Landlord Question and Answer Forum

Are there any guidelines for what is considered reasonable charges that an evicted tenant must pay once his possessions have been moved to an off-location storage site. This guy was evicted and then three weeks later his stuff was still inside my unit. I moved it to storage and sent him a bill for labor to pack and move possessions and for the storage unit. Any help or info would be much appreciated.

If you find any SINGLE ITEM worth $300 or more, you must store it for a reasonable period (in the unit, your garage or a storage facility) and the tenant must pay for the storage to recover her stuff. You must notify the tenant by certified mail that the items are stored and how to retrieve them (meet you for payment, etc.) You cannot hold her stuff hostage for back rents, judgment or anything else, just storage fees. If she doesn't claim her stuff within a reasonable period, you can sell them and keep the $$ for storage fees (with some exceptions) or you can leave them in storage forever -- commercial storage facilities will auction the stuff off at some point.

Posted by Denise S, PA on Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Thank you for the information Denise. Perhaps you could expand on your answer by helping me to understand whether or not the costs of paying to have the property packed and then transported to the storage facility can be considered as part of the cost for storage and thus, part of the amount the tenants must pay in order to be given access to their property. JM

Posted by jm s, PA on Wednesday, June 23, 2010