Here's a recent update with more to add after this...
Alright, so here's the whole thing, now that I've pieced it all together. Marc, feel free to give me some pointers on this, 'cause I feel like the more I push, the more I'm just gonna come up losing on this.
I moved into this place in April. The trailer came to the house in late June or early July when my brother and I vacated the storage garage we shared. I had the trailer in my driveway which is big enough for 2 cars. I asked the landlord - who lives right next door to me - if I could put the trailer in the farthest part of the back yard (backs up to small woods), or somewhere else on property.
He told me to put it off to the side of the property. I asked him to confirm that'd be cool and he again said yes. He was good friends with the guy who owns the business next door and he'd talk to him. So, I put the trailer there. It's been used a number of times since then, but largely sits there. - The landlord later reminded me that it was HE who moved the trailer over, not me. Which is even better.
Fast forward to when I noticed it was gone... I called and asked everyone I knew, and even asked a few people around town if anyone had seen anything. No one I knew had it or used it recently, and no one local had seen anything. My landlord hadn't answered my inquiries. So, I called the police a couple days later and made the report that it was stolen.
After making the report, my other neighbor said that she'd seen a guy and a younger teenager in a white truck towing it a couple weeks before that. I had seen a white truck with a guy and a kid at the garage a couple times. So, I put a note over there - to sum up - "If you have my trailer, please return it immediately so I can cancel the police report." I was direct and matter of fact.
Time goes on, then I get the note pictured. I go up to PCS to look for the trailer on the way home from work last night; don't see it there. I called them and left a message... to sum up again, "I'm so-n-so. I understand you have my trailer and I'm not sure why that is. The police told me it's in your possession. I reported it stolen."
Got a call back today... my landlord never spoke to him about the trailer being there, but the guy wanted to know "why was it on my property for over a year?" I tried telling him I hadn't moved in until April and the trailer didn't come here 'til mid summer, and his response was "I don't want to argue about this."
"Well, you're flat out wrong on timing. I'm not arguing, but I have a lease from Kevin showing when I moved in, and I can show the lease on my storage garage showing when I vacated. Kevin should also agree as to when the trailer showed up here. "
"I just told you I'm not arguing about this." He went on to say that he feels like he should be compensated for storage fees and towing fees to remove it (his trucks have tow hitches; he's a contractor with like a dozen trucks). I again asked if my landlord had talked to him and he said no.
So... I called the landlord. "Well I didn't know it was going to be there that long." and "Just smooth it over with this guy" and "it's a small town and everyone just wants to get along, you know?"
IN short, I'm getting ZERO fucking support on this. I'm pissed, I won't be renewing my lease here (which is pretty upsetting) and I may move out earlier. All because I took the word of someone who I thought I could trust to be on the up-n-up.
Ultimately, I suppose I should have followed up with the owner independently, but I believed the landlord, and besides I didn't know who owned the property.
I'm disgusted, let down, feeling taken advantage of, and frankly I can't afford any more money to bleed out of me. I guess he stole himself a trailer.
Now, the latest...
I was supposed to get a call back last Friday from the property owner telling me how much he was going to extort from me to get my own property back charge me for towing and storage. I never got the call. I let it go the weekend. I called and left a voice mail Monday taking some of the advice I'd been given on the matter... This morning I spoke to the property owner again, and the trailer is coming back to my house tonight or first thing tomorrow morning, no fees, no charges, etc.
Done and done.
