Landlord/Tenants Rights on Abandoned Personal Property

When a tenant abandons an apartment and leaves personal property behind, what are the proper steps to take of disposing of the tenant's abandoned personal property?

As a property manager, I witnessed a landlord removing a tenant's abandoned personal property as I went to visit my friend at the apartment complex where she resides. The tenant's were late in paying their rent and God knows what causes lie on the reasons for abandoning the rental unit.

The landlord kept ranting about irresponsible tenants and how they had left personal things behind from the silverware to furniture, TV, DVD player and some clothing. Out of curiosity, I asked the landlord how long had the unit been abandoned. The landlord said that the tenant had just called and was going to pick up their ‘stuff'.

But the landlord said that they were entering the unit and taking the tenant's ‘stuff' as collateral for the rent owed. And they did. When the tenants came back they found that their apartment was empty. Apparently, the landlord had not changed the door lock. Big mistake! The tenants then called authorities to file a burglary report.

Immediately, the police came by and asked the landlord to return the tenant's personal property as it is against the law for a landlord to enter a unit and take tenants' ‘abandoned' personal property regardless if they owe rent or not.

The proper procedure was for the landlord to evict the tenant's with the proper eviction documents. Evictions are a process but when done properly, they will save the landlord from getting sued or actually going to jail for theft.

Even if the tenant's do not pay rent and leave the premises, there are steps to take to avoid any legal action against the landlord. Not fair, but laws are laws and guidelines are guidelines.

Alas, both landlord and tenants have a procedure to go by of the right way of disposing of abandoned personal property might the tenants moved out whether they owed rent or not.

The following link is a general guideline (California State) to go by.

U.S. Landlord.com

For Florida Landlords:

Florida Landlord/Tenant Act - Division of Consumer Services