Question on abandoned unit : ezLandlordForms

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Question on abandoned unit

Kevin B

started a topic about 6 years ago

We had a tenant who gave us 6 days notice in a text message on July 25th that he was moving out on August 1st. He was informed that we require 30 days notice and that he needed to pay rent until then. He paid his rent for August late on August 7th (with no required late fees). He was not currently living in the apartment and was not seen in or around the premises. His only communication with us was the text message he was moving out on Aug. 1st. On August 15th, with no tenant presence and written text he had moved out on August 1st, our handyman entered the apartment in order to prepare it for rental. He found a mattress, table, couch inside which we assumed had been abandoned. Handyman put them outside for one week before determining the belongings were abandoned and also listed them for free on Craigslist, with no takers he hauled them away. He cleaned out the unit and we re-rented it on August 20th. We received an angry phone call from the original tenant on Aug. 25th asking why new tenants were in his unit and his belongings were gone. We in the meantime had written out his security deposit refund and were emailing him for his forwarding address. The refund is for his entire security deposit minus $100 for dump fees for the furniture and cleaning of the unit, plus the rent from Aug. 20 - 31st. He is threatening to sue us and is also wanting reimbursement for his furniture that was left in his unit. Again, his only communication with us was a text saying he was moving out on August 1st, nothing after that and he was not residing in his unit. Anyone out there have any suggestions to remedy this??

1 Comment

Scott H

said about 6 years ago

He paid for August. You should have sent him the 24/72 hour notice before you entered the unit. You should have checked with him before removing any property. He may have not been residing there but, he paid for the place and sounds like he still had possession.. Forget about the dump fees since you should not have thrown his stuff out. Find out how much he thinks the stuff was worth and if its reasonable pay it and apologize for the mistake. I try to always do a walk through with the tenant at the end of the lease and have them sign a doc that they are returning possession to me. If they are return possession to me prior to the end of the lease and what they pay for I explain that they will get a prorated refund if I can rend it before their prepay runs out.