Need some legal advice

[father of 4]

My Daughter lives in a town house in Lubbock. Mostly college kids stay in these and the one she lives in is a 3 bedroom. Each bedroom has its own bathroom and lock to the room. They place kids in these if there is an empty room and the other kids dont have anyone to move into them. Each pays a certain amount. Recently one of the kids moved out and failed to pay their rent. Now the company in charge of all the town houses has come in and taken a lot of my daughters as well as the other girls things and said they will not get them back until the other room mates rent is paid. Is this legal? To me it sounds just like robery. They came in without the knowledge of my Daugher and ther other girl and when they got home, they thought they had been robbed. If there are any attourneys here, your opinion on this would be GREATLY appreciated.

[MThook]

Each State has different laws. I'm not a lawyer and don't paly one on TV. However I did own a bunch of income property, that said. I think you are right in that being robbery. When I did an eviction I had to hold left over property for 30 days before dumping it even tho the rentors left owning me money. Is there a lease for each unit? Or one master with each person signing on. Texas law may not be the same as her in NC, but I can't believe that can hold personal property ransom for someone else's rent.
Best bet is the contact a local lawyer with all the details and a copy of the lease agreement

[Eager Beaver]

Unless they all signed a lease together they can't be held responsible. If the School placed the kid in the room then they are responsible for the debt.

[father of 4]

The school doesnt place the kid in the town house. Each signs a lease.

[Daniel]

Here is some info. Go about half way down the page,
Hope it helps

Daniel

YOUR RIGHTS AS A TENANT WHEN YOU HAVEN’T PAID YOUR RENT

[MThook]

Amazing how different each State's laws are. The big reason I got out of rental property was the tenant had more rights than I did and I owned the property so I got to pay the mortgage and they lived there free, with cable TV( which I didn't have)

[fish_4_all]

My thoughts would be that since they all have separate leases that the property of each is theirs and it was illegal search and seizure. I would even contact the Attorney General for your state, might get a free and very fast response. Depending on the legal statutes there may be criminal charges against the property owners.

[crappie five-0]

You need to get an attorney involved.People do stupid things with people who are not familiar with the law.You will be suprised what happens when your attorney sends them a nice letter,as well as explain things to you.If you try to represent yourself you will be at a big disadvantage and may fin yourself owing a lot of money.Sounds like there has been NO court action and with no court action involved yet you may have some criminal charges on the company.TALK TO AN ATTORNEY.

[Crappie Reaper]

I am fairly positive what they have done is not legal. There are legal avenues for them to pursue, one of which is eviction. An attorney is your best recourse, and you may have grounds to sue for damages.

[crap-king]

This is a civil action and they cannot enter the residense without permission unless they have gone through the proper legal proceedings through the courts - she has to be notified by personel service several days in advance before she can be removed from the property but still they cannot enter the property without permission until she has been removed legally by the courts - Okay with that being said look at the lease agreement and make sure there were no clauses that give the property owners the authority to enter the property - even if there is let a lawyer check it out and see if it is a legal contract or is it a contract asking for release to do unlawful things - like someone else stated earlier let an attorney check it out