QUESTION

What can I do to recover my stolen and destroyed property?

Asked on Jan 31st, 2016 on Landlord and Tenant Law - California
More details to this question:
I was evicted from my house. A day after the lockout date, my property manager supervised my helpers and I remove my belongings, furniture etc. After a couple hours, the manager complained of hip pain and said she needed to leave and that we needed to stop and come back the next day at noon so she could get her hip rested and my stuff would be safe in the house. She hurried us out. At noon the following day, I showed up to a giant pile of my belongings in the living room, pictures, documents, etc. The backyard had an even bigger pile of my destroyed couch and furniture, over $600 worth of power tools and hand tools were stolen along with my laptop and play station. Property manager said she had her son come in at 8am to do repairs on all the doors and was surprised that he destroyed my stuff. The son says that someone must have come in an open window to steal my tools and that he thought I abandoned my stuff. The manager deflects all responsibility even though she had us come back at noon but had her son come in t 8am.
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2 ANSWERS

First, send a demand letter detailing your losses and the value of your damages. If you don't get a satisfactory response, take the owner of the property as well as the property manager and her son (if he is an adult) to Small Claims court if they will not reimburse you for the damage they caused. There are procedures about what must be done to safeguard your property following an eviction. It seems that these procedures were not followed here. Be certain that you make a complete list of the missing/destroyed items and a valuation based on their used value. You are not entitled to the replacement cost of new items.
Answered on Mar 04th, 2016 at 4:09 AM

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If a third party was involved you are out of luck. Try suing in small claims.
Answered on Mar 03rd, 2016 at 9:39 AM

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