?
Asked on Jul 12th, 2014 on Business Law - Massachusetts
More details to this question:
A woman gave me her house keys to walk her dogs. I've been doing it for two months now. One day I tell her I can't walk the dogs because of the heat I didn't want them to pass out. So she told me she wants her keys back. But she hasn't paid me yet. I told once you pay me I'll give you your keys back. She's threatening to call the police on me. Am I in the wrong? I just want to get paid before I give her back her house keys? Can I be charged with something? Please help.
1 ANSWER
You have the right to be paid and you can sue her for your money, but that doesn't mean that you have the right to hold on to her property. There are statutes which allow certain tradesman, such as auto mechanics, to keep a person's property until the work they have performed is paid for, but absent such a statutory right (and I'm aware of none which covers your situation), you can be charged with some variant of theft. I doubt that you will be if you give the keys back, since this matter is so minor and a waste of time for the police department, but you have to return the keys.
Answered on Jul 14th, 2014 at 9:09 AM