A friend of mine rented an apartment for one month from a girl who was not the landlord. After paying the agreed amount, he moved in, and now, only 20 days later, she comes back with only a day’s notice, goes bezerk when she sees the mess, and then changes the lock. So he’s stuck without access to any of his stuff (including NT $90,000 cash), and unsure whether she intends to even let him get it back. There was no contract, and only electronic record of their correspondence. His stuff’s still there, and he’d also like some sort of compensation for getting locked out in the middle of night 10 days before the agreed upon date.
So what can he do? Anything? American laws give him several options, and the girl would be in the wrong for subletting illegally. But I don’t know about Taiwan and I don’t think he can really prove anything as far as documents go. Someone who knows something please help.
Thanks
Sorry for what happen to your friend, in taiwan it is legal to sublet but it must be in the contract from the landlord to leaser and there must be a contract from leaser to subletter, all the same rule applie, your friend got taken to the cleaners, about his stuff goto the local police station and ask for help in getting it back. the money good guess see if you can get a lawyer or ask someone for advice on this case.
Break the door, get your stuff out and disappear … ok: get a lock smith, open the door, get your stuff out and replace the lock, swallow the key and then disappear.
Hi thanks for the advice. We went there today and the girl was home. She said that she had changed the lock because the place was “so messy she didn’t trust him to live there anymore,” the entire time failing to address the fact that she returned home 10 days too early and didn’t give him a chance to clean up. She wanted us to stays and clean and was threatening legal action if we didn’t. Eventually she called these two chinese bruisers who were supposed to intimidate us into cleaning up. I finally told her that we were leaving and that if she wanted to litigate, we would await her correspondence. My guess is she doesn’t have a legal leg to stand on, especially with no written documentation for the rental.
I’m curious. You said the mess made her mad and she didn’t trust him to live there anymore.
What kind of “mess” are we talking about here?
Bodies of dead cats strewn about the place from your satanic rituals? Beer bottles and crusty vomit? A pile of dirty socks?