My roommate keeps putting their stuff on my nightstand without my permission. Is this legal or illegal?
<p>I regularly come home to find that my roommate left her stuff on my nightstand without my permission. Is this non-consensual use of my nightstand  prohibited by law? Like maybe theft (depriving me of use of my own property)?</p>

<h2><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespass_to_chattels" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Trespass to chattels</a></h2>
<p>— which is &quot;intentionally… dispossessing another of the chattel, or <strong>using or intermeddling</strong> with a chattel in the possession of another.&quot;</p>
<p>But don't hold your breath re having a valid case. An attempt to sue would likely be dismissed as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">de minimis</a>. This is just a trivial interpersonal issue.</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Is this non-consensual use of my nightstand prohibited by law? Like maybe theft (depriving me of use of my own property)?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It would not constitute theft because her act does not really deprive you of anything. Exercising your entitlement to the nightstand is as easy as removing from the nightstand her things. At first glance, her habit also seems short of <em>reasonably</em> impairing your quiet enjoyment of the unit or other rights a tenant has.</p>
<p>Actionability seems likelier under a legal theory of <em>trespass</em> on grounds of her entering your room without permission. But identifying a viable claim requires knowing details which are missing in your description.</p>
<p>Since removal of her things seemingly is something very easy to do (your post does not reflect otherwise), taking legal action for this may backfire for the frivolous nature of the claim.</p>

colorado