To Lawyers did I have a right to do this or did it break a verbal contract?

Snowflakes

New member
Maybe this should be in the real estate section, but here's the scnerio in a nutshell.
1. I'm a landlord in Calif. tennant was to move out last day of the month on a Sunday.
2. last day of the month when I went to do the walk-through/collect keys he had left lots of stuff like mattresses, furniture, lamps etc. He told me he'd make arrangements the following day (while he'd be in another state!) for someone (a stranger he wouldn't be monitoring, I'd have to drive 2 hours back to give them access) to remove the items.
3. The same day he moved out i fhad appointments to show the unit to others, one person wanted to sign a lease as of the following day being the first (which we ended up doing but a few days later)>
4. My agent said why don't I just hire someone to get rid of the stuff that same day since he hadn't warned me he was leaving anything behind, I"m not obligated to house those belongings which are on the way and look bad for the viewings.
5. I followed her advice and paid someone $195 to come and haul them away and dump them (the prior tennant was going to do the same he had no intentions of keeping the items).
6. I naturallly deducted the cost from his deposit, he says he could've had it done for $90 and is going to take me to court and is now making up other things to sue me for as well.

Was I obligated to keep the items until he had them removed??? (I had also kept money to repair some items he had damaged so he is now wanting to sue me for those items too such as the baseboards he had chipped, carpet he had stained, the cleaning - it was filthy so I naturally had it have it cleaned and now he's saying he had left it clean cuz he's angry about this and is trying to sue for all the items in the security I had deducted (adding up to $700). In case you think I'm the bad one he only gave me a 4 day notice to move out when the lease stated I needed a 30 day but he's lucky I did not charge him anything for that like keeping all his security or not finding another tennant quickly then he'd be responsible for that. He's basically an ass. But by law can he get away with this or did I have the right to remove the items quicker despite origianlly saying he could do it at a futre date? I just couldn't afford to house them while showing the unit to prospective tennants which made it look trashed up.
 
To deny that you agreed verbally to let him leave stuff for an extra day should be the work of an instant esp if your rental agmt contains the boilerplate 'entire agmt' clause that says something like, 'This written contract is the whole agmt and no collateral agmt will stand PERIOD.' I'll bet yours does! If so, relax and rely on it. That's the clause that give us all enough to certainty to take the risk. As long as contract indicates termination was date before you removed his stuff, you should be free and clear. Landlords are not expected to assume bailment obligations for tenants' stuff. That would be nuts!

Relax and go get a beer. This guy is a grifter hoping to psych you out for a little easy ready. Don't let him.
 
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