RoseFNMC
07-19-2008, 10:33 AM
When I separated from my husband, my 10 year old son and I moved in with an old co-worker of mine. She had two bedrooms that she didn't use, and "all" I had to do was clean them out and paint them if I wished. The process of cleaning out one bedroom of all her daughter's things that she left when she moved out years ago took an entire day and mountains of garbage bags. I'm a Professional Organizer, so I was used to this type of work, but this time I was doing it for free instead of getting paid $30/hr.
Our verbal (yes, verbal... lash me with a wet noodle!) agreement was that I'd pay $400/month plus whatever increase there was on her water bill. She was happy to have the extra income, so happy in fact, that she quit one of her part time jobs, which I thought was a big mistake, because what if I didn't stay long? She'd need that income again. Anyway...
When the weather started getting colder, she told me that she wanted me to pay part of the heating bill because if it weren't for me being there, she would block off the upstairs, and only heat the downstairs, and this was causing her to pay extra on her gas bill. As it was, there were days when you could literally see your breath up there. She would turn the thermostat down or off when she left for work. It got to be so unbearable that I brought in electric space heaters.
I asked her how much she thought that would be, and she said she wanted us to go over her previous bills and figure out a fair amount. Well, that never happened. I looked at some previous bills, but there's just no way I could say how much her gas bill had increased just because we lived there. I told her to give me an amount. She never did. About once a month, I'd give her an extra $50 for utilities, just so I could say I gave her "something".
After about 5 months, I started staying over at my husband's house more and more. I was still paying her the rent I owed. It was December when I told her I was moving back (I was paying $400-$450 for a place to keep my stuff and to sleep occasionally), she was very annoyed, and said she said she wanted me to pay her for the utilities I owed her. Again, I asked her to give me an amount. She said she'd get back to me. I went to start packing up some of my things, and she told me that she didn't want me to move out any more of my things until I had paid what I owed. She also wanted me to give her back the house key, and warned me not to try and enter the house when she wasn't home.
By mid-February, she still hadn't gotten back to me, she wasn't answering my calls, and had no answering machine where I could leave a message. I went to the house and tried to talk to her about getting my things, and she told me that when I paid her what I owed, we could discuss it. In the meantime, I was scheduled for a surgery which would make it impossible for me to work or to lift anything for 6 weeks. I told her about this, and explained that since it had taken her so long to tell me how much I owed, that it would now be even longer for me to get my things out of her house.
When I had healed, I called her and she told me that she wanted at least $400, which was a combination of utilities and storage fees (... storage fees to keep my stuff in her house because she wouldn't let me move it out!?) I realize that I could just pay her $400 and have this thing over with. However, since we have no lease, no contract, does she have the right to come up with such a random number for utilities and storage fees, and require that I pay that amount before she grants me entrance to the house to get my things? I mean, she could have said $1000 and then it would be really impossible for me to get my things. Also, if she's going to charge me a "services" (storage) fee, I think I could match that services fee with my own organizing fee!
I don't think she has the right to hold my property "hostage". The value of my belongings far exceeds the $400 (my TempurPedic bed alone was thousands). Shouldn't I have the right to get my things out of there, and if its money that she wants, she should have to take me to small claims court to prove that I owe it to her? Truth be known, after I had given her my house key, I found the back door key that I had given to my son so he could get into the house after school if I hadn't made it there yet. So I do have a key. I'm just terribly frightened to use it, knowing how hostile she's been over wanting this money.
Please tell me how I should legally proceed from here. I called the police department, and they said that they would stand by with me as I went to the house to get my things, to be sure there was no trouble, but since it is a "civil matter", they cannot force her to let me have my belongings.
Our verbal (yes, verbal... lash me with a wet noodle!) agreement was that I'd pay $400/month plus whatever increase there was on her water bill. She was happy to have the extra income, so happy in fact, that she quit one of her part time jobs, which I thought was a big mistake, because what if I didn't stay long? She'd need that income again. Anyway...
When the weather started getting colder, she told me that she wanted me to pay part of the heating bill because if it weren't for me being there, she would block off the upstairs, and only heat the downstairs, and this was causing her to pay extra on her gas bill. As it was, there were days when you could literally see your breath up there. She would turn the thermostat down or off when she left for work. It got to be so unbearable that I brought in electric space heaters.
I asked her how much she thought that would be, and she said she wanted us to go over her previous bills and figure out a fair amount. Well, that never happened. I looked at some previous bills, but there's just no way I could say how much her gas bill had increased just because we lived there. I told her to give me an amount. She never did. About once a month, I'd give her an extra $50 for utilities, just so I could say I gave her "something".
After about 5 months, I started staying over at my husband's house more and more. I was still paying her the rent I owed. It was December when I told her I was moving back (I was paying $400-$450 for a place to keep my stuff and to sleep occasionally), she was very annoyed, and said she said she wanted me to pay her for the utilities I owed her. Again, I asked her to give me an amount. She said she'd get back to me. I went to start packing up some of my things, and she told me that she didn't want me to move out any more of my things until I had paid what I owed. She also wanted me to give her back the house key, and warned me not to try and enter the house when she wasn't home.
By mid-February, she still hadn't gotten back to me, she wasn't answering my calls, and had no answering machine where I could leave a message. I went to the house and tried to talk to her about getting my things, and she told me that when I paid her what I owed, we could discuss it. In the meantime, I was scheduled for a surgery which would make it impossible for me to work or to lift anything for 6 weeks. I told her about this, and explained that since it had taken her so long to tell me how much I owed, that it would now be even longer for me to get my things out of her house.
When I had healed, I called her and she told me that she wanted at least $400, which was a combination of utilities and storage fees (... storage fees to keep my stuff in her house because she wouldn't let me move it out!?) I realize that I could just pay her $400 and have this thing over with. However, since we have no lease, no contract, does she have the right to come up with such a random number for utilities and storage fees, and require that I pay that amount before she grants me entrance to the house to get my things? I mean, she could have said $1000 and then it would be really impossible for me to get my things. Also, if she's going to charge me a "services" (storage) fee, I think I could match that services fee with my own organizing fee!
I don't think she has the right to hold my property "hostage". The value of my belongings far exceeds the $400 (my TempurPedic bed alone was thousands). Shouldn't I have the right to get my things out of there, and if its money that she wants, she should have to take me to small claims court to prove that I owe it to her? Truth be known, after I had given her my house key, I found the back door key that I had given to my son so he could get into the house after school if I hadn't made it there yet. So I do have a key. I'm just terribly frightened to use it, knowing how hostile she's been over wanting this money.
Please tell me how I should legally proceed from here. I called the police department, and they said that they would stand by with me as I went to the house to get my things, to be sure there was no trouble, but since it is a "civil matter", they cannot force her to let me have my belongings.