Landlord’s belongings stored in rental home garage

By Cat

We are having an issue with our landlord.  The 2 1/2 car garage is literally full of the property owners things.  When we first signed the rental agreement, the landlord promised that the items would be taken out and sold in a yard sale (on this property).  When we moved in, the landlord moved lots of items outside so we could get our washer and dryer moved in, then he moved the stuff back in.  There is a small pathway cleared so that we can barely get to the washer and dryer.  We have asked repeatedly, and have been told they will "get to it".  It has now been almost 9 months, and we still cannot use the garage because nothing has been moved out.  All of our vehicles and lawn maintenance equipment are in the driveway because you can’t even open the garage doors without things falling out!  The garage was included in the rental agreement, as it specifically states that we would be given 2 garage door openers, and would be expected to pay to replace them if they were lost.

What recourse do we have?  I know this property owner will make our life miserable if we do anything, but we need to do something.  How would we figure out the value of the garage to be able to deduct it from our rent?  I assume the value would be less than the value of the actual house?  Can we legally do that? 

 Has anyone else dealt with this problem?

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Holy Cow, we couldn't find any other related post. Sorry. :(