When Your Renter Abandons Your Rental Property: A Guide

Many home sellers today find themselves as new landlords in the "wait and see" game. If you are in that category, you may wake up one day as a reluctant landlord. You have your reasons for not selling your home today. Perhaps you decide to "wait and see" if real estate market prices go up next year. Perhaps you are unable to sell your real estate and you decide to rent it out to at least bring in some money while you play the "wait and see" game. Whatever your reason for becoming a landlord, this guide will give you some steps for dealing with a renter that has abandoned your property. The steps and tips below address Minnesota landlords, but can be used as general guidelines. Please check with your attorney and your state laws. Know your state landlord and tenant laws regarding abandoned property. Minnesota is known as a tenant- friendly state and thus has laws in place to protect tenants rights. In Minnesota, get a copy of Landlords and Tenants: Rights and Responsibilities, written and published by the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.

1. Use a well-crafted lease that addresses potential property abandonment. Warning - the landlord tenant abandonment laws will take precedent over any lease.

2. Has the tenant abandoned the property? If the tenant abandons your rental property for 30 consecutive days, you should obtain a form called NOTICE BELIEVE ABANDONMENT and complete it, serve it, mail it, and attach it to the door.

3. Allow time for the renter to respond. You will be losing rent, but the time elapsed will be important if the matter ends up in court.

4. Start the eviction process. Mail, and post on the door a NOTICE TO PAY RENT OR QUIT form.

5. Wait for 60 days. You may now enter the unit to assess the amount of property left in the unit. You can change the locks. You will need to figure out if you should hold a sale, move the property to a storage unit, or rent a dumpster. You will usually need to do a combination of these things. What looks like a collection of "junk" to you will become "valuable heirlooms" if it goes to court.

6. Two weeks before your sale, you must give the tenant written notice of the sale date. Send the notice by certified mail, return receipt requested to the tenant's last known address or living quarters if known. Post the notice on the premises. You might also want to post a notice in the newspaper for two weeks. If the tenant requests their property back before the 60 day waiting period ends, you have to give it back. You cannot withhold their belongings even if they owe rent. It is best to let them clear out their belongings and continue with your eviction process. In my experience, the tenants did come to collect their things, and ended up paying nothing.

8. If you decide to move the abandoned property to a storage unit, you can collect all moving and storage costs from the tenant. If the tenant refuses to pay the moving and storage costs, they can still collect their belongings. You can sue them later for those costs if you choose to. If the tenant gives you notice that they want to collect their belongings, you have 24 hours to return it. You have 48 hours to return it if you have moved the items to a storage facility. This period does not include weekends or holidays.

9. List an inventory of the items and take photographs.

10. In cases where you believe the property is worth more, you should arrange to have a police officer come to the premises and make a written, dated inventory including all items, condition of items, badge number of the police officer, and your telephone number. The inventory list must be sent via registered mail to the tenant's last known address.

11. After the sale, if the tenant sends you written notice that they would like the money from the sale of their belongings, you must send any excess to them. You can deduct the costs of removal, care, storage costs, expenses of the sale, and back rent.

Follow the statutes conservatively. Allow more time than called for in any action, in case it does go to court. As a landlord in a tenant-friendly state, you must be able to show that you gave more than enough time and notice. You know that you are most likely not going to recover any costs from this nightmare, but you also would rather not get sued by the tenant. In Minnesota, the statutes allow the tenant to sue for their property plus damages and the courts often allow the tenant to sue long after the period of so-called Notice has expired.

The judge will be sympathetic to any hardship stories told by the tenant. This will buy them more time if it goes to court. You have your own hardship story, but the court won't care. Chalk it up to experience, and move on.