So i bought this house several months ago...the seller had left some things behind; $50-60 espresso maker, $400-500 110cc kids 4 wheeler with bad wheel bearing and messed up electronics, SEVERAL personal letters and mail. We did a final walk through just me and the seller and i saw these things and asked if he got everything, even hinted at does he need to get more stuff later. he said no he got everything. Now this little 4 wheeler disappeared a few months back and i never noiticed cause it didn't run and i had yet to fix it, but had looked at it. My gas weed whacker and gas push mower were also out there but hey were left....while this 4 wheeler with a wheel taken off was taken. I am highly suspicious it was the seller...and i have a way to contact them. part of me wants to confront, part of me wants to call the cops, and a very very very tiny parts says let it go. I intend to call the local pd to get their opinion on the matter but curious to hear some advice from you folks...i can be hot headed so i decided to not contact the seller just yet. thoughts?
My step father is a Realtor. I have heard him say in the past that anything that is in the house at the time of the sale is the new owners. This might be different from state to state
Im actually studying to become a broker at the moment hahahahahha. Technically, since it isnt a fixture (attached to the house permanently[aka not hung like a picture, or otherwise easily removed) or obviously designed only for said property [a book shelf not physically attached to the house, but designed to fit a unique nook in the house, that would obviously not fit most normal places]) it would have to be conveyed seperetely than the property in the contract as personal property and by a bill of sale (real property(land and what is built on it) is conveyed by a deed, personal property by a bill of sale) However if in the contract it didnt specifically state the 4 wheeler was the stay, or to go, you cant really prove it was yours.... especially if you have no reciept from the "bill of sale". Sorry to say but chances are they can prove they owned the 4 wheeler, if they had purchased it, and you have no way of actually proving you clamied it as your own, and alienated it from the seller.... so you would be in legal no mans land, leaning towards the person who actually purchased it, which would not be you..... Sucks i know, but before you got some hopes up i thought id tell you how it legally would be defined as whose property it actually is. This is also Colorado Real Estate laws.... but that part is generally universal EDIT: Also keep in mind im not licensed as a broker.... lol thought id toss that in too haha. Im also remembering the right of abandonment.... I'm not sure if it takes place on personal property, but.... i do remember there being a time limit on reclaiming something you have abandoned... but i think that more pertains to abandoning land, and someone else using it for a long time without you knowing... not about someone leaving personal affects behind after closing hahahahhaa
well, it is not that I wanted it...just something to waste money on...it is the fact that he trespassed and by all rights he did not want it...remember we did a final walk through in which he said that he had gotten everything he wanted. It's just the principle of the matter...and he waited several months too. I intend to get his number and ask him, he needs to know that I know and I do not approve.
I understand what your saying. Its not that he stole a broken big wheel, you didn't even want it, you might have even given it to him if he asked. Its that he came onto your property. I would feel the same way.
spot on...I made a point to ask cause I was thinking "surely he wants this thing" I expected him to say he was coming back for it. and he might have come by but I work nights
Oh man i know what you mean, i wasnt saying you shouldnt be upset someone walked all over your property... thats no good. I was saying, and as much as it sucks, that the law needs evidence, unless you can prove it was yours, they will assume you are some angry person just trying to sue the previous owners for something you think you should have aqcuired that they didnt want to convey, thats what im saying by "there is no bill of sale" meaning, in all reality, they COULD have taken that big wheel with them after the sale, only you and your family and they know you had it, and they took it. I would work on finding a picture or something of you and it in the same place. Or someway to prove they left it, because technically, they abandoned it, its yours in the eye of the law, if you can prove it. Thats all i meant haha, you deserve it, they totally stole it from you, the law is just really stupid and wont believe someone over another because they are designed to be "unbiased"...yea right