Dealing with Abandoned Property: A Step-by-Step Guide

Have you ever walked into a property that your tenant recently moved out of and found a collection of furniture, personal items, and trash? 

It’s not our favorite scenario.

Sometimes it’s a situation where a tenant was evicted or they broke the lease and didn’t think to pack a single thing on their way out. Sometimes, it’s simply a matter of a departing tenant forgetting to empty out a linen closet. 

There are many different reasons for why you might find abandoned property in your rental. Whatever the scenario, there’s a legal process that must be followed and a timeline that must be respected. California has laws about what you can and cannot do with the property, how long you must keep it, and what kind of deadline you can offer the tenants if they want to come and collect it. 

Let’s take a look at the laws and the best practices around abandoned property. At Krystle Properties, we are here to support rental property owners, landlords, and real estate investors. We’re walking you through this process step by step.

Quick Overview: Make sure you understand the law. You can throw away any trash or debris, but valuable or meaningful property must be held for the tenant for 18 days. Send tenants a legal notice advising them what you have and what will happen to it if the property is not reclaimed.  Move the property out of the rental home. If tenants do not collect it, dispose of it in accordance with the law.

California Law and Abandoned Property in a Rental Home

What does the law say? 

This is, of course, the first and primary consideration. You’re probably in a hurry to re-rent the home. You want to get to the painting, the cleaning, and the marketing prep. But if there’s a room full of furniture that belongs to someone else, that’s going to be difficult. 

Here are your legal obligations:

• In some cases, you can discard certain items right away. For instance, perishable food in the fridge or bags of trash tucked into corners can be tossed without issue. When you find anything that appears to be general debris or trash, you can remove it immediately, and you’ll have the right to charge the tenant for cleanup costs by deducting from their security deposit.
• For anything of value or personal significance, you can’t just toss it out. California law requires you to inventory and store these items, allowing the tenant time to retrieve them. Disposing of these items right away would be against the law.
• According to state law, after you notify the tenant about the abandoned property, you must hold onto it for at least 18 days. During this window, the tenant has the right to come and collect their belongings. If they don’t respond within that time, you’re then allowed to take further action, such as selling or disposing of the items, depending on their value.

The key here is patience. Make sure you wait the full 18 days before making any moves with the property, no matter how tempting it might be. This ensures you’re in full compliance with the law and protects you from any potential legal trouble.

Estimating the Abandoned Property’s Value

Once the trash has been cleaned out, the leftovers cleared from the refrigerator, and the empty tubes of toothpaste removed from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, you’re left with the property that has some actual value, at least to the tenants. How do you estimate the value? 

This is important if the tenants do not come back to claim it. You’ll be required to sell at auction anything that’s worth more than $700. Anything that’s worth less than $700, you can keep for yourself. Or throw it away. Or sell. Or donate.

That’s the magic number – $700, and we don’t know why. But, it is the law, and we’re here to comply with the law. 

You’ll have to start with an understanding of what the abandoned property is estimated to be worth, because that will make a difference in how you store and potentially dispose of it. 

Legally, California landlords can claim any items worth less than $700 when items are left behind. But those things worth more than $700 must be sold at auction, and the proceeds will go to the county where the property is located. 

When you’re dealing with something that’s worth more than $700 and you cannot claim it for yourself, then you do have the right to deduct reasonable costs that are paid for storage and management of these items that will be sold.

Not sure how to attach a value to the property? Contact us at Krystle Properties, and we’ll work with you to make sense of it and to document the process of establishing value.

Three Essential Steps to Dealing with Abandoned Tenant Property in California

Once you have established that property has indeed been abandoned after your tenants moved out or were evicted and you’ve established a value for the property that you’re holding in case the tenant wants to reclaim it, there are three general steps that need to be taken. 

• Step 1: Review Lease Agreements 

Everything that you do as a landlord begins with your lease agreement. So let your first move be to check out what your lease agreement says about this property. 

If you’ve ever talked to us at Krystle Properties or worked with our team, you know how much stress we put on the importance of a strong lease agreement. We always encourage owners to include terms and language around abandoned property in every lease agreement. If the California lease references abandoned property, that’s where we want to start. Review what the lease says and follow any instructions or directives that are found there. This puts you in a stronger position as the owner because the tenant has signed the lease, which means they understood what was going to happen when they walked out of their home without their sleeper sofa or their gaming system.

• Step 2: Send a Legal Notice 

You expect that your tenants probably realize they left without their floor lamps, but maybe they don’t! You always have to send a notice about any property that they left behind, whether they moved out lawfully at the end of the lease term or you had to evict them. 

The notice has to be specific. It must outline: 

What’s been left behind	Where you plan to keep the property
How long you’re obligated to keep the property	What the tenants need to do in order to reclaim that property

This is a formal notice, which is called a Notice to Remove Personal Property from Premises’ in California. 

There is a template for this Notice, and we strongly recommend that you use it. Don’t send a text and think that it’s enough. You need to send this formal notice, and it has to have the specific language that the template dictates. 

We can help you write and serve the notice and ensure that all of the necessary details are included.

• The property has to be identified. We take photos and document everything.
• The storage location, if you’re using one, has to be shared with the tenants who own that property.
• There must be specifics about the deadline for retrieval. We recommend providing a time as well as a date. For example, you can say that the abandoned property must be picked up by noon on Saturday, the 15th of November. 

Stipulate any costs that will be involved with the tenants reclaiming their property. Those costs are likely justified, especially if you are paying for storage, but they have to be documented and disclosed.

