Do I have a leg to stand on?

[JeffS]

My wife and a very good friend of ours just purchased a house together. As strange as this may sound we are all very good friends and are all on the title equally. We took in another friend of ours and her daughter on a verbal rental agreement to help with the house payment. Shortly after the first month our other friend and her daughter left without any notice and moved back in with her ex-boyfriend and left all their belongings here without paying any of the agreed upon rent. Now she wants her stuff after being gone two weeks but doesn't think she should have to pay her rent before she gets her stuff back.
We have changed the locks on the house and denied her access to her belongings until we receive payment. Are we in the wrong or did we do what we could? I need help please.

 

[NYClex]

That depends on the laws in your state. In New York for example a landlord cannot lock out a tenant even if the tenant is in arrear with the rent. So you must treat carefully here and first of all find out what the law in your state says.

 

[JeffS]

Does anybody have any ideas about where to go to find out what the rental laws are in the state of Oregon? I did find a site that gave a printable version of the law itself but you need a degree to understand all the legal speak. I couldn't make heads nor tails of it.

 

[NYClex]

It looks like locking a tenant out is as illegal in Oregon as it is in New York: http://www.efn.org/~fairhous/eng/legalres/oregon/orlltleng.html#39.

Have a look at points 39 and 54 and 55

Of course, there are more issues involved here, but you must be very careful, since you are liable for double damages.