(WSVN) - He is a boat mechanic, and when the shop where he works was evicted, the landlord locked up the tools he needs to work and wouldn’t return them. Can a landlord seize your property if the company you work for is out of business? It’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
A bus driver needs a bus to do their job. A photographer needs a camera to snap pictures. And a boat mechanic can’t fix anything without tools.
Jeffrey Mauk: “You’re useless. It’s like you got a bowl of soup and you got a fork.”
Jeffrey has been in the marine business for 35 years.
Jeffrey Mauk: “This is a $500 setup right here, just this.”
Buying hundreds of tools in his career.
Jeffrey Mauk: “About $60,000 invested in tools over the years.”
These things are actually priceless to Jeffrey, because most shops won’t hire you if you don’t have your own tools.
Jeffrey Mauk: “From a car dealership to a marina to a carpenter, you have to have your own tools. Everybody knows that.”
Then one day, Jeffrey showed up at work and found the door locked.
Jeffrey Mauk: “There’s a message on the door: ‘Broward County Sheriff eviction notice.'”
The shop owner, Jeffrey’s boss, was a few days late with rent.
So Jeffrey called the landlord and asked to get this tools back. The reply?
Jeffrey Mauk: “‘Those are my tools now. It’s my right that I can liquidate the entire contents of the building.'”
Jeffrey countered, the battle is between the landlord and the man renting the shop, not him.
Jeffrey Mauk: “I’m an employee. I’m not the one that pays the rent.”
No luck, leaving Jeffrey locked out and the $60,000 in tools that took decades to acquire now untouchable.
Jeffrey Mauk: “It just makes you sick. It makes you want to just break down. I’ve been robbed; that’s how I feel.”
Jeffrey can’t afford a lawyer to fight in court. Then he looked up at his TV.
Jeffrey Mauk: “Channel 7 was on, it was about lunchtime, and my one friend, I said, ‘Hey, I’m going to call Help Me Howard.’ He goes, ‘That’s like a lottery if you’re lucky.'”
You don’t have to win the lottery to find out if the landlord can keep your tools, Jeffrey.
Go ahead, Howard.
Howard Finkelstein: “They absolutely cannot keep Jeffrey’s tools. Many commercial leases allow the property owner to keep the tenant’s property if they do not pay the rent, but they cannot keep the property of the tenant’s employees or customers if they evict the tenant.”
This has never happened before.
Minutes after we interviewed Jeffrey, he called me and said, “Don’t contact the property owner, yet.” The owner of the shop where Jeffrey worked was trying to put together a deal to reopen the business for a few weeks.
He succeeded.
Jeffrey Mauk: “Yeah, we’re going to take care of the existing customers that were in line to be served.”
Jeffrey has his tools back, and will not let them get taken from him again.
Jeffrey Mauk: “I am so happy to have that, because now I can make money, you know? Without it, I was just stranded.”
We’re happy for you, Jeffrey. Now, if something like this happens to you, and things can’t be worked out, the solution is what the law calls a writ of replevin, where you ask a judge to force the property owner to release you valuables. You can do that without an attorney.
And if you suspect the business you work for is about to go under, take your valuables home with you.
Feel like someone is treating you like a tool? Can’t wrench yourself out of the way? Let us motor in and leave them in your wake.
With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser 7news.
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Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
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