Time is of the essence, especially because you want to limit your own costs and exposure. So, send the notice out promptly, after the conclusion of a move-out inspection. We recommend that you inventory the items that may have been left behind. Then, communicate directly with your tenant about this property. The form must include information on what will happen to the belongings if the tenants do not come and claim them within the 18 days that are given. 

This notice is not only legally required, it also puts everything in writing for the tenant. When you serve this notice, you know that those tenants are fully informed about the process and how to take back any of the property they may have left behind unintentionally. 

• Step 3: Remove the Property 

Most of the owners who come to us with this problem do not want to leave the abandoned property in the rental unit. As we said earlier, you’re anxious to get the property back on the market. 

There are a couple of different options when it comes to holding the property for your tenants. 

1. You can remove the abandoned items from the rental property and store them
2. You can leave them at the rental home. 

Most owners will want to get to work turning over their unit, and that will require cleaning out the property. But, if almost everything has been left behind, that can be difficult. And costly. Once the notice period passes, you have the right to remove the items from wherever you are holding them. But for the first 18 days, you’re responsible for keeping them available and safe.

Remember that California allows owners to keep any of the items that cost less than $700. If you decide to keep the property, nothing more needs to be done. There’s no need to document that the property has been sold or destroyed or donated. It becomes yours after the 18 days, and there are no further obligations on your end.

Those more expensive items that are over $700 have to be sold at auction to the benefit of the county. A local bond agency will have to facilitate this auction, and property owners are permitted to deduct the cost of that transaction from the proceeds of the sale. 

The Auction It’s hard to imagine abandoning property that’s worth more than $700, right? But it happens. This process involves several legal steps and a bit of preparation. The auction must be advertised in a local newspaper at least once before the sale date, giving the public a chance to bid. Proceeds from the sale can be used to cover the costs of storage, advertising, and any unpaid rent or damage. If there’s money left over, you’re required to hold any surplus proceeds for the tenant for at least 30 days after the sale. If the tenant doesn’t claim the money within that period, you are then required to pay the excess proceeds to the county where the sale occurred. The county holds the funds, and the tenant can later file a claim to recover their money. This requirement is found in California Civil Code §1984(e). So, while you can recover your legitimate costs, you cannot keep any extra profits, and you must follow the proper steps to remit excess funds to the county.

 

What Happens if a Tenant Leaves a Car Behind?

As with everything in California law, there are exceptions. For example, cars.

If a tenant leaves behind a car, boat, motorcycle, or any other motor vehicle after moving out, California law requires landlords to handle these situations differently than with general abandoned property. Landlords cannot treat vehicles the same way they would treat furniture or personal items. Vehicles are regulated separately under state law. You won’t be selling them at auction and it will be very difficult to say that the car was worth less than $700 so you began driving it yourself.

• The first step is to contact local law enforcement or the local parking enforcement agency. 
• Do not attempt to move, sell, or dispose of the vehicle yourself. 
• Law enforcement will determine whether the vehicle is lost, stolen, abandoned, or otherwise improperly parked. 
• If it qualifies as abandoned, they may authorize a tow by a licensed towing company.

In most cases, the vehicle must be towed by a company authorized under California Vehicle Code §22658, and it must be stored at a licensed impound yard. You cannot simply have it hauled to a private location or junkyard. Attempting to dispose of a tenant’s vehicle without going through proper legal channels can expose you to liability.

The good news is, there’s really not much you have to do when a car or motor vehicle is left behind. It’s the police who will do most of the heavy lifting. But before contacting authorities, we recommend that you document the vehicle thoroughly. 

Take clear photographs, note the make, model, color, license plate number (if present), and VIN if visible. If you know the tenant’s forwarding address, notify them in writing that the vehicle was left behind and that you’re referring the matter to local law enforcement.

Do not store the vehicle yourself or block access to it in an attempt to hold it as collateral. California law does not allow landlords to place a lien or hold a tenant’s vehicle as payment for unpaid rent or damages.

Always keep records of your communications and actions in case the former tenant later disputes the handling of the vehicle. When in doubt, consult a local attorney or us – your local property management resource.

Prevent the Risk of Abandoned Property in Your Rental

Abandoned property is not a scenario we’d wish on any rental property owner. It’s difficult to predict anything like this might happen, but here are some ways to reduce the risk that it might.

Invest in Tenant Screening Almost everything comes back to good tenant screening. As professional property managers, our screening process includes rental histories and eviction checks. We investigate whether a tenant has a history of moving out without proper notice and if there are any landlord claims or judgments against them.

Offer a Pre-Move Out Inspection Tenants are entitled to a pre-move out inspection in California, and it can come in handy when it’s time to think about a new tenant and an efficient turnover. During this walk through, we remind our departing tenants that they’re expected to clean out the property entirely and not leave anything behind.

Prioritize Good Tenant Relationships Tenants are less likely to break lease agreements, pay rent late, damage property, and leave items behind if they have a good relationship with their landlord or property manager. Let us handle tenant relationships. We’ll establish a good relationship with our tenants and prioritize communication.

Partner with a Property Manager Professional property management can provide a rental experience that’s more pleasant and profitable. With a team of experts leasing, managing, and maintaining an investment property, there’s no need for property owners to be the first responder when it comes to things like abandoned property. We know what to do, and we’ll have the tools and resources in place already to take care of the situation.

Whether you’re dealing with abandoned property now, or you’re worried about how you’ll handle it in the future, we can help. Please contact us at Krystle Properties. We lease, manage, and maintain rental homes in Benicia, and we also work in surrounding areas such as Vallejo, American Canyon, and Fairfield.