Tenant Turnover Issue

[Justin Youngblood]

Hello,

My current tenant is in the process of moving out. She gave 30 days notice and was supposed to move out fully on 8/18. She had begun moving out and was not living in the property since 8/12 but still had lots of things in the unit. I had accessed the property a a few days prior to her move out day to get some pictures and prepare for tenant turnover. On the day of move out, Thursday 8/18, she texted me at 5:30am to tell me she had tried access the property on 8/16 to move all of her stuff but couldn’t because the locks had been changed. I have never changed the locks and the key she has still works to my knowledge. She has not moved all the way out yet and the bigger issue is that she is not answering when I try to contact her by phone or text. I am charging her now a prorated rent by the day but I’m not sure what next steps I should take. This has delayed all my contractors to get the property turned over. Any advice on how best to handle this situation?

[Jeff Copeland]

Full disclosure: I am not an attorney and you should definitely check with one in your area before doing anything. But also keep in mind there is often a "perfect world attorney answer" and a "real world landlord/PM answer", and you have to figure out what the risk is and if it's worth taking possession of the unit. 

But it seems to me that her lease has expired so she no longer has legal possession. 

An option to consider: 

1. If at all possible, get her to tell you in writing she has vacated and surrendered possession. Keep hounding her for this. Make a documented good faith effort to communicate with the tenant (and keep these records, screenshots or whatever). 

2. Document the condition of the unit after lease expiration with pics and video. 

3. Inventory her stuff carefully and put it in storage in case she comes back for it (she probably won't). 

4. Send her any required notices (claim against security deposit, etc), change the locks for real this time, turnover the unit, and move on.

You should be able to charge her (and claim against her security deposit) for removal, disposal, or storage of her personal items, cleaning, damages, etc.

(Pro Tip: The security deposit is often great leverage to get them to respond to you: "Hey, Tenant. I just need to get your forwarding address so we can process your security deposit refund" will often get a quick response!)

If I had a penny for every item tenants left behind when they vacated, I'd already have the financial freedom through real estate we're all seeking!