His lease surely expired upon sale of the property. I would assume if the buyer agreed to the lease, the guy wouldn't be cutting the fence.

It's common courtesy to inform leasees at the time of sale that they have until a certain date to get their belongings off. If weather is an issue and plans were discussed ahead of time that the person had planned on doing it on a weekend that would tear the place up (from unexpected weather) then a different date can be discussed to benefit both parties. It's also a good time for the new landowner to offer the leasee X amount of money for things on the property so neither party has to spend time moving anything. Fences/locks should never be cut, that's a surefire way to escalate a situation.

The guy should be getting some money back if the sale terminated his lease... Again that isn't how it typically works because the landowner has possession and we all know how much of the law that makes up. Again we don't have all the info. I say there was probably not a lot of info given on it thus creating some uspset parties and gray areas.

I feel for you and your story makes me feel a little bit better.

There were 3 feeders - belonging to 3 different hunting club members - before I bought my tract. One feeder disappeared before final papers, 2nd was taken away a couple of months after final papers. The 3rd feeder along with its camera is still there standing, that is 8 months after the final papers.

The owner of the 3rd feeder even had the nerve to send in his friend to hunt there knowing the land changed hand. I run into his friend and stopped his hunting attempt. Met the guy later and he asked for a bit more time to move his stuff as the land was wet. That was 4 months ago the feeder is still there.

If not taken away, I will confiscate his equipment this coming hunting season.

I like all the people saying that the OP should sue. Suing is great...a great big pain in the butt. It isn't all easy pickings and easy money.

Confiscation of property is another matter. On what grounds do you get to "confiscate" another's property that it isn't actually considered theft? Just because you may be owed money for damages does not mean you get to keep another person's property...not without going to court or by prior contractual agreement (not in evidence here).

Some losses are best just cut. Either press charges or get on with life. Don't try to deal justice yourself. You may find legal consequences AGAINST you.

Best advice I have heard thus far. Cut your losses, forget about it and move on with life. The one thing I would have done is notified LE in case things kept disappearing.

As for suing, my wife works for a prominent law firm and unless you have a boat load of money or are an attorney, forget about it. You could fork over 50k and might not get a dime.

They are, but communication is key. Believe that was lost when the man's fence was cut. At that point I would've lit the former tenant's belonging's on fire and said it was struck by lightning.

Would make for an interesting g'mornin' thread.

Why continue to engage in communication with trash you don't want to see again?



Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

First I am sometimes amazed at the things you guys (we) argue about. When I bought my place all the feeders, stands etc. were included and it said so in the sales documents. The previous owner owner asked if he could leave some stuff out there and pick it up, I said sure. He did leave it for longer than I would have liked but I honored my word and he eventually came and got the stuff.
This guy not retrieving his stuff, and based on the other lease members getting theirs long ago does lead one to believe that they were informed and he ignored it until now.
The bottom line is the guy cut the fence to trespassed to get the equipment. He's wrong. The OP probably has legal recourse but as Scooter pointed out the cost is prohibitive and unlikely to get you much. Usually I would say just tell the GW so he would have somewhere to start if anything else ever happened but in this case I would be inclined to hold on to the guys stuff until any damage was repaired. If no damage just get this joker out of your life and move on.

You missed my point entirely. It's not a game. Property owner's grow extremely weary of trespasser's, theft and damage.

Any more I have no clue as to why some adult's revert back to the mentality of a thug. If you left belonging's behind, then by all means go ask for them back. But do not go barreling in uninvited/unannounced and expect the red carpet treatment.

Respect is a 2 way street. Once that's violated, be prepared to pay the consequences.

If he cut the fence at your house in the city or got his truck stuck in your yard at your house in the city would you call the police??

Of course you would, being land in the country is no different.
Call Police and press charges!JMO