Q: How long does a seller have to remove personal items from the property after the sale is completed?
The seller returned several times a few weeks after the sale to take items from the mobile home yard and patio. Now, over a year after the sale, the seller returned to claim items in a outside shed. In the process,the previous owner cut off a lock on the shed and started to remove items. The current owner discovered this action and called the local police. Fortunately the police responded and stopped the incident. Now the previous owner has filed for a court appearance to recover certain items in the shed.
A: What's required is a contract review. In most sale of real estate contracts, there is a provision that items on the property except for a list in the contract convey to the buyer. If not, the common law of bailment probably applies, and the buyer became a gratuitous bailee of the goods. He may not harm them, but his duty to care for them is limited. In any event, there is no excuse to trespass, and zero, no, nil excuse for destroying property, to wit, the lock, after trespassing on the property. A counterclaim for trespass might be suitable. But, it starts with a review by a lawyer and a review of the facts and the contract, as well as a review of the law on those facts. There are differences between the treatment of a bailee for hire and a gratuitous bailee, and the contract for sale may determine that. That review may not be worth the time or fees if we're talking about a rake and a rusty, old, bow saw. You might want to mediate it.
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