Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Hello. I won a judgement for non-payment of rent from my former tenant (NY state) who left her belongings at my property. Within how many days of the date of the judgement must the tenant remove her belongings before her property is deemed 'abandoned', whereby I can throw out the tenant's belongings as trash? Thanks for reading the question, and I look forward to any responses.

When a tenant has left personal property in a rental unit, the landlord should safely store the property. To dispose of personal possessions which apparently have been abandoned, the landlord must write a notice to the former tenant or tenants. your notice must give enough information about the property so that the possible owner can identify it, tell the tenant or other possible owner receiving the notice the place where the property may be claimed, and give the tenant or other possible owner a deadline after which time the property cannot be claimed. [[[A tenant who is evicted under a writ of possession has 15 days after the landlord takes possession of the rental unit to pay reasonable costs of storage and to take possession of items left in the rental unit.]]] If the property is not released and if the landlord stated in his or her notice that he or she intended to sell the property at a public sale, the landlord must release the property to the former tenant if, before the actual sale, the tenant claims it and pays the reasonable costs of storage and of advertising the sale.15 If, after the deadline, there is any property which was not claimed by the tenants or any other people notified, depending on the circumstances, the landlord must do one of two things with the remaining property: If the landlord reasonably believes that the property is worth less than $300, he or she may keep it, give it away, sell it or destroy it. If the property is reasonably believed to be worth $300 or more, the landlord should arrange to have it sold at a public bidding sale after giving notice of the sale through publication. Both the landlord and the tenant have a right to bid on the property at the sale. After the property is sold, the landlord may deduct the costs of storage, advertising the sale, and conducting the sale. The remaining money must then be paid over to the county. The county can then give the money to the property owner if the owner claims the money at any time within one year after the date when the county received the money.

Posted by Irene S, KY on Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Thanks for the info Janine. I have sent a certified letter to my ex-tenant giving her until X date to retrieve her belongings. Have a good weekend. Ed

Posted by Ed F, NY on Friday, July 5, 2013