A few weeks ago the landlord has several persons here doing repairs on my house. (I should mention that I am disabled and was having a much higher amount of pain than usual that week)
The first day they came over I went down to the outside entrance to my basement and under porch lawn storage and opened both areas for the workmen. While in the basement I got my metal detector out of it's normal spot and set it just inside the door so I could get it carried upstairs for a friend to use on an upcoming outing. (note, basement has a deadbolt lock I installed after moving in due to the original doorknob lock not always holding and I am the only person with keys to the basement and storage areas) At the end of the day I gave the foreman my keys and asked him to lock everything up.
The workmen were here for 3 days and due to my pain I would at beginning of day give the keys to the foreman and have him return them after unlocking things then lock up at the end of the day. After all work was done I noted that the 4x4 gatepost to my side yard where the basement and storage doors are located was broken the guys said they would come back the next day and fix it. They never showed up.
The next evening my service dog got out of the yard through this gate, while I was down there trying to secure the gate I noticed the padlock was missing from my lawn tool storage area. I called the landlord the next day about that and the need to repair the gate, after almost a week I did pay someone to repair the gate but that person was never in the basement nor did he have access to my keys.
Last week after having had new pain shots I went down to the basement to get my metal detector and it was missing. I had a friend help me search the entire basement to see if it had been moved by the workmen (which it should not have been as there was no work to be done in that area) and we were not able to find it.
After searching the entire place 3 more times and a lot of thought I contacted my landlord about the missing metal detector and asked him if he could talk to the workmen and see if they remembered moving it etc. He acted like it was not something he was interested in hearing and seemed reluctant to talk to the workmen.
My question is do I have any recourse as the basement was properly locked when I went down there and no signs of entry broken windows etc and his employees having been the last people in the basement? I have not had any issues with property disappearing from here not even the small air compressor or $500 saddle and other such items I keep on my front porch that does not even have a lock or from the back yard.
The first day they came over I went down to the outside entrance to my basement and under porch lawn storage and opened both areas for the workmen. While in the basement I got my metal detector out of it's normal spot and set it just inside the door so I could get it carried upstairs for a friend to use on an upcoming outing. (note, basement has a deadbolt lock I installed after moving in due to the original doorknob lock not always holding and I am the only person with keys to the basement and storage areas) At the end of the day I gave the foreman my keys and asked him to lock everything up.
The workmen were here for 3 days and due to my pain I would at beginning of day give the keys to the foreman and have him return them after unlocking things then lock up at the end of the day. After all work was done I noted that the 4x4 gatepost to my side yard where the basement and storage doors are located was broken the guys said they would come back the next day and fix it. They never showed up.
The next evening my service dog got out of the yard through this gate, while I was down there trying to secure the gate I noticed the padlock was missing from my lawn tool storage area. I called the landlord the next day about that and the need to repair the gate, after almost a week I did pay someone to repair the gate but that person was never in the basement nor did he have access to my keys.
Last week after having had new pain shots I went down to the basement to get my metal detector and it was missing. I had a friend help me search the entire basement to see if it had been moved by the workmen (which it should not have been as there was no work to be done in that area) and we were not able to find it.
After searching the entire place 3 more times and a lot of thought I contacted my landlord about the missing metal detector and asked him if he could talk to the workmen and see if they remembered moving it etc. He acted like it was not something he was interested in hearing and seemed reluctant to talk to the workmen.
My question is do I have any recourse as the basement was properly locked when I went down there and no signs of entry broken windows etc and his employees having been the last people in the basement? I have not had any issues with property disappearing from here not even the small air compressor or $500 saddle and other such items I keep on my front porch that does not even have a lock or from the back yard.
