If an apartment complex tenant allows a repo man into a gated garage or a repo man follows a tenant inside while the gate is open is that considered a breach of the peace?

Answer 1

IF the agent is ALLOWED in by owner or tenant, NO. IF they break in, YES. If that was the solution to stopping a repo, all the gated communities would be full of probable repos. Then the communities would want you to move because if you cant pay your cars payments, you likely wont pay the rent either. The gates are to keep out folks with NO LAWFUL reason to be there. call a local attorney for state/case specific advise.

Answer

Ok here is the deal with breach of peace in this situation.A repo guy cannot trespass as he did in this situation but unless you call the police and they come in time you are out of luck.A breach of peace is just like a disturbance. If you had called the police and said some one is stealing my car they would probably tell you sorry it is being repoed,this is because the lender requires the repo guy to let the local police know they are repoing a vehicle however if you call the police with a trespass, unknown intruder or assault etc. the police will come and that could be considered a breach of peace. Repo guys lie to people and tell them if you call the police, the police will arrest you to scare them into not calling the police. Because of this Repo guys get away with all kinds of illegal activity such as damaging your property, assault,trespass the list is endless just cruise this thread. If you don't sue the lender or call the police to enforce your rights you are out of luck.You cannot be arrested for not paying your car loan period!! Having said all that it makes more sense to pay your loan,sell your car whatever you need to do to get your finances straight. Let's assume you Dodge the repo guy once or twice or even get him thrown in jail that won't solve your problem, the lender will just find another...

Answer

I repo for a living. Let me be clear. The repo man is allowed to come onto your property, this includes rented, to obtain the collateral. Gated or not. We cannot break a lock, but we can come on your property. When you signed the contract, you gave us this right. A trespass sign in most states means little to begin with but it doesn't apply to us, because we are not trespassing. In my state, you can legally tell the repo person to get off your property. But they can legally come right back, because we are allowed to be there. Because of this, it is not a breach of peace. Breach of peace means something was broken or they made contact with you and you fought with them. Honestly, most cops hate you when you call because repo is a civil matter. There are people being robbed and kids kidnapped, they don't care about someone who is trying to get out of turning over their collateral because they won't pay there bills. You'd be surprised how many cops refuse to help or tell the debtor anything just because they're super annoyed you called them. And as for the guy's comments below, that is not really true. Maybe some repo people, but it isn't the norm. Finance companies will ditch any repo company that gets too many complaints of illegal activity.

No, the police will not come to a debtors door and arrest them for not giving up the car. If the repoman does not damage the gate going into the gated community then he is legal to do so. A repoman is required to call in the repo after he has done the repo. If the repoman is still on the property while the police are called (private property, not a complex) then the repo is done. If he is in the street when the police are called, well, you should have dialed faster